Bolivar

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How Bolivar began

Bolivar sits at the northern tip of Tuscarawas County on the Tuscarawas River, on ground that was a Delaware (Lenape) village called Shingas Town in the 1750s and then, in 1778, the site of Fort Laurens, the only fort the American army built during the Revolutionary War within present-day Ohio. The village itself was platted in 1830 as canal-boom development following the Ohio and Erie Canal and was named for the South American independence leader Simon Bolivar. It grew through the nineteenth century on canal and later rail traffic, peaking near 1,000 to 1,100 residents in the twentieth century, and today calls itself the "Gateway to Tuscarawas County." Fort Laurens' site is preserved as a state memorial and museum.

Platted 1830, by platted amid growth from the Ohio and Erie Canal; named for Simon Bolivar.

Where the name comes from

The village was named after Simon Bolivar, the South American independence leader, reflecting a wave of early-19th-century American place names honoring him.

Before the town

The ground at Bolivar was a Delaware (Lenape) settlement before Euro-American settlement: Shingas, a Lenape leader, established Shingas Town in the general vicinity around 1752. Twenty-six years later, in the fall of 1778, the Continental Army built Fort Laurens on the Tuscarawas River at essentially the same spot, in part to project American power toward Wyandot towns further west and, eventually, British-held Detroit. The fort's 1779 siege was carried out by an allied force of roughly 180 Mingo and Wyandot warriors together with British regulars and the Loyalist interpreter Simon Girty; seventeen of the fort's garrison were killed and scalped in the opening assault and two were taken prisoner. No mound, earthwork, or treaty line specific to the village site is documented in the sources checked beyond Shingas Town and the fort. The broader county record includes the Adena and Hopewell mound-building periods and the historic nations' presence and removal.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware), Mingo (Seneca-Cayuga), Wyandot.

• Shingas Town (village) — vicinity of present-day Bolivar, c. 1752 (en.wikipedia.org)
• Fort Laurens (site of the 1779 siege) (battle) — on the Tuscarawas River at Bolivar, 1778-1779 (en.wikipedia.org)

Timeline

1. 1752 — Shingas, a Delaware (Lenape) leader, establishes Shingas Town in the vicinity of present-day Bolivar.
2. 1778 — Brigadier General Lachlan McIntosh leads about 1,200 regulars and militia from Pittsburgh and builds Fort Laurens on the Tuscarawas River, naming it for Continental Congress president Henry Laurens; he leaves Colonel John Gibson with about 150 men of the 13th Virginia Regiment to garrison it.
3. 1779 — On February 22, Simon Girty leads roughly 180 Mingo and Wyandot warriors with British regulars in a siege of Fort Laurens; 17 of the garrison are killed and scalped and two taken prisoner in the opening assault, and the siege continues for about four weeks before Captain Henry Bird withdraws.
4. 1779 — Colonel Daniel Brodhead declares Fort Laurens untenable and it is abandoned in August.
5. 1830 — Bolivar is platted, its growth tied to development along the newly built Ohio and Erie Canal.
6. 1840 — Bolivar's population is recorded at 309.
7. 1986 — Archaeologists recover the remains of soldiers killed in the February 1779 assault on Fort Laurens; one is reburied with full military honors at the site's Tomb of the Unknown Patriot.
8. 1999 — The E.D. Fisher House in Bolivar is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Stories

The only Revolutionary War fort in Ohio

In the fall of 1778, General Lachlan McIntosh marched about 1,200 Continental soldiers and militia out of Pittsburgh with orders to strike at Wyandot towns and, if possible, push on toward British-held Fort Detroit. Supplies ran short before they got far, and McIntosh turned back, but not before his men raised a four-sided stockade with a blockhouse on the Tuscarawas River, naming it Fort Laurens for Continental Congress president Henry Laurens. He left Colonel John Gibson and about 150 Virginia regulars to hold it through the winter. On February 22, 1779, the British agent Simon Girty led some 180 Mingo and Wyandot warriors and a handful of British soldiers in a surprise assault; seventeen of the garrison were killed and scalped in the opening attack and two more taken captive. The siege dragged on for weeks; the trapped soldiers ran out of food, and by the end were boiling and eating their own moccasins to survive. The British force finally withdrew before relief arrived, but by August the fort's isolated position was judged untenable and it was abandoned. Today the Ohio History Connection preserves the site, and a museum run by the Zoar Community Association displays artifacts recovered in 1970s digs; soldiers found in a 1986 excavation were reburied with military honors at the site's Tomb of the Unknown Patriot.

Photographs

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

Every historic place in Tuscarawas County on the full map

Groundwater wells (2 wells) The water here

• Tcmsd-wilkshire Hills74% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Bolivar Village26% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Public libraries (1)

Police stations (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 1 of 1 passed.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

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

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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