Bloomingburg

How Bloomingburg began

Bloomingburg was laid out in November 1815 by Solomon Bowers as New Lexington, popularly called the New Purchase, on the road from Chillicothe to Springfield in what is now Paint Township. The legislature renamed it Bloomingburg by act of February 5, 1847, after Dr. Matthew Gillespie's native Bloomingburg, New York, and the village incorporated that year. It was a well-known anti-slavery community and a stop on the Underground Railroad, long a threatened rival of Washington Court House; it had over 500 people in 1881, peaked at 938 in 2010 and had 878 in 2020.

Platted November 30, 1815 (acknowledged; as New Lexington), incorporated 1847 (act of February 5; first election February 24, 1847), by Solomon Bowers.

Where the name comes from

The 1881 county history says the village was laid out as New Lexington, popularly called 'New Purchase.' By tradition Dr. Matthew Gillespie, anxious to give it the name of his native town of Bloomingburg, New York, offered to treat the men of the village if they agreed; Col. Myers, a member of the legislature, introduced the bill, and the act of February 5, 1847 changed the name. Wikipedia records a different tradition, that the village was named for the many flowers kept in the yards of the townswomen.

Before the town

No named Native village, mound or trail at the Bloomingburg site is recorded in the 1881 or 1914 county histories read.

Timeline

1. 1800s — Bloomingburg operated as a documented stop on the Underground Railroad.
2. 1810 — The first court in the new Fayette County is held in John Devault's cabin a little north of the future site of Bloomingburg, with Judge John Thomson presiding and a stable or hazel thicket sometimes serving the grand jury; the commissioners first meet in Col. James Stewart's cabin in the spring, before any settlement or county seat existed at Bloomingburg.
3. 1815 — Solomon Bowers lays out New Lexington on part of survey No. 3701 on the East Fork of Paint Creek, with Main Street 63 feet wide and a public square set apart in hope that it would become the county seat; the plat is acknowledged before Samuel Rawlings on November 30.
4. 1816 — On March 4 Bowers adds Wayne and West streets with twenty lots each; by spring 1817 there are eight or ten cabins, a store kept by Col. Stewart and Matthew Gillespie, a tannery and a shoe shop.
5. 1819 — A post office was established at Bloomingburg.
6. 1827 — A carding machine run by horse and tread-wheel is started by Philip Dodridge, beginning the township's woolen industry; about 1833 William Carr builds a flour mill on Paint Creek a mile south, around which Carr's Mills grows.
7. 1834 — The Presbyterians hold meetings on slavery; merchant James Claypole, converted in his opposition, drafts the constitution and leads the anti-slavery society in a village noted for aiding fugitives.
8. 1847 — The legislature renames the village Bloomingburg on February 5 and declares it an incorporated village; the first municipal election is held February 24, with Joseph Counts Jr. as mayor, and the first ordinance of June 7 fines nighttime noise and obstructions on sidewalks.
9. 1878 — The corporate limits are enlarged on May 11; sewers are built in 1876 and a village prison provided, and the ordinances are rewritten in January 1880.
10. 1881 — The village has more than 500 people, 'for a long time the threatened rival of Washington' but outstripped by it.

Stories

The first court in Fayette County

When Fayette County was organized in 1810, its first court sat in a settler's cabin, John Devault's, a little north of where Bloomingburg would later stand, with Judge John Thomson presiding. The county histories say the commissioners met in a nearby cabin before any settlement was made at Bloomingburg or any county seat was fixed; the village was not laid out until 1815. No county seat was established there, though Bowers had set aside a public square in hope that it would become one.

How New Lexington became Bloomingburg

The village platted in 1815 was legally New Lexington, but everyone called it the New Purchase, from the early land purchase it sat on. Tradition says the storekeeper Dr. Gillespie, keen to give it the name of his native Bloomingburg in New York, offered to treat the men of the village if they voted for the change; they accepted, and Col. Myers, a member of the legislature, introduced the bill. The act passed on February 5, 1847, thirty-two years after the first plat, and the first election of village officers followed on February 24. The town had a reputation for anti-slavery work long before that: Bloomingburg was a station on the Underground Railroad, where fugitives were fed, clothed and sent north, and 'slave-hunters had little expectation of finding the fugitive upon reaching' it.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · familysearch.org · archive.org · en.wikipedia.org · bloomingburgoh.gov · archive.org

Groundwater wells (3 wells) The water here

• Village of Bloomingburg100% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2021: 1 of 1 passed.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

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

Auditor of State record

• Fiscal caution: declared 2013-12-17, released 2017-11-16. source
• Financial Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2026-05-19

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.

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