Local events in Florence Township, Erie County
Florence Township itself has 1 event posted in the next 90 days; the others here are within 10 miles. All local events in Florence Township, Erie County
Checked October 20; the events page is refreshed daily.
How Florence Township, Erie County began
Florence Township, in the southeastern corner of Erie County along the Vermilion River, was first named Jessup for Ebenezer Jessup, one of its original proprietors, and was surveyed in 1807 and divided into lots by Jabez Wright in 1809. Ezra Sprague brought the first family in May 1809, and the township was organized as Florence on April 7, 1817, with seventeen voters. Its two villages were Florence Corners, site of the first post office, and Birmingham on the Vermilion River, which had mills, an iron forge, stores and several churches but never got a railroad. Three places in the township are on the National Register: the Cyrus Butler and Starr-Truscott houses in Birmingham and the Florence Corners School, along with the 1898 Dean Road Bridge on the Lorain County line.
Settled 1809, incorporated 1817 (organized as Florence, April 7, 1817), by Ezra Sprague and family, first settlers; earlier organized as Jesup Township.
Where the name comes from
First named Jessup for Ebenezer Jessup, one of the original proprietors, and renamed Florence when it was organized in 1817. Wikipedia describes Jesup as a land speculator who fell out of favor with the settlers who bought farms from him. No opened source explains why the name Florence was chosen.
Before the town
No Native village, mound or trail is recorded within Florence Township. The 1889 and 1916 county histories say that from 1810 to 1815 Native bands passing through kept the settlers in fear, that no new families came in those years, and that during the War of 1812 the settlers built a blockhouse in 1811 to shelter in; the one night they gathered there expecting attack turned out to be a false alarm. The land lies in the Firelands, ceded under the 1805 Treaty of Fort Industry.
Timeline
- — The township, then called Jessup, was first surveyed; Jabez Wright divided it into lots in 1809.
- — The township was organized as Jesup Township, named for an early land speculator, according to Wikipedia; the 1916 county history gives only the 1817 organization.
- — Ezra Sprague and his family, from the Berkshire hills, came by water to the mouth of the Huron River and then overland to Florence, making the first settlement.
- — The Ruggles brothers built a gristmill on the Vermilion River near the south line under contract with the proprietors; a freshet swept it away soon after it started.
- — Eli S. Barnum built the first sawmill in the township, on Chapelle Creek.
- — Settlers built a blockhouse for shelter from feared Native attack; the Ruggles brothers began a second mill on Chapelle Creek, finished the next year.
- — Methodists were meeting in the log schoolhouse a mile south of Florence Corners by 1816 or 1817, led by Rev. Nathan Smith.
- — The township was judicially reorganized and renamed Florence after settlers turned against the namesake speculator.
- — Florence was organized as an independent township; seventeen votes were cast at the first election, held in the log schoolhouse south of Florence Corners.
- — Rev. John Rigdon of Richland County organized a Baptist church.
- — Erastus Butler, who opened the first store at Birmingham, was the only trader named in the township's tax list.
- — The Congregational church was organized with seventeen members; its building, on a lot given by Jessup Wakeman, was finished in 1842 for $2,012.
- — The First Congregational Church of Birmingham was organized, first as a Presbyterian church.
- — The Church of the Disciples was organized at Birmingham with forty members; it later lost about half its members when a preacher converted to Mormonism.
- — The Dean Road Bridge, a Pratt truss span over the Vermilion River at the Erie-Lorain county line west of South Amherst, was built by the Massillon Bridge Company.
- — The Florence Corners School, at State Route 113 and Division Street, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- — The Cyrus Butler House in Birmingham was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- — The Dean Road Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
- — The Starr-Truscott House in Birmingham was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Stories
A second township that un-named its founder
Florence Township's history opens with an oddly specific pattern also found next door in Berlin Township: both were first named for early land speculators -- Jesup here, Eldredge there -- and both speculators later fell out of favor with the very settlers who had bought farmland from them, prompting the townships to discard their names. Florence was reorganized under its new name in 1817, the same general era Ohio's Firelands townships were filling in with New England transplants working out their own local governance for the first time. No source found preserves the specifics of Jesup's falling-out with his buyers, but the repetition of the pattern across two adjoining townships suggests land speculation on the Firelands frontier was, at least in a few well-remembered cases, a fraught business for the men who tried to profit from it.
