Glenford

How Glenford began

Glenford got its start when the railroad was extended to the site and a post office opened in 1871. It is best known for what lies just outside town: the Glenford Fort, a roughly 27-acre hilltop earthwork the county's 1902 history calls the best example of its kind in the state, built long before the village existed. Downtown, the Neoclassical Glenford Bank of 1919 anchors the corner of Main and Broad and is separately listed on the National Register. The village peaked at 231 residents in 1940 and stood at 165 in 2020; Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was born here.

Incorporated 1871 (post office).

Where the name comes from

Not documented in the sources checked; the name likely references the valley (glen) setting, but no source stating the origin directly was found.

Before the town

Glenford sits beside one of the most significant Native American sites in Perry County: a hilltop enclosure of about 27 acres, walled originally 7 to 10 feet high along roughly 6,610 feet of rampart. No source read attributes it to a particular culture. The 1902 county history calls it 'the best example of its kind in the state' and credits Caleb Atwater of Circleville with publishing a description of it in the first book ever written on Ohio archaeology, his Antiquities of 1820. Two large conical mounds stand nearby: the Wilson Mound (18 feet high) and the Roberts Mound (27 feet high, 120 feet in diameter), both east of the village. The earthwork, now known as Glenford Fort, was the first property in Perry County listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in 1971. No source found ties a later historic-era Wyandot, Shawnee, or Delaware village or trail specifically to the village site itself; the trails documented in the county history (Monongahela, Shawnee Run, Moxahala) run through other parts of the county.

• Glenford Fort (earthwork) — hilltop east of Glenford village, prehistoric; culture not identified in the sources read (archive.org)
• Wilson Mound (mound) — east of Glenford, not specified (archive.org)
• Roberts Mound (mound) — east of Glenford, not specified (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1820 — Caleb Atwater of Circleville publishes his Antiquities, the first book on Ohio archaeology; the 1902 county history says it included a description of the hilltop stone fort near Glenford.
2. 1871 — Glenford's post office opened as the railroad reached the site and the village got its start.
3. 1919 — The Glenford Bank was built at Main and Broad streets in the Neoclassical style.
4. 1940 — Village population peaked at 231.
5. 1971 — The hilltop earthwork was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Glenford Fort, the earliest Perry County listing.
6. 1990 — The Glenford Bank building was separately listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
7. 2020 — Population was 165.

Stories

The best hilltop fort in the state

Long before Glenford existed as a railroad village, ancient builders raised stone walls along a hilltop just outside town, enclosing about 27 acres with a rampart that once stood 7 to 10 feet high and ran roughly 6,610 feet around the hill's edge. Caleb Atwater, a Circleville antiquarian, published what the county's 1902 historian called a glowing description of the site in the first book ever written on Ohio archaeology, his Antiquities of 1820; that same historian judged it the best example of a hilltop enclosure anywhere in the state. Two large conical mounds, one 18 feet and one 27 feet high, sit nearby, evidently connected to the same builders. The earthwork earned Perry County's first National Register listing in 1971, a full century before most of the county's other historic buildings were recognized.

A Neoclassical bank for a small coal-country village

In 1919, at the tail end of the region's coal boom, Glenford's residents built a bank on the corner of Main and Broad streets in a full Neoclassical style, unusual for a town of a few hundred people. It stands today as one of two National Register listings tied to the village, alongside the ancient earthwork on the hill outside town, a pairing that captures Glenford's history in miniature: two thousand years of continuous human presence recognized on the same short list.

Photographs

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

Every historic place in Perry County on the full map

Mostly private wells The water here

• Glenford Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Basic Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-07-29

Statewide question: State Issue 3: Voter ID

Local questions for Glenford, Perry County and its school district:

• Perry County: Renews a 1-mill property tax levy to maintain & operate county home of Perry County for 5 years, beginning in 2026.

Races, candidates and every question for an address: your ballot. County offices and judges are on your county board's sample ballot.

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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