Bloomville

How Bloomville began

Bloomville, in Bloom Township in southern Seneca County, traces to an 1822 settlement and was formally laid out as a village in 1837; it was incorporated in 1871 (the 1886 county history instead has the village organizing in 1874 and holding its first election in 1875). A major fire struck the village on November 5, 1889, and The New York Times reported it the next day under the headline 'An Ohio Town Burning.'

Settled 1822, platted 1837 (summer), incorporated 1871, by Philip J. Price, Julius Treat and Thomas T. Treat, on land held by four proprietors at the corners of sections nine, ten, fifteen and sixteen.

Where the name comes from

The village is in Bloom Township; the reason for the name is not recorded.

Before the town

No Native American village, mound, trail, or treaty site specific to Bloomville itself is documented in the sources checked; the first settlement dates from 1822.

Timeline

1. 1822 — The first settlement is established on the future site of Bloomville.
2. 1837 — Philip J. Price and brothers Julius and Thomas T. Treat lay out the village on land held by four proprietors, including Simon Koller and Edward Cooley; Cooley builds the town's first house, on the site later occupied by the Record newspaper's printing office, and the Treat brothers build the second, later used by Thomas Treat as a store and post office. By 1850 the village holds about a dozen buildings.
3. 1837-38 — Thomas T. Treat is the first postmaster at Bloomville; the post office later passes with the Treat and Price store to the Brown brothers.
4. 1850-08-25 — Mount Pisgah Reformed Church of Bloomville is organized with H. K. Baines as pastor, on an acre of land given by Simon Roller.
5. 1871 — Bloomville is incorporated by a special act of the Ohio legislature, with Jacob Hossler elected its first mayor (the 1886 county history instead dates the village's organization to 1874).
6. 1874 — J. D. Wilsey establishes an oar factory in the village, described in Lang's history as an important event in Bloomville's development.
7. 1874-08-22 — The county commissioners give permission to organize the village on a petition of 112 residents presented by John Andrews and Albert Gaetz; the first elections in 1875 choose Jacob Hossler mayor.
8. 1875 — A new school building is completed at a cost of $7,500 and opened under Superintendent J. K. Hamilton.
9. 1877-05-10 — Bloomville Lodge No. 667, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is chartered.
10. 1881-12 — W. T. Brown Post No. 191, Grand Army of the Republic, is established at Bloomville and named for a soldier of the 164th Ohio National Guard.
11. 1882-05-14 — The United Brethren church at High and Marion streets is dedicated by Bishop J. Weaver, the congregation having been organized on May 7.
12. 1884 — Bloomville's business list includes a flour mill (J. Shontz & Son), a sash, door and blind maker, furniture makers, grocers and druggists, three physicians and the Bliss House; the school enrolls 183 pupils.
13. 1889 — On November 5, a major fire devastates the village, reported by The New York Times the following day under the headline 'An Ohio Town Burning.'
14. 1911 — Bloomville has a population given as nearly one thousand (the 1910 census counted 754), a high school, stone quarries producing blue limestone for roads and ballast, a brick and tile company, wagon works, the Exchange bank, three rural delivery routes and five churches; Frank A. Chatfield is postmaster.
15. 1980 — Bloomville's population peaks at 1,019 in the 1980 census; it was 867 in 2020.

Stories

The fire that made the New York papers

On November 5, 1889, a major fire struck Bloomville, which had been incorporated by a special act of the legislature in 1871. The New York Times reported it the next day under the headline 'An Ohio Town Burning.' Lang's 1880 county history, written nine years earlier, already refers to the corner where John Seitz Jr. and William Dewitt opened their store as 'the burned district.'

A village of tradesmen

By the time Lang wrote in 1880, Bloomville's founding generation of tradesmen was well remembered: Hathaway and Kuntz as the village's first shoemakers, a settler named Webster running its first blacksmith shop, Mr. Keller as first tailor, and Mr. Klachr as first wagon and carriage maker. Thomas Dysinger opened the first tavern, and Benjamin Knopp built the Bloom House hotel in 1855 or 1856. Two of the store-keeping Seitz and Dewitt partnership went on to wider notice: William Dewitt was elected Seneca County recorder and died in office, while John Seitz represented Seneca County in both branches of the Ohio legislature. Village physician Dr. George Weeks, who had succeeded pioneer doctors Bellville and Peter J. Smith, left his practice during the Civil War to serve as a surgeon general in the Department of Tennessee.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Bloomville Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Public libraries (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (2)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2024: 1 of 1 passed.

Ballot issues

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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