Jackson Township, Paulding County

How Jackson Township, Paulding County began

Jackson Township, one of thirty-seven townships of that name statewide, sits in the central part of Paulding County and holds part of the county seat, Paulding village, in its northwest and the small village of Broughton in its southwest. As late as 1837 it held only three settler families -- John R. and William Moss, and a Mr. Fox. Along with neighboring Paulding Township, it is one of only two townships in the county that does not touch another county's border. The Moss brothers built the first cabin on Blue Creek in 1836, the township was organized in 1851, and the villages of Hedges (1872) and Broughton (1881) grew up on the Nickel Plate railroad.

Settled 1837.

Where the name comes from

Jackson Township is one of thirty-seven Jackson Townships in Ohio; neither the 1892 atlas nor Wikipedia says whom it was named for.

Before the town

No Native American village, mound or treaty site specific to Jackson Township is recorded.

Nations recorded here: Odawa (Ottawa).

Timeline

1. 1836 — John and William Moss, brothers born in England, buy land from the government and build a small cabin on the banks of Blue Creek in section 20, becoming the first actual settlers; Jesse Fox and Edmund Barker arrive about the same time.
2. 1837 — Per Judge A. S. Latty's 1886 account to Henry Howe, only three settler families -- John R. Moss, William Moss, and a Mr. Fox -- live in what is now Jackson Township.
3. 1840 — Rev. Abraham Miller, a United Brethren minister, preaches the first sermon in the township at the cabins of the settlers; he organizes the first church society about 1850.
4. 1842 — In 1842 only four Paulding County townships (Auglaize, Brown, Crane and Carryall) are organized; Jackson is not yet one of them.
5. 1848 — Paulding village, part of which lies in the township's northwest, is platted at the county's geographic center.
6. 1851 — Jackson Township is organized, having been attached to Brown; the first election is held at the residence of Edward McQuestion with ten ballots cast, electing Deliverance Brown, John Anderson and William Barker trustees.
7. 1852 — John D. Carlton teaches the first school in the township to seven pupils in a log cabin on the north bank of Blue Creek in section 26.
8. 1854 — Rev. Abraham Miller and John Anderson organize the first Sunday school in the township.
9. 1872 — W. C. Hedges lays out the village of Hedges on the Nickel Plate railroad and names it; by 1892 it has a hotel, business houses, a church, depot and a hoop factory.
10. 1876 — The United Brethren society erects the first frame church in the township on the bank of Blue Creek in section 26.
11. 1881 — Broughton is laid out by the Washington (later Vanderbilt) Stave and Lumber Company of Washington, D.C., which builds a large factory there; Edwin Bell & Sons buy it in 1888.
12. 1889 — An act of the legislature divides Jackson Township into north and south voting precincts; the population has grown from 970 in 1880 to 2,200 in 1890.
13. 1904 — Broughton's town hall, in the township's southwest, is built.
14. 1962 — Paulding village places a 250,000-gallon water tower into service on Grant Street, part of the water system serving much of the township.

Stories

Broughton, the stave town a Washington company planted

Broughton, in the south of Jackson Township, was laid out in 1881 by the Washington Stave and Lumber Company of Washington, D.C., later renamed the Vanderbilt company, which located a large factory there along the Nickel Plate railroad. Until 1881 the township had no post office at all, and settlers collected their mail at Paulding, Junction or Charloe. Hedges, a village laid out nine years earlier by W. C. Hedges three-fourths of a mile away, shared a two-story brick graded school with Broughton, built about halfway between the two. In 1888 Edwin Bell & Sons bought the stave factory, and by 1892 it was still the village's leading business, with a general store run by M. E. Heller and a drug store kept by Axel White. The township's population had more than doubled in a decade, from 970 to 2,200.

Photographs

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

Paulding Reservoir, fed by Flat Rock Creek The water here

• Paulding Village96% of residentsPaulding Reservoir, fed by Flat Rock Creek
• Oakwood Village4% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-09-18: county board of elections.

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 5 of 5 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 2 of 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.
• Financial Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2026-06-23

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