Grover Hill

How Grover Hill began

Grover Hill began as a railroad boomtown in the late 1880s on the line first called the New York, Mahoning & Western, then the American Midland (1889) and the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western (1890), in Latty and Washington townships. It took its name from President Grover Cleveland and Congressman W. D. Hill, and its post office opened in 1889. The village grew to a peak of 676 residents in 1910, with a bank, a newspaper, a fraternal hall, and telephone and electric service, then declined after the rails were pulled up in 1919 and the bank closed in 1929. It now numbers about 380 people.

Where the name comes from

Named after President Grover Cleveland and Congressman W. D. Hill.

Before the town

No Native American village, mound, or treaty site specific to Grover Hill is documented in the sources checked.

Timeline

1. 1888 — The railroad that will serve Grover Hill is built under the name New York, Mahoning & Western; it is renamed the American Midland in 1889 and the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western in 1890.
2. 1889 — A post office named Grover Hill opens; its spelling is changed to Groverhill in 1895 and changed back in 1905.
3. 1897 — The Grover Hill Reporter newspaper is established.
4. 1900 — Grover Hill records 655 residents.
5. 1901 — Grover Hill has telephone service.
6. 1902 — The Grover Hill Exchange Bank organizes as a state institution and incorporates; it first opened in 1898 as a private bank.
7. 1904 — Grover Hill High School holds its first commencement, with two graduates, Raymond Heath and Paul Seeds.
8. 1906 — The Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias lodges in Grover Hill build the three-story brick Fraternal Building.
9. 1908 — A major fire in Grover Hill destroys about 15 businesses, including a grain elevator.
10. 1910 — Population peaks at 676.
11. 1910 — In May the two-story frame Grover Hill school burns.
12. 1911 — Grover Hill builds a new school to replace the one burned in 1910; it has no electricity or indoor restrooms.
13. 1914 — Electricity comes to Grover Hill.
14. 1916 — Voters approve merging the Grover Hill and Latty township school districts.
15. 1919 — The rails of the financially troubled Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western Railroad are removed from the southern part of Paulding County, including the route through Grover Hill.
16. 1929 — The Exchange Bank of Grover Hill closes its doors.
17. 2020 — The census records 382 residents.

Stories

A Town Named for a President, on a Railroad That Kept Changing Its Name

Grover Hill owed its existence to a railroad that crossed the Black Swamp in the late 1880s. A railroad-station survey of Paulding County records that the line was the New York, Mahoning & Western in 1888, the American Midland in 1889, and the Findlay, Fort Wayne & Western from 1890; the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton leased it from 1903 until financial trouble returned it to its owners on March 15, 1917. The village took the name of Grover Cleveland and Congressman W. D. Hill, and the post office, opened in 1889, wore two spellings: Grover Hill, then Groverhill from 1895, then Grover Hill again from 1905. The population rose from 655 in 1900 to a peak of 676 in 1910. In 1919 the rails of the failing road were lifted from the southern part of Paulding County, and the village that the railroad made had to live on farm trade alone.

Fire Years

Grover Hill's frame buildings burned often in the decade of its greatest growth. In 1908 a fire destroyed about 15 businesses, among them a grain elevator, a heavy loss for a village of some 650 people. In May 1910 the two-story frame school burned, and the replacement built in 1911 had neither electricity nor indoor restrooms; electricity reached the village only in 1914. The Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias put up their three-story Fraternal Building in brick in 1906, part of a change the Visions editors trace across Paulding County's small towns, where brick schools, churches and business blocks replaced frame ones.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · archive.org · west2k.com · postalhistory.com · archive.org

No water-system data is linked to Grover Hill's ZIP codes yet.

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Public schools (1)

Public libraries (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2021: 4 of 4 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

• Fiscal emergency: declared 2018-01-11, still in effect. source
• Financial Audit, 2022, released 2024-11-19

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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