Three miles to the anvil
Florence's first blacksmith, a man named Wolverton, fastened his anvil to a stump and hung his bellows between two trees. The 1916 county history claims his shop as the source of a story told all over the West: a traveler whose horse had lost a shoe asked a man on the road where he could find a blacksmith shop, and was told, 'Stranger, you're in it now; but it is three miles to the anvil.' Money was as scarce as shops. Silver dollars were cut into ten or twelve pieces to pass as shillings, and the settlers' first paper money, notes of the Owl Creek Bank, became worthless when the bank failed. Joab Squire once carried 200 pounds of maple sugar to Sandusky and traded it for two barrels of salt, a three-day trip.
Birmingham, the village the railroad missed
Birmingham lies in the south of Florence Township, above the valley of the Vermilion River. Erastus Butler opened its first store and in 1826 was the only trader on the township tax list, with $1,800 in stock. Cyrus Butler, who owned the old mills, made bar iron for several years at a forge beside them from ore dug in Vermillion Township, until a freshet carried the works away; an ax factory ran there for a short time too. By 1889 Birmingham had about 350 people, two schools, three stores, a hotel, a sawmill and a handle factory, but it had failed to get a railroad and was growing, in the county history's words, more and more stagnant. The Cyrus Butler House still stands there and is on the National Register.
Photographs
Photo: Matthew Kowal, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org
Historic places
3 places in Florence Township, Erie County on the National Register of Historic Places. Press a pin or a name for its whole record.
-
Butler, Cyrus, HouseBuilding · Birmingham · listed 1976
- Address
- Edison Hwy.
- Where
- Birmingham, Erie County · ZIP 44889
- What it is
- Building
- Listed on the National Register
- 1976
- NRIS reference number
- 76001416
- Coordinates
- 41.33168, -82.35107
National Register file (NPS) ↗ Search Wikipedia ↗ Street map and directions ↗ On the Cracked Buckeye map
-
Florence Corners SchoolBuilding · Florence · listed 1975
- Address
- OH 113 at Division St.
- Where
- Florence, Erie County · ZIP 44814
- What it is
- Building
- Listed on the National Register
- 1975
- NRIS reference number
- 75001378
- Coordinates
- 41.32217, -82.41516
National Register file (NPS) ↗ Search Wikipedia ↗ Street map and directions ↗ On the Cracked Buckeye map
-
Starr-Truscott HouseBuilding · Birmingham · listed 1978
- Address
- OH 133
- Where
- Birmingham, Erie County · ZIP 44889
- What it is
- Building
- Listed on the National Register
- 1978
- NRIS reference number
- 78002056
- Coordinates
- 41.33126, -82.35537
National Register file (NPS) ↗ Search Wikipedia ↗ Street map and directions ↗ On the Cracked Buckeye map
Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places point file. The listing year is shown where NPS's certification date agrees with the listing's reference number. Listing recognizes significance; it does not restrict a private owner.
Water
Mostly private wells The water here
- Rural Lorain Co. Water A41% of residentsMostly Lake Erie (bought from Avon Lake); some New London Reservoir and Ashland wells
- Wakeman Village26% of residentsLake Erie
- Northern Ohio Rural Water11% of residentsLake Erie
- Vermilion City9% of residentsLake Erie (Vermilion River intake as secondary/backup)
- Huron City5% of residentsLake Erie
- Firelands Manor MHP4% of residentsLake Erie via Avon Lake Regional Water (blended with Rural Lorain Co. Water Authority supply)
- Erie Co. Vermilion District3% of residentsLake Erie
- Erie Co. Huron East District1% of residentsLake Erie
Hospitals, fire stations and more
Inside Florence Township, Erie County's boundary: 1 fire or EMS station, 5 shale and injection wells, 4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities and 8 spill cases. Press a pin or a name for its whole record and its source.
Fire and EMS stations (1)
-
Florence Township Fire DepartmentWakeman
- Address
- 11017 Chapel Street, Wakeman, OH 44889
- Coordinates
- 41.32994, -82.35464
USGS National Map structures (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
Source: USGS National Map structures (most Ohio records last updated 2019 to 2022), checked against the Columbus and Cleveland station lists. The department that answers a call is set by jurisdiction and mutual aid, not by distance.
