Butler Township, Mercer County

How Butler Township, Mercer County began

Butler Township was organized on June 4, 1838, on the petition of 25 residents, and held its first election at the house of David Gray on July 9, 1838. Joseph Shatto, who located near the site of Coldwater in 1828, is usually counted its first settler; German families such as the Albers, Lennartz, Spoltman and Nieberding arrived from the 1840s and made it a German Catholic township. Coldwater, laid out by William A. O. Munsell in 1859 and incorporated in 1883, is its center, where the Cincinnati Northern and Lake Erie & Western railroads crossed. In the southwest corner, St. Mary's Catholic Church at Philothea was founded in 1851 and its present brick church dedicated in 1871.

Settled 1828 (Joseph Shatto, near the site of Coldwater), platted 1859-08-18 (Coldwater plat recorded), incorporated 1838-06-04 (township organized), by Mercer County commissioners, on petition of 25 residents.

Where the name comes from

One of six Butler Townships in Ohio; no source specific to this township's own naming was found.

Before the town

No Native village, trail or earthwork in Butler Township is recorded in the county histories opened. Scranton's 1907 history says of Joseph H. Smith, who entered land in section 32 in 1832 and settled on it in 1852, that "the Indians were his nearest neighbors on the west," without naming them.

Timeline

1. 1828 — Joseph Shatto locates near the present site of Coldwater, generally counted the township's first settler.
2. 1835 — J. C. Gray, one of the first settlers, arrives.
3. 1838 — Butler Township is established and the settlement that becomes Coldwater (initially Buzzard's Glory) is founded.
4. 1838-07-09 — The first township election is held at the house of David Gray.
5. 1840 — The township has 178 residents.
6. 1846 — John F. Albers, a native of Germany, settles in the township; his family are the first settlers on section 4.
7. 1847 — A post office opens at Coldwater.
8. 1851-09-06 — St. Mary's Catholic parish at Philothea is established by eight settlers, who buy 40 acres from H. Weiner for $100.
9. 1852 — A small log church is built at Philothea.
10. 1859 — Coldwater is formally platted under its present name.
11. 1859-08-18 — The plat of Coldwater, laid out by William A. O. Munsell, is recorded.
12. 1871-07-11 — The present St. Mary's church at Philothea, 45 by 85 feet and costing $7,000, is dedicated; it was built under Rev. James Marti.
13. 1880 — The township has 1,595 residents; Coldwater has 237.
14. 1883 — Coldwater is incorporated as a village.
15. 1886 — A post office called Philothea is established; it operates until 1904.
16. 1893 — Ash Grove Church of the German Baptist Brethren is built in section 15, three miles north of Coldwater, for about $1,200.
17. 1900 — The township has 1,995 residents; Coldwater has 627.
18. 1905 — A frame priest's residence is built at Philothea for about $4,500.
19. 1979-07-26 — Philothea Catholic Church and Priest House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Stories

St. Mary's at Philothea

On September 6, 1851, eight settlers in the southwest of Butler Township, among them H. Weiner, H. Wendeln, Frederick Albers, H. Spoltman and Henry Lennartz, established a Catholic parish and bought 40 acres from Weiner for $100 for a church and school. They built a small log church the next year and used it for nearly twenty years. On July 11, 1871, the present brick church, 45 by 85 feet, built for $7,000 under Rev. James Marti of the Society of the Precious Blood, was dedicated, and a chime of bells was hung in its tower. The settlement around it stayed small: in 1907 about 20 people, a grocery, a tailor and a blacksmith. A post office called Philothea operated from 1886 to 1904. The church and its 1905 priest's house were listed on the National Register in 1979 among the Cross-Tipped Churches of western Ohio.

Coldwater at the railroad crossing

The first dwelling on the site of Coldwater was built by Samuel Snider and the first store-house by David Buzzard, but the town was not formally laid out until William A. O. Munsell recorded its plat on August 18, 1859. Growth came with the railroads: by 1907 the Cincinnati Northern ran north and south through it and the Lake Erie & Western ran northeast to southwest. Coldwater grew from 237 people in 1880 to 627 in 1900 and was incorporated in 1883. In 1907 it had the People's Bank, the Coldwater Chronicle, a brickyard, broom, butter tub and excelsior factories, two cigar factories, a grist mill and grain elevators, and Holy Trinity Catholic Church, one of the largest buildings in the county.

Photographs

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

Every historic place in Mercer County on the full map

Groundwater wells (8 wells) The water here

• Coldwater Village72% of residentsGroundwater wells (8 wells)
• Celina, City Of23% of residentsGrand Lake St. Marys (surface water intake)
• St. Henry Village4% of residentsGroundwater wells (12 wells)
• Grand Lake Estates1% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)

Nursing homes (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (4)

Money issues on the ballot since 2024: 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

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-12-12

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