Cecil

How Cecil began

Cecil grew up in Crane Township around a post office first named Crane in 1866 and renamed Cecil, for a railroad official, in 1868; it was founded formally in 1871 as a junction where the Wabash Railroad and the Cincinnati Northern Railroad crossed. Nearby stood Paulding Furnace, an iron-smelting works fed by the Wabash and Erie Canal that closed after county residents destroyed the canal's water supply in the 1887 Reservoir War; the war's only fatality, militia private Fred Reeves, died on guard duty at Cecil during the unrest. The village peaked at 348 residents in 1890 and has since settled to a little under 150.

Incorporated 1871, by developed as a railroad junction.

Where the name comes from

A post office named Crane opened December 31, 1866, then was renamed Cecil, for a railroad official, effective June 8, 1868.

Before the town

No Native American village, mound, or treaty site specific to Cecil is documented in the sources checked.

Timeline

1. 1864 — Evans, Rodgers & Co. establish Paulding Furnace nearby, on the north side of the Wabash and Erie Canal, smelting Lake Superior iron ore.
2. 1866-12-31 — A post office named Crane opens at the future site of Cecil.
3. 1868-06-08 — The post office is renamed Cecil, for a railroad official.
4. 1871 — Cecil is founded as a railroad hub where the Wabash Railroad and the Cincinnati Northern Railroad converge.
5. 1887-04-25 — During the Reservoir War, militia Private Fred Reeves, age 19, accidentally shoots himself fatally while on guard duty at Cecil -- the unrest's only casualty; Paulding Furnace closes not long after, once the canal that fed it stops functioning.
6. 1890 — Cecil's population peaks at 348, a 105.9 percent increase over the previous decade.
7. 2020 — The census records 146 residents.

Stories

A Militiaman's Death in a Bloodless Uprising

The Reservoir War of April 1887 is remembered, correctly, as a nearly bloodless uprising: several hundred Paulding County men dynamited and dug apart the Six Mile Reservoir near Antwerp, and the lone guard on duty there escaped with only a minor, self-inflicted wound. But the state's response reached all the way to Cecil, roughly a dozen miles south, where Governor Joseph B. Foraker had dispatched militia companies, a light battery, and a Gatling gun to restore order. It was there, not at the reservoir itself, that the episode's only fatality occurred: 19-year-old Private Fred Reeves, standing guard duty for his militia company, accidentally shot himself in the head and died instantly. His body was sent to Toledo for burial. The irony of the Reservoir War is that the mob who committed the actual destruction was never identified or punished, while the state's own show of force produced the single death connected to the whole affair -- a young soldier sent to guard against a riot that had, by the time he stood his post, already finished happening somewhere else.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · cranetwppcohio.gov · thevwindependent.com · en.wikipedia.org

Mostly private wells The water here

• Brentwood Community MHP Llc100% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

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.
• Basic Audit, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-04-14
• Basic Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-10-17

Cite this page