Shale and injection wells (5)
-
Bertha Latteman {Erp#1} 1 InjectionInjection well (Class II)
- What it is
- Injection well (Class II)
- Operator
- Franklin Gas & Oil Co Llc
- County
- Erie County
- API well number
- 34043200150000
- Coordinates
- 41.30078, -82.35029
ODNR oil and gas wells (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
-
Erie Unit Tract 1 {Erp#1} 2 InjectionInjection well (Class II)
- What it is
- Injection well (Class II)
- Operator
- Franklin Gas & Oil Co Llc
- County
- Erie County
- API well number
- 34043200790000
- Coordinates
- 41.31477, -82.35792
ODNR oil and gas wells (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
-
Erie Unit {Erp#1} 1 InjectionInjection well (Class II)
- What it is
- Injection well (Class II)
- Operator
- Franklin Gas & Oil Co Llc
- County
- Erie County
- API well number
- 34043200630000
- Coordinates
- 41.30710, -82.34657
ODNR oil and gas wells (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
-
Erie Unit(Erp #1) 1 InjectionInjection well (Class II)
- What it is
- Injection well (Class II)
- Operator
- Franklin Gas & Oil Co Llc
- County
- Erie County
- API well number
- 34043200140000
- Coordinates
- 41.30778, -82.35563
ODNR oil and gas wells (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
-
Fleming {Swiw#2} 1 InjectionInjection well (Class II)
- What it is
- Injection well (Class II)
- Operator
- Franklin Gas & Oil Co Llc
- County
- Erie County
- API well number
- 34043200430000
- Coordinates
- 41.32997, -82.38301
ODNR oil and gas wells (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
Source: ODNR Division of Oil and Gas Resources well inventory (September 2026): drilled Utica, Marcellus and horizontal wells and Class II injection wells not plugged. Older vertical wells are on the full map.
Facilities reporting toxic releases (4)
-
Bettcher Industries IncToxics Release Inventory · Birmingham
- Address
- 6801 State Rte 60, Birmingham, OH 44889
- County
- Erie County
- Status
- Reports to the Toxics Release Inventory (***unchanged***)
- EPA program ID
- 4481WBTTCHHITUR
- EPA registry ID
- 110006328269
EPA facility record ↗ EPA Facility Registry Service (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
-
Birmingham Metal Products IncToxics Release Inventory · Birmingham
- Address
- 12609 State Rte. 113, Birmingham, OH 44816
- County
- Erie County County
- Status
- Reports to the Toxics Release Inventory (active)
- EPA program ID
- 44816BRMNG12609
- EPA registry ID
- 110002112375
EPA facility record ↗ EPA Facility Registry Service (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
-
Concast Metal Products CoToxics Release Inventory · Wakeman
- Address
- 14315 Oh-113, Wakeman, OH 44889
- County
- Huron County
- Status
- Reports to the Toxics Release Inventory (open)
- EPA program ID
- 44816CNCSTSTATE
- EPA registry ID
- 110006196017
EPA facility record ↗ EPA Facility Registry Service (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
-
Ma Harrison Mfg Co IncToxics Release Inventory · Birmingham
- Address
- 14307 Rt 113, Birmingham, OH 44816
- County
- Erie County
- Status
- Reports to the Toxics Release Inventory
- EPA program ID
- 44816MHRRSRTE11
- EPA registry ID
- 110000391424
EPA facility record ↗ EPA Facility Registry Service (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
Source: EPA Facility Registry Service, Toxics Release Inventory reporters. Reporting a release is required of large users of listed chemicals; it is not by itself a violation.
