Blanchard Township, Putnam County

How Blanchard Township, Putnam County began

Blanchard Township, organized in 1833 -- a year before Putnam County itself -- in eastern Putnam County, takes its name from the Blanchard River that also named the Ottawa (Odawa) reserve the river once carried. Otho Crawfis and his wife Sarah Agner were its first settlers, arriving in 1831 while the area was still part of Williams County. It holds the village of Gilboa in its southeast, including the Gilboa Main Street Historic District's National Register listing, plus the Putnam County infirmary and the former Crawfis College.

Settled 1831-10-17, incorporated 1833 (organized), by Otho Crawfis and his wife, Sarah Agner, first settlers.

Where the name comes from

Named for the Blanchard River, which flows through it.

Before the town

Blanchard Township takes its name from the same Blanchard River that carried the Ottawa (Odawa) Blanchard's Fork Reserve downstream near modern Ottawa village; no Native American site or village specific to Blanchard Township itself was located in the sources checked.

Nations recorded here: Odawa (Ottawa).

Timeline

1. 1831-10-17 — Otho Crawfis and his wife, Sarah Agner, natives of Fairfield County, Ohio, become the township's first settlers.
2. 1833 — Blanchard Township organizes as part of Williams County, whose seat was then at Fort Defiance; only eight voters live in the township at the time, and it initially includes the territory of present-day Van Buren, Riley, Blanchard and Richland townships.
3. 1837 — Gilboa, the township's first town, is laid out by Elisha Stout, who also builds the first grist-mill in the township.
4. 1848 — An epidemic of cholera nearly decimates the village of Gilboa; the same year the town is incorporated by an act of the Ohio legislature.
5. 1852 — Gilboa holds its first election for township trustees, on November 19.
6. 1879 — The former Blanchard Township hall is built at 215 Main Street in Gilboa; it later becomes part of the Gilboa Main Street Historic District.
7. 1888 — The Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western railroad is built through Gilboa, and McCulloughville, the site of Crawfis College, is platted by L. E. Holtz for D. U. McCullough.

Stories

A Commission Returned by Mistake

Otho Crawfis was elected the township's first justice of the peace when Blanchard Township organized in 1833, but the paperwork nearly undid him. Because the township was still legally part of Williams County, his commission arrived from the county seat at Defiance, signed by Governor Lucas, addressed to a justice "for Blanchard township, Williams county." Thinking a mistake had been made -- he knew he lived in Putnam County -- Crawfis sent the commission back. It came back to him again a short time later with the correction: no mistake at all, the commission was accurate, because Putnam County had not yet been formally organized. Fittingly, it was Crawfis's own house where the township's first election had been held, and his fellow settler Joseph Hickerson who carried the returns all the way to Defiance to be sworn in, only afterward returning to administer the oath of office to the rest of the new township's officers.

Gilboa's Rise, a Failed Railroad Bid, and an Epidemic

Gilboa grew faster than any other town in Putnam County during its first decade. Laid out in 1837 by Elisha Stout, it had a tavern and a general store within two years and, by the early 1850s, was considered the county's most thriving town -- home to the county's largest general store, a brick hotel, and physicians who had arrived as early as 1845. Its momentum broke twice in quick succession. In 1852, when the Dayton & Michigan railroad's early surveys were underway, Gilboa's citizens fought hard to have the line routed through their town, competing against Findlay and Ottawa; they lost, and the railroad's absence was the town's first serious setback. Then, in 1848 -- addressed out of order here because the sources give it alongside the railroad loss as one of two blows -- an epidemic of cholera swept through and nearly wiped the village out, with early settlers recalling horrific suffering among its victims for years afterward. Gilboa recovered from both: it was incorporated the same year as the epidemic, 1848, and gained its own railroad forty years later, in 1888, when the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western finally reached the town.

Photographs

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Ottawa Village46% of residentsBlanchard River (via intake reservoir)
• Leipsic Village45% of residentsGroundwater wells (7 wells)
• Glandorf Village9% of residentsBlanchard River (via intake reservoir)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 4 of 4 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 3 of 3.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

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