Black Creek Township, Mercer County

How Black Creek Township, Mercer County began

Black Creek Township, the northwestern township of Mercer County, was set off from Dublin Township on April 12, 1834, and held its first election on April 28 at the house of Chauncey Knowlton. Heavy forest and wet ground delayed settlement until about 1830, when William Harris, a man named Shaw and John Street took up land along the Fort Wayne road. Big and Little Black Creek cross the township northward to the St. Marys River at Willshire, and in its northeast corner lie two small reservations granted to the Native leaders Charlie and Peter Labadie. It has never had a village; its first church was built by the Duck Creek Methodist class in 1868.

Settled before 1830 (William Harris and a man named Shaw); John Street, first settler of record, 1830, incorporated 1834-04-12 (township organized), by Mercer County commissioners, detaching it from Dublin Township.

Where the name comes from

The township is crossed by Big Black Creek and Little Black Creek, which flow north and empty into the St. Marys River at Willshire; the 1907 county history describes the streams but does not state outright that the township was named for them. It is the only Black Creek Township in Ohio.

Before the town

Two small reservations in the northeastern corner of the township, the Charlie and Labadie reservations, break its otherwise regular one-mile sections. They come from land grants made by the United States along the St. Marys River to Native people who had lodges at Old-town, the Indian village near present Rockford in Dublin Township, during the War of 1812 and who, the 1907 county history says, were always friendly to the government: one section on the north side of the river below the Crescent's section went to the chief Charlie, and the section below Charlie's to Peter Labadie. All of these lands later passed to white owners by gift or purchase. The histories opened do not name the nation of either man. No village, trail or earthwork inside the township is recorded.

• Charlie reservation (other) — northeastern corner of the township, along the St. Marys River, granted after the War of 1812; later sold to settlers (archive.org)
• Labadie reservation (other) — northeastern corner of the township, the section below Charlie's on the St. Marys River, granted after the War of 1812; later sold to settlers (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1830 — John Street, the first settler of record, arrives; William Harris and a man named Shaw are already there.
2. 1831 — Jacob Harper and Kalinda Watkins marry, the first marriage in the township; Charles Henderson and Jacob Harper arrive the same year.
3. 1832 — John Gans and James Nichols each enter 80 acres in section 3, where James Heath had made the first land entry.
4. 1833 — Alexander Harper, son of Jacob Harper, is born, the first recorded birth in the township.
5. 1834 — Black Creek Township is organized.
6. 1834-04-28 — The first township election is held at the house of Chauncey Knowlton.
7. 1840 — The township has 340 residents.
8. c. 1840 — The first schoolhouse in the township is built.
9. 1856 — Rev. Joshua Smith organizes a Methodist class at the Duck Creek schoolhouse, the first religious society in the township.
10. 1868 — The Duck Creek class builds a frame church, the first church in the township.
11. 1880 — The township has 1,441 residents.
12. 1900 — The township has 1,438 residents, down from 1,557 in 1890.
13. 1920 — A tornado from Darke County drops in Black Creek and Dublin townships, leaving about 15 people injured.

Stories

The reservations in the corner

The northeastern corner of Black Creek Township is the one place where its survey grid breaks, because of two small tracts known as the Charlie and Labadie reservations. They trace to the years around the War of 1812, when Native families including Anthony Shane, Louis Godfrey, the Crescent, Labadie and Rushville kept lodges at Old-town on the St. Marys River near present Rockford. The United States granted several of them land along the river: a section at Shane's Crossing to Shane, six sections above it to Louis Godfrey, one section below the Crescent's to the chief Charlie, and the next section downstream to Peter Labadie. The first white settlers found Shane still living in a double log house on his land, and a French trader, Anthony Madore, keeping a post at the crossing. Within a generation all of the grants had passed to white owners by gift or sale, and only the reservation names survived in the township's land descriptions.

Settling the wet woods

Black Creek was settled later than Dublin Township to the east because its land was heavily timbered and wet. The first claims were taken along the Fort Wayne road, where William Harris and a man named Shaw were living before 1830; John Street, Charles Henderson, Jacob Harper and others followed in the early 1830s. William Harper built the first log cabin and Jesse King the first frame house, and the first schoolhouse went up about 1840. In the western part lay Duck Creek Prairie, a low, level flat of alluvial soil, and the Methodist class organized at the Duck Creek schoolhouse about 1856 built the township's first church there in 1868. Once drained, the land was counted among the richest in the county: the 1907 history says it brought the highest price of any, marketed at Willshire and Rockford.

Photographs

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Rockford Village61% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Willshire Village39% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (4)

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