Spills reported since 2021 (8)
-
Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2024-07-24 · Florence Twp
- Reported
- 2024-07-24
- What spilled
- Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
- Largest amount reported
- 75 gallons
- Where
- Florence Twp, Erie County
- Ohio EPA district office
- NWDO
- Ohio EPA case number
- 2407EPA0001270
Ohio EPA spill reports (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
-
Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2023-01-11 · Florence Twp
- Reported
- 2023-01-11
- What spilled
- Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
- Largest amount reported
- 50 gallons
- Where
- Florence Twp, Erie County
- Ohio EPA district office
- NWDO
- Ohio EPA case number
- 2301EPA0000059
Ohio EPA spill reports (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
-
Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2022-11-08 · Florence Twp
- Reported
- 2022-11-08
- What spilled
- Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
- Largest amount reported
- 50 gallons
- Where
- Florence Twp, Erie County
- Ohio EPA district office
- NWDO
- Ohio EPA case number
- 2211EPA0001656
Ohio EPA spill reports (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
-
Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road) Reached water2022-10-12 · Florence Twp
- Reported
- 2022-10-12
- What spilled
- Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
- Largest amount reported
- 120 gallons
- Reached a waterway
- 99 - Unnamed
- Where
- Florence Twp, Erie County
- Ohio EPA district office
- NWDO
- Ohio EPA case number
- 2210EPA0001548
Ohio EPA spill reports (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
-
Leachate2022-01-24 · Florence Twp
- Reported
- 2022-01-24
- What spilled
- Leachate
- Largest amount reported
- 7,000 gallons
- Where
- Florence Twp, Erie County
- Ohio EPA district office
- NWDO
- Ohio EPA case number
- 2201EPA0000072
Ohio EPA spill reports (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
-
Oil Motor / Lube Oil / Vehicle2021-04-09 · Columbia Twp
- Reported
- 2021-04-09
- What spilled
- Oil Motor / Lube Oil / Vehicle
- Where
- Columbia Twp, Lorain County
- Ohio EPA district office
- NWDO
- Ohio EPA case number
- 2104EPA0000497
Ohio EPA spill reports (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
-
Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2021-03-24 · Florence Twp
- Reported
- 2021-03-24
- What spilled
- Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
- Largest amount reported
- 75 gallons
- Where
- Florence Twp, Erie County
- Ohio EPA district office
- NWDO
- Ohio EPA case number
- 2103EPA0000389
Ohio EPA spill reports (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
-
Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2026-02-06 · Florence Twp
- Reported
- 2026-02-06
- What spilled
- Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
- Where
- Florence Twp, Erie County
- Ohio EPA district office
- NWDO
- Ohio EPA case number
- 2602EPA0000135
Ohio EPA spill reports (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
Source: Ohio EPA emergency response spill reports, 2021 to September 2026, one point per case where Ohio EPA placed it. A report is what the caller or responder recorded; amounts are often blank or estimated.
Its ZIP codes
Each ZIP code that touches Florence Township, Erie County, with the share of its residents who live here and the same headline figures as the ZIP page.
| ZIP | Share | Water | Radon | Home value | Schools | Flood |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44889 Wakeman Township and Wakeman | 26% | Mostly private wells | 5.9 pCi/L average radon | Median year built 1978 | Western Reserve Local · 4 stars overall | 7.1% of residents in the 1% floodplain |
| 44814 Berlin Township and Berlin Heights | 18% | Mostly private wells | 9.9 pCi/L average radon | Median year built 1970 | Berlin-Milan Local · 4 stars overall | 9.2% of residents in the 1% floodplain |
| 44089 Vermilion | 1% | Lake Erie (Vermilion River intake as secondary/backup) | 7.6 pCi/L average radon | Median year built 1969 | Vermilion Local · 3.5 stars overall | 3.1% of residents in the 1% floodplain |
| 44839 Huron | 1% | Lake Erie surface-water intake crib about 2,200 feet from shore, feeding a 36-inch line through a screen to a raw-water wet well on shore at the Huron WTP. | 4.9 pCi/L average radon | Median year built 1973 | Huron City · 4.5 stars overall | 3.9% of residents in the 1% floodplain |
The county
Huron County: 10 ZIP codes, 30 cities, villages and townships, 60,416 people.
Nearby places
Quick answers
What county is Florence Township, Ohio in?
Florence Township, Erie County is a township in Huron County, Ohio, with 2,470 residents.
When was Florence Township, Ohio founded?
Florence Township, Erie County was settled 1809; incorporated 1817 (organized as Florence, April 7, 1817). Founders on record: Ezra Sprague and family, first settlers; earlier organized as Jesup Township. Source
How did Florence Township, Ohio get its name?
First named Jessup for Ebenezer Jessup, one of the original proprietors, and renamed Florence when it was organized in 1817. Source
What ZIP code is Florence Township, Ohio?
Florence Township, Erie County is served by ZIP codes 44889 and 44814; 44889 holds the largest share of its residents.
Where does Florence Township, Ohio get its water?
The main water source for Florence Township, Erie County (Rural Lorain Co. Water A): Mostly private wells.
Cite this page
Cite this page as:
Cracked Buckeye, "Florence Township, Erie County", https://crackedbuckeye.com/place/florence-township-erie-county/, built 2026-10-31, accessed [date].
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