Jackson Township, Putnam County

How Jackson Township, Putnam County began

Jackson Township, in western Putnam County, was first settled by Elias Wallen in 1822 and organized sometime in the 1830s -- the exact date lost when its early records burned, as happened to neighboring Jennings Township's as well. No incorporated village lies within the township, but two small platted towns, Muntana and Huntstown, grew up along the Clover Leaf railroad in the 1880s. U.S. Route 224 passes near the community of Kalida just across the township line.

Settled 1822, incorporated 1830s (organized; exact date unknown, records destroyed).

Where the name comes from

No specific origin for the name 'Jackson' is documented in the sources checked; it is one of thirty-seven Jackson Townships in Ohio, a common township name honoring Andrew Jackson.

Before the town

No Native American site or village specific to Jackson Township was located in the sources checked.

Timeline

1. 1822 — Elias Wallen settles in the township, apparently its first permanent settler.
2. 1823 — Rufus Carey and John Harter arrive with their families, enter land and begin homes along the Auglaize river.
3. 1825 — Thaddeus Harris settles in Jackson Township; Thomas Carder follows in 1830, and these two are all who come before 1833.
4. 1830s — Jackson Township organizes; the exact date is unknown because early records were destroyed by fire.
5. 1833 — Phillip, Joseph and George Comer, Edward Ladd and John Heddrick settle along the Auglaize river.
6. 1848 — Six sections are added to Jackson Township from Perry Township, bringing it to twenty-six sections after it had been cut to twenty.
7. 1881 — George Skinner, surveyor, plats the town of Muntana (Montana) for proprietor George H. Calkins -- the first town laid out in the township.
8. 1883 — Samuel Starkey plats and lays out Huntstown, two miles north of Muntana on the Clover Leaf railroad.
9. 1915 — Jackson Township has no large town; Douglas, never platted, is the site of the Odenweller Milling Company, and the Auglaize River, which runs through the township south to north, together with new ditching has brought nearly all of it under cultivation.

Stories

Two Rail Towns Two Miles Apart

The Auglaize river runs through Jackson Township from south to north, and its swampy bottomland kept settlement slow after Elias Wallen staked the first claim in 1822; the township's early trustees' records were destroyed by fire before anyone could preserve the date of its formal organization. By the 1880s the swamp had largely been drained and tiled, and the Cloverleaf railroad gave two small towns a reason to exist. In 1881 the surveyor George Skinner platted Muntana, sometimes written Montana, for the proprietor George H. Calkins -- the first town ever laid out in the township. Two years later Samuel Starkey platted Huntstown two miles to the north, on the same rail line. A third place, Douglas, grew up around the Odenweller Milling Company but was never formally platted at all. None of the three grew into an incorporated village, but Putnam County's 1915 historian judged that their trade with the rich farming country around them might yet make Jackson Township's little rail towns into "quite important commercial centers."

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Ottoville Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 5 of 5 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

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-04-22

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