Cedarville Township, Greene County

How Cedarville Township, Greene County began

Cedarville Township was set off in 1850 from land given up by Xenia, Miami and Ross townships, and takes its name from the abundant cedar trees around its village, which had itself been platted in 1816 under the names Newport's Mill and Milford before settling on Cedarville in 1834. First settled by Irish, Scottish and Covenanter families around 1799, drawn by the rich soil along Massie Creek, the township is home to two of Greene County's deepest historical layers: the Adena-built Williamson Mound, one of the largest conical mounds in Ohio, and the boyhood home of journalist and diplomat Whitelaw Reid. Cedarville University, chartered in 1887, anchors the township's economy and population of nearly 6,000 today.

Settled c. 1799, platted 1816 (village), incorporated 1850 (township), by Jessie Newport (village plat); Irish, Scottish and Covenanter settlers (township).

Where the name comes from

The village was laid out by Jessie Newport in 1816 and known successively as Newport's Mill, Hanna's Store, The Burgh and Milford before the name was changed to Cedarville in 1834 for the cedar trees growing in the area; the township took its name from the village when it was organized in 1850.

Before the town

Cedarville Township holds a clear Native American physical record. The Williamson Mound, an Adena conical mound about 27.5 feet high and 150 feet across, and the nearby Pollock Works, a Hopewell earthwork enclosure, both sit within what is now Indian Mound Reserve on Massie Creek near Cedarville; the mound was designated Williamson Mound State Memorial in 1971. Local historical summaries also place part of the Shawnee people, under Tecumseh, in Greene County generally, with their principal town remembered as Oldtown (Old Chillicothe/Chalahgawatha) about seven miles from Cedarville, though that town itself sits outside this township. No treaty cession, trail or named village within Cedarville Township's own boundaries beyond the mound sites was found in the sources checked.

Nations recorded here: Adena culture, Hopewell culture, Shawnee.

• Williamson Mound (mound) — Indian Mound Reserve, near Cedarville, Cedarville Township, Adena culture, c. 500 BC – AD 100 (en.wikipedia.org)
• Pollock Works (earthwork) — Indian Mound Reserve, near Cedarville, Cedarville Township, Hopewell culture (en.wikipedia.org)

Timeline

1. c. 1799 — Irish, Scottish and Covenanter settlers, drawn by the rich soil, arrive in the future township, following earlier settlers John and Thomas Townsley from Kentucky.
2. 1816 — Jessie Newport lays out the village that will become Cedarville.
3. 1834 — The village's name is settled as Cedarville, after several earlier names, for the cedar trees in the area.
4. 1850 — Cedarville Township is organized from land taken out of Xenia, Miami and Ross townships.
5. 1887 — Cedarville College is chartered by the New Light Reformed Presbyterian Church; classes begin in 1892.
6. 1888 — Whitelaw Reid, who grew up in Cedarville Township and by then edited the New York Tribune, brings plans from England for a new Opera House built in Cedarville that year.
7. 1971 — The Williamson Mound is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Williamson Mound State Memorial.
8. 2000 — Cedarville College's designation changes to Cedarville University.

Stories

A journalist's gift to his hometown

Whitelaw Reid grew up on his family's farm southwest of Cedarville, at what is now 2587 Conley Road, before leaving to make his name as a Civil War correspondent, editor of the New York Tribune, and eventually the United States Ambassador to Great Britain. He never stopped being a benefactor of the township he grew up in: in 1888 he brought architectural plans back from England for an opera house, funding its construction in Cedarville, and he supported Cedarville College as well. His boyhood home still stands on Conley Road, a plain reminder of how far a Greene County farm boy could travel and how much he chose to send back.

A mound nearly thirty feet high on Massie Creek

Long before Cedarville had a name, people of the Adena culture built a conical mound above Massie Creek that still stands about 27.5 feet high and 150 feet across, one of the largest of its kind in Ohio. Centuries later, Hopewell people built an earthwork enclosure, the Pollock Works, nearby. The state recognized the mound as Williamson Mound State Memorial in 1971, and both sites are preserved today inside Greene County's Indian Mound Reserve, reached by a wooded, uphill half-mile trail that still follows the creek the mound builders would have known.

Photographs

Local history sources: digitalcommons.cedarville.edu · cedarville.us · cedarvilletwp.us · en.wikipedia.org · 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 Greene County on the full map

Groundwater wells (8 wells) The water here

• Cedarville University81% of residentsGroundwater wells (8 wells)
• Xenia City16% of residentsGreat Miami/Mad River Buried Valley Aquifer (wells near US-68/SR-235)
• Greene County - northwest Reg Water3% of residentsLittle Miami River Buried Valley Aquifer (2 wellfields, Beavercreek area)
• Greene County - southwest Reg Water0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Greene County Eastern Regional0% of residentsLittle Miami River Buried Valley Aquifer (2 wellfields, Beavercreek area)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 3 of 3 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, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-06-16

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