Frazeysburg

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How Frazeysburg began

Frazeysburg, on Wakatomika Creek in western Muskingum County, was surveyed June 6, 1827 by Clark Hollenback, who named his new town Knoxville. Hollenback sold the platted tract to Samuel Frazey in 1828, and Frazey renamed it for himself, partly because Ohio already had a post office named Knoxville. A post office opened under the Frazeysburg name and the village incorporated in 1868. Jackson Township's Methodist congregation, its earliest institution, had already organized in 1815, twelve years before the town existed; the completed Ohio and Erie Canal reached the village in 1831-32.

Platted June 6, 1827, as Knoxville, incorporated 1868, by Surveyed and platted by Clark Hollenback as Knoxville; sold in 1828 to Samuel Frazey, who renamed it Frazeysburg.

Where the name comes from

Clark Hollenback surveyed the town June 6, 1827 and called it Knoxville. In 1828 he sold the platted tract to Samuel Frazey, who changed the name to Frazeysburg -- partly, the 1882 county history says, because a post office already named Knoxville existed elsewhere in Ohio, and the Post Office Department did not allow two offices of the same name in one state.

Before the town

The 1882 county history says the early settlers were drawn to the fertile valley of Wakatomika Creek, which runs through Jackson Township and Frazeysburg. The creek carries the name of Wakatomika, a Shawnee town founded about 1756 on the Muskingum River near present Dresden and destroyed in August 1774 by Virginia militia under Angus McDonald in Dunmore's War (Wikipedia gives the dates; the 1882 history cites the 1774 march). No Native village, mound or trail is recorded inside Frazeysburg itself.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee.

• Wakatomika (Shawnee town, source of the creek's name) (village) — Muskingum River near present Dresden; the creek that bears its name flows through Frazeysburg, c. 1756 to August 1774 (en.wikipedia.org)

Timeline

1. 1811 — Samuel Mendenhall of Virginia enters 1,300 acres on Wakatomika Creek and builds his cabin about a mile and a quarter west of the future Frazeysburg; in 1819 he builds the first saw and grist mill in the township.
2. 1815 — Jackson Township is set off from Licking Township by the county commissioners on June 6, with elections at the house of Thomas Blizzard; Colonel William Blizzard settles that year in section 12 and the Methodist class forms at Zachariah Bonham's house.
3. 1820 — Clark Hollenback, who will lay out Frazeysburg, builds a sawmill in 1820-22 on Wakatomika Creek.
4. 1822 — John and Charles Roberts, among the first surveyors, arrive; John Roberts will survey Frazeysburg in 1827.
5. June 6, 1827 — Clark Hollenback surveys and lays out the town, naming it Knoxville; the survey itself was made by John Roberts.
6. 1827 — Henry Shepherd opens the township's first blacksmith shop, a log building about a mile west of the site, doing much of his business ironing wheelbarrows for canal laborers.
7. 1827-28 — Samuel Mills builds the first tavern in the township, a cabin on the site later occupied by James W. Hamilton's store.
8. 1828 — Clark Hollenback sells the platted tract to Samuel Frazey, who renames the town Frazeysburg; Colonel William Blizzard opens a store on his farm about a mile west of town the same year.
9. winter 1828-29 — The township's first and only post office is established at Frazeysburg, with Samuel Frazey as the first postmaster; Wikipedia gives 1837 for the post office.
10. 1828 — Samuel Frazey opens a store near the northeast corner of the later canal bridge in 1828-29; Colonel Blizzard's brick-house store a mile west is the other early store.
11. 1831-32 — The Ohio and Erie Canal is completed through the village; the pleasure boat Reindeer is the first craft to pass through, and the freight boat Union, of Dover, is the first regular freight boat.
12. 1855 — The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis (Pan Handle) Railroad is completed through the village, the township's only station.
13. 1868 — Frazeysburg is incorporated; the first election, held that April, chooses L. W. Doane as mayor.
14. 1871 — The township erects a two-story brick building with a hall in Frazeysburg for $3,300, to which the Masonic lodge contributes $800 for the upper hall under a ninety-nine-year lease.
15. 1874-75 — The Frazeysburg Union School, a brick building serving a 2,395-acre district, is erected at a cost of $4,680.
16. 1874 — Frazeysburg Lodge No. 490, F. & A. M., is instituted July 21 and chartered October 21.
17. 1880 — By the 1880 assessment the township holds 12,680 acres valued at $318,070, and the village's corporate limits cover 312 acres.
18. 2024 — In the early hours of June 6 an EF2 tornado strikes the west side of Frazeysburg, injuring eight people and damaging homes and businesses; the National Weather Service rates it EF2.

Stories

From Knoxville to Frazeysburg

The village on Wakatomika Creek was first surveyed on June 6, 1827 by Clark Hollenback, who called his new town Knoxville, but the name did not stick. The following year the platted tract changed hands, sold to Samuel Frazey, and the new owner's name replaced the old one -- partly, the 1882 county history explains, because Ohio's postal rules barred two post offices from sharing a name, and a Knoxville post office already existed elsewhere in the state. A post office under the Frazeysburg name followed, and the village incorporated in 1868, its first election choosing L. W. Doane as mayor. The Ohio and Erie Canal reached the settlement in 1831-32, and for a few years the village handled real river-and-canal traffic before the railroad era passed it by; unlike its neighbors Dresden and Roseville, Frazeysburg has no National Register listings today, and in 2024 an EF2 tornado is the most recent event recorded about it.

A Paul Bril 'Narcissus' in Frazeysburg

The 1882 county history records an odd treasure in the village: a painting of Narcissus attributed to Paul Bril, the Flemish landscape painter, owned since 1859 by Dr. S. C. Mendenhall. As the historian tells it, the canvas was shipped to New York for the World's Fair exhibition but was held at the Custom House for unpaid duties, lost track of, and finally sold at auction, where the Cosmopolitan Art Association of New York bought it. That society sold works to its members by lottery to raise the country's taste, and in the distribution Dr. Mendenhall drew the painting. The Art Association's president, the historian says, would have paid him $1,500 for it if the charter had allowed. The county historian also gives Bril's death year as 1526, an error for 1626, so the attribution rests on his word and the painting is unverified.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · archive.org · nbc24.com

Mostly private wells The water here

• Frazeysburg98% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Country Hills MHP2% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Public schools (1)

Police stations (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2019: county board of elections.

Money issues on the ballot since 2017: 1 of 1 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, 2021 to 2022, released 2025-09-30

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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