Dupont

How Dupont began

Dupont was platted in 1877 when the Toledo, Delphos, and Indianapolis Railway was extended to the site, and named for Samuel Francis Du Pont, a United States Navy admiral of the Mexican-American War era; it incorporated in 1888. The village sits in northern Perry Township on the Auglaize River, and its population more than tripled between the 1880 and 1890 censuses as the railroad drove growth.

Platted 1877, incorporated 1888, by E. W. Dimock, the village's first mayor upon incorporation.

Where the name comes from

Named for Rear Admiral S. F. Du Pont of the United States Navy. A post office of that name had already been established in 1864, thirteen years before the village itself was platted; the mail route at that time ran twenty-six miles from Ottawa to Charloe, traveled once a week.

Before the town

No Native American site or village specific to Dupont was located. The village stands on the Auglaize River in Perry Township; the Putnam County record shows that under the 1817 Treaty of Fort Meigs the Odawa (Ottawa) were reserved tracts on the Great and Little Auglaize rivers, but the sources consulted do not place either reserve at Dupont, so no site is claimed here. Elsewhere in the county, the record includes the Ottawa towns on the Blanchard River and the 1831-32 removal.

Timeline

1. 1864 — A post office named Dupont is established, serving a mail route running once a week between Ottawa and Charloe.
2. 1877 — Dupont is platted when the Toledo, Delphos, and Indianapolis narrow-gauge railroad is extended to the site.
3. 1880 — The census records 165 residents.
4. 1882-11-11 — Dupont Lodge of the Odd Fellows is instituted with thirteen charter members, Samuel Stuckey serving as first noble grand; it builds a $2,000 lodge in 1900.
5. 1888 — Dupont incorporates as an Ohio village, with E. W. Dimock as its first mayor, and the narrow-gauge railroad is converted to standard gauge as the Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas City railroad.
6. 1890 — The census records 531 residents, a 221.8 percent increase over 1880; at its height the village has two stave mills, two hotels, a tile mill, saw mills, an axe-handle factory and five general stores, with a population of about seven hundred.
7. 1891 — Cloverdale, 2.5 miles south at the junction of two railroads, is platted by E. W. Dimmick; the Findlay, Fort Wayne and Western line through it helps draw business away from Dupont.
8. 1910 — The village census is 334, down from its roughly 700 at the height of the stave boom.

Stories

Boom and Bust on the Narrow Gauge

Dupont's post office existed for thirteen years before the village around it did, serving farm families along a weekly mail route that ran twenty-six miles from Ottawa to Charloe. The village itself only took shape in 1877, when the narrow-gauge Toledo, Delphos & Indianapolis railroad reached the site and gave the surrounding timber country an outlet to market. For a decade the town boomed: at its height it supported two stave mills, two hotels, a tile mill, several saw mills, an axe-handle factory and five general stores, with a population pushing toward seven hundred. Then came three blows in quick succession, as the county's 1915 historian tallied them. First the timber ran out, taking the stave factories -- Dupont's chief industry -- with it. Then the Nickel Plate railroad crossed the Clover Leaf line at Continental instead of Dupont, diverting traffic. Finally the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western railroad was built through Cloverdale, just two and a half miles south, drawing off what business remained. By 1915 Dupont's population had fallen back to about three hundred, its business reduced to a tile factory, a general store, a grocery and a hardware store -- "the healthiest child," as the historian put it, does not always become the strongest man.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Continental Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Money issues on the ballot since 2022: 2 of 2 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.
• Basic Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-09-02

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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