Columbia Township, Hamilton County

How Columbia Township, Hamilton County began

Columbia Township takes its name from the Columbia settlement founded in 1788 by Benjamin Stites, one of the three original 1788 settlements (with Losantiville/Cincinnati and North Bend) in the Symmes Purchase and the first American settlement in what became Hamilton County. The township itself was organized in 1791 when Hamilton County's court split its southern territory into Columbia, Cincinnati and Miami townships, and it was steadily whittled down over the next century and a half as Deerfield, Dayton, Sycamore, Symmes and Spencer townships were carved from its land and as the original Columbia settlement (Columbia-Tusculum) and villages including Madisonville, Norwood, Pleasant Ridge, Mariemont, Indian Hill and Fairfax were annexed by Cincinnati or incorporated separately. What remains today is a small unincorporated pocket of the township, its territory scattered among the ZIP codes of Cincinnati's eastern suburbs. The U.S. Army built Camp Dennison on 500 acres in the township's northeastern corner in 1861 as a Civil War training and hospital post.

Settled 1788, incorporated 1791, by Formed from the southern part of Hamilton County by the county court, named for the 1788 Columbia settlement founded by Benjamin Stites.

Where the name comes from

The township is named for the settlement of Columbia, founded in 1788 by Benjamin Stites and a party of pioneers as part of the Symmes Purchase, the first American settlement in the future Hamilton County; the settlement itself was annexed by Cincinnati in 1871 and is known today as Columbia-Tusculum.

Before the town

Columbia Township's own Wikipedia history states plainly that the region was "the ancestral home of Native American tribes, including the Shawnee, Miami, and Fort Ancient Peoples, who constructed the Fort Ancient Earthworks," and that conflict continued in the area through the Northwest Indian War until the 1795 Treaty of Greenville. No source consulted names a specific village, camp or trail sited within the present, much-reduced township boundary itself; the documented earthworks associated with this area, including the Mariemont Embankment and Village Site and the nearby Madisonville Fort Ancient village site, lie within the separately incorporated village of Mariemont, once part of Columbia Township but now its own municipality.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Miami, Fort Ancient culture.

Timeline

1. 1788 — Benjamin Stites leads a party of pioneers to found the Columbia settlement under the Symmes Purchase, the first American settlement in the future Hamilton County.
2. 1791 — Hamilton County's court divides its southern territory into Columbia, Cincinnati and Miami townships, organizing Columbia Township.
3. 1795 — Following the Treaty of Greenville, Deerfield and Dayton townships are created out of Columbia Township's northern reaches.
4. 1861 — The United States Army builds Camp Dennison on 500 acres in the township's northeastern corner as a Civil War training camp and hospital.
5. 1871 — Cincinnati annexes the original Columbia settlement, afterward known as Columbia-Tusculum.
6. 1911-1914 — Cincinnati annexes the villages of Madisonville, Pleasant Ridge, Oakley and Kennedy Heights, all former parts of Columbia Township.
7. 1941 — Indian Hill and Mariemont, both former parts of the township, incorporate as separate villages.
8. 2010 — Fairfax withdraws from Columbia Township, on January 1, by forming a paper township.

Stories

The township that gave away most of itself

Columbia Township was, in 1791, the whole southern half of the newly organized Hamilton County, named for the pioneer settlement Benjamin Stites had planted on the Ohio River three years earlier. Over the following century and a half it was cut down piece by piece: Deerfield, Dayton, Sycamore, Symmes and Spencer townships were all carved from its original territory, its namesake settlement was annexed into Cincinnati as Columbia-Tusculum in 1871, and one village after another that had grown up on its land, from Norwood and Madisonville to Mariemont, Indian Hill and finally Fairfax in 2010, incorporated separately or was annexed outright. What is left today is a scattering of small unincorporated pockets, still called Columbia Township, tucked among the ZIP codes of Cincinnati's eastern suburbs.

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

Ohio River intake at the plant's riverfront on Kellogg Ave in the California neighborhood, east Cincinnati The water here

• Cincinnati Public Water System97% of residentsOhio River (Miller Plant, ~88%) plus Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer wells (~12%)
• Indian Hill City3% of residentsLittle Miami River valley aquifer (wells near Milford)
• Reading City0% of residentsOhio River (Miller Plant, ~88%) plus Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer wells (~12%)

Private schools (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Public EV charging (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

Money issues on the ballot since 2021: 1 of 1 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 1 of 1.

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 2024-12-03

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