Bloom Township, Scioto County

How Bloom Township, Scioto County began

Bloom Township, organized August 25, 1812 in eastern Scioto County, is named for a bloomery, an early type of iron-smelting furnace, within its borders — fitting for a township whose 19th-century economy centered on iron. The Scioto Furnace blast furnace operated in the township's west from 1828 to 1892, sixty-four years that outlasted at least one rival community: Holmesville, platted in 1856, never grew enough to compete with the furnace town nearby. The farming-and-mining hamlet of Madland, tied to the Bloom Furnace Company and the Charcoal Iron Company, held a post office from 1892 to 1913. South Webster, the township's only incorporated village, is covered in its own file. Bloom Township's 2020 population was 2,714.

Platted 1856 (Holmesville), incorporated 1812-08-25, by named for a bloomery within the township.

Where the name comes from

Named for a bloomery, an early charcoal-fired iron-smelting furnace, located within the township's borders.

Before the town

No Native site or event specific to Bloom Township was found in the sources consulted.

Timeline

1. 1812-08-25 — Bloom Township is organized and named for a bloomery within its borders.
2. 1828 — Scioto Furnace, a charcoal-fired blast furnace, begins operating in the township's west.
3. 1830s — By this decade the township supports three stores, a tavern and two tanyards alongside its furnace industry.
4. 1856 — John James Holmes plats Holmesville, which fails to grow enough to compete with the established furnace community nearby.
5. 1862 — A post office opens at Scioto Furnace.
6. 1892 — Scioto Furnace ceases operation after 64 years; the same year, a post office opens at Madland, a farming-and-mining hamlet tied to the Bloom Furnace Company and the Charcoal Iron Company.
7. 1913 — Madland's post office closes.

Stories

A furnace that outlasted its rival town

Scioto Furnace went into blast in 1828 and ran for sixty-four years, long enough to give its name to the surrounding unincorporated community and to draw a post office of its own by 1862. In 1856, John James Holmes tried to plat a competing town, Holmesville, nearby — but a fresh plat could not out-draw an established furnace with its own workforce, ore land and company store, and Holmesville never grew into anything more than a name on old maps. The furnace itself finally banked its fires in 1892, decades after Holmesville's failure, having outlived the very rival its early success had crowded out. The township's other iron-era hamlet, Madland, worked land owned largely by the Bloom Furnace Company and the Charcoal Iron Company and kept its own post office from 1892 — the same year Scioto Furnace closed — until 1913, a coda to the same charcoal-iron economy that gave Bloom Township its name.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · ohioghosttowns.wordpress.com · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org

Mostly private wells The water here

• Jackson Co. Water Company-wtp65% of residentsTeays River Buried Valley Aquifer (own wells)
• Portsmouth City28% of residentsOhio River
• Hecla Water Association5% of residentsOhio River
• Scioto Water Inc. - Gliem Rd3% of residentsOhio River
• Scioto Water Inc.- Sheila Blvd0% of residentsOhio River

Bridges rated poor (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

Ballot issues

Elections for office

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

Auditor of State record

• Fiscal emergency: declared 2005-08-09, released 2017-12-08. source
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2022 to 2023, released 2025-01-21

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