Hanover Township, Ashland County

• Pleasant Hill LakeBuilt 1937 · 850 acres

• Mohican State ParkMohican State Park in Ashland County, Ohio, covers 1,110 acres around the Clear Fork Gorge, a glacial gorge over 300 feet deep named a National Natural Landmark in 1967.

How Hanover Township, Ashland County began

Hanover Township, in the far south of Ashland County, began as part of Richland County, created in 1808, and was formally organized in 1818, becoming part of Ashland County when it was created in 1846. Its northeast corner holds part of Loudonville, the village James Loudon Priest laid out on the Black Fork of the Mohican River on August 6, 1814, naming it for his mother's maiden name, Anna Louden. During the War of 1812 settlers here sheltered behind stockades built on the lands of J. L. Priest and others amid fear of attacks tied to the nearby Delaware village of Greentown. Three of the township's buildings in Loudonville -- the City Hall and Opera House, the Philip J. Black House, and the T.J. and Sarah Bull House -- are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today the township, seat to part of a river town nicknamed the 'Canoe Capital of Ohio,' has a population that has moved between roughly 2,000 and 2,500 over the last three census counts.

Settled 1810 (first cabins, at what became Loudonville), platted 1814 (Loudonville laid out August 6), incorporated 1818 (township organized; part of Richland County from 1808), by James Loudon Priest and Stephen Butler (Loudonville).

Where the name comes from

No source consulted gives the origin of the township name 'Hanover' itself. The village of Loudonville, whose northeast corner lies within the township, is named for James Loudon Priest's mother, Anna Louden, whom his father had married in Massachusetts in 1768; Priest received Louden as his own middle name, and from that family name came Loudonville.

Before the town

No source found places a named Native village, mound, or trail inside Hanover Township's own bounds. The surrounding area's Native history is well documented but centers on neighboring townships: the Delaware (Lenape) settled Helltown until its abandonment in 1782, then established Greentown about three miles west of Perrysville in Green Township in 1782-83, alongside smaller groups of Mingo, Mohawk, and Mohegan people; Delaware war chief Captain Pipe operated from this wider Black Fork region before removal. During the War of 1812, fear of raids tied to this region led settlers to build stockades, including one on J. L. Priest's own land -- described in one source as being in Lake Township, illustrating how the frontier forts and the later township lines do not line up neatly. Nothing found ties a specific Native site to Hanover Township's own ground.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware), Mingo (Seneca-Cayuga).

Timeline

1. 1808 — The territory that becomes Hanover Township falls within the newly created Richland County, effective March 1.
2. May 10, 1810 — James Loudon Priest and two companions arrive by dugout canoe near the future site of Loudonville; Priest later enters 1,000 acres at the Canton land office and builds a cabin on the Black Fork.
3. 1812 — Priest erects and garrisons a stockade on his land to shelter neighboring families, including the Greenlee, Hendrickson, Odell, Oram, and Chilcole families, amid War of 1812 fears.
4. August 6, 1814 — Priest, with Stephen Butler, lays out the town of Loudonville on the Black Fork, donating twelve central lots for a public square and land for a cemetery.
5. 1818 — Hanover Township is formally organized.
6. 1818 — A flour mill operated by Alex Skinner begins serving Loudonville-area settlers.
7. 1820 — A post office named Loudonville opens.
8. March 27, 1850 — Loudonville is officially incorporated as a village.
9. 1846 — Hanover Township becomes part of the newly formed Ashland County.
10. 1872 — A major fire destroys multiple businesses in Loudonville.

Stories

A mother's maiden name on a river town

James Loudon Priest first saw the Black Fork valley in May 1810, arriving by dugout canoe with two companions and landing near what is now Holmes County before pushing on to the site he would settle. He filed for 1,000 acres at the land office in Canton and built a cabin on the stream bank. Two years later, with the War of 1812 unsettling the frontier, he built a stockade on his own land to shelter neighboring families -- the Greenlees, Hendricksons, Odells, Orams, and Chilcoles among them. When he finally laid out his town on August 6, 1814, with Stephen Butler's help, he gave it not his own name but his mother's: Anna Louden, whom his father had married in Massachusetts back in 1768. Priest donated twelve lots at the center of town for a public square. That square, and the name Loudonville, are what remain of Anna Louden in the township more than two centuries later.

The schoolboy who became an inventor

Charles F. Kettering, later famous for inventing the automobile's electric self-starter and for leading research at General Motors, was a graduate of Loudonville High School. A statue of him as a young man, celebrating his early inventive talents, now stands in Loudonville near the library -- a small civic memorial to a hometown figure whose work eventually ended the era of hand-cranking cars across the country.

Photographs

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Loudonville Village74% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Perrysville Village26% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Mohican Young Star Academy0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

High-hazard dams (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

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.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-08-05

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