Berkey

• The Toledo WarThe 1835-36 Ohio-Michigan boundary dispute over the Toledo Strip: a bad map, a 3 a.m. court, one stabbing, no deaths, and the Upper Peninsula trade.

How Berkey began

Berkey, in the northwest corner of Richfield Township, grew from a settlement at Berkey's Corners on the old Territorial Road, where Philip Wolfinger built the township's first log house in 1834 and Lucian B. Lathrop's family soon followed. The post office, named Riga, opened in 1835 (Wikipedia says 1837) with Lathrop as postmaster; the 1888 county history says the office took the name Berkey in 1865 for the postmaster Richard K. Berkeybile (Wikipedia dates the change to 1870). The first school in the township was built near the corners in 1837. Berkey was incorporated as a village in 1915 and counted 275 people in 2020.

Settled 1834 (Philip Wolfinger and Lucian B. Lathrop, first log houses in Richfield Township), incorporated 1915.

Where the name comes from

The settlement was first Riga, after its post office; Waggoner's 1888 history says the office name was changed to Berkey in 1865, for its postmaster Richard K. Berkeybile, and Wikipedia dates the change to 1870.

Before the town

No Native village, camp or treaty event specific to Berkey is documented in the sources reviewed.

Timeline

1. 1834 — Philip Wolfinger puts up the first log house in Richfield Township on section 26, and Col. Lucian B. Lathrop one on section 3; the first clearing, about 15 acres of wheat, is made this year.
2. 1835 — A post office called Riga opens on the old Indiana Road near Berkey's Corners with Col. Lucian B. Lathrop as postmaster for fifteen years (Wikipedia gives 1837).
3. 1835 — The old Territorial Road from Toledo to Angola, Indiana, is opened through the township in the winter of 1834-35; two graveyards are dedicated in 1835.
4. 1837 — The first school-house, a rough log structure, is built on the Territorial Road near Berkey's Corners; Francis Smith, the first teacher, boards himself and is paid $40 for two months.
5. 1865 — The post office is renamed Berkey for its postmaster Richard K. Berkeybile (Wikipedia dates the change to 1870).
6. 1876 — A. D. Sanderson opens a general store at Berkey's in the north of Richfield; Jacob B. Gillan opens a blacksmith shop there in 1877.
7. 1887 — The post office returns to the Lathrop family when B. E. Lathrop, a descendant of the first three postmasters, is appointed; W. H. Ostrander follows in 1888.
8. 1900 — Berkey's population is recorded at 100.
9. 1915 — Berkey incorporates as a village.
10. 1920 — Berkey's population reaches 201.
11. 1930 — The census counts 261 residents, up 30 percent in ten years.
12. 1980 — The census counts 306 residents, the highest on record.
13. 2020 — The US Census records 275 residents.

Stories

A school, a road and a post office at Berkey's Corners

The township's first public road was the Old Territorial Road from Toledo to Angola, Indiana, opened through the wilderness in the winter of 1834-35; for many years the only other roads were Indian trails and cow paths. Near the corner where the Territorial Road crossed another route, Col. Lucian B. Lathrop became postmaster in 1835 of the Riga post office, which got a weekly mail and kept him in the job for fifteen years. In 1837 the settlers built the township's first school, a rough log house on the road, and Francis Smith taught the first winter for forty dollars for two months, boarding himself. Pliny Lathrop succeeded his brother as postmaster for eight years, then a nephew, Clark C. Lathrop, in 1858. In 1865 the office took its new name, Berkey, from Richard K. Berkeybile, who had succeeded Charles Ford as postmaster. The 1888 county history notes that Richfield had never had an establishment open for the sale of intoxicating liquors.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · richfieldtwp.com · commons.wikimedia.org · archive.org

Mostly private wells The water here

• Toledo City Of100% of residentsLake Erie

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (2)

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Basic Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-11-25

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

Cite this page