Jackson Township, Sandusky County

How Jackson Township, Sandusky County began

Jackson Township was organized in 1829, its first election held at settler Henry Stultz's house on Christmas Day, and named for Andrew Jackson, then president of the United States. The township's first settlers, brothers Peter and Henry Stultz, arrived from Franklin County in 1828; the swampy forest they cut a road through gave way over the following decades to the villages of Winter Station, Burgoon, and Millersville along its two rail lines. The village of Helena is divided by the line between this township and Washington Township, and Helena and Burgoon are covered separately. The unincorporated communities of Millersville and Havens also lie within the township.

Settled 1828, incorporated 1829, by first election held at the house of settler Henry Stultz on Christmas Day, 1829.

Where the name comes from

The 1882 county history says the county commissioners, in December 1829, constituted township four, range fourteen a separate township and gave it the name in honor of Andrew Jackson, then in his first year as President.

Before the town

No Native village, trail, mound or treaty event specific to Jackson Township is recorded.

Timeline

1. 1828 — Peter Stultz, followed soon after by his brother Henry Stultz, both natives of New Jersey who had lived in Franklin County since 1808, became the first settlers to penetrate the township's forest and marsh, building cabins near the Greenesburg pike bridge over Muskallonge.
2. 1828 — In winter the commissioners grant, on Henry Stultz's petition, a public road from Muskallonge to Chamber's mill on the Sandusky River; it is cut through that winter with logs and brush bridging the swamp, and Stultz builds a high-water sawmill.
3. 1829 — Jackson Township was organized, its first election held at Henry Stultz's house on Christmas Day; John Garn, George Overmyer, Jacob Winter, and Henry Haven were among its earliest justices of the peace.
4. 1829 — In spring David Klotz brings his family from Bedford County, Pennsylvania with John Garn; Jacob Bowlus of Lower Sandusky preaches the first sermon in Gilbreath Stewart's cabin; David Vernon, a retired Scots merchant, settles that fall.
5. 1832 — The first log schoolhouse near the Mud Creek bridge on the Greenesburg pike is built by Campbell, Klutz, Garn and others about this year, with James Drake as teacher; a flood of Pennsylvania families arrives.
6. 1840 — A United Brethren class builds a meeting-house in the Mowry neighborhood, and the Evangelical Shale's class builds a log meeting-house about the same time.
7. 1843 — Jacob Winter built a saw-mill on the Muskallonge, later giving his name to the village of Winter's Station, which grew up around a post office of the same name on the Lima and Fremont (later Lake Erie and Western) railroad.
8. 1852 — The last government land entry in the township is made; the free school law of 1852 follows and the first school board meets in April 1853 with five schoolhouses.
9. 1866 — Eaton Chapel, a frame United Brethren church, is built at Winter Station after a subscription paper was circulated to let members choose between the site there and Mowry's Corners.
10. 1871 — After the Toledo, Tiffin and Eastern railroad crossed the Lake Erie and Western about a mile from Winter's Station, landowner Peter Warner platted a village he named for himself, while a rival company platted an adjoining tract across the road hoping to call it Lorain; the post office settled the matter by naming the new office Burgoon, honoring the new railroad's superintendent.
11. 1871 — Father Young of the Catholic church founds a parochial school with a $600 building; about 75 pupils attend in 1880-81.
12. 1872 — Dr. Andrews moves from Fremont to Millersville, becoming its first physician; Peter Miller lays out Millersville at the crossing of the pike and the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago.
13. 1876 — Centennial Otterbein Chapel, a brick church, is built, and Bethlehem class builds a $2,000 church.
14. 1880 — William F. Fry built Burgoon's steam grist-mill, saw-mill, and planing-mill, the township's first grist-mill of any kind.

Stories

The Scottish immigrant and the swearing judge

David Vernon, a retired Scotch merchant who settled in the township in the fall of 1829, was known in Lower Sandusky as a bred gentleman of strict Puritan habits. The 1882 county history recounts that once, in Olmsted's store, he witnessed a local judge named Howland lose his temper and swear profusely. As soon as the judge had left, Vernon turned to the group in evident astonishment and asked, 'Da you cawd that mon Judge?' Told that Howland did indeed hold that office, Vernon replied, 'Indade, saire, and you mak' such mon judge in this America! In Scotland, saire, they wud scarcly allow him to ba a wetness.'

Two villages, one post office

When the Toledo, Tiffin and Eastern railroad crossed the older Lake Erie and Western line about a mile from the existing village of Winter's Station, landowner Peter Warner saw his chance and platted a new town on his own land east of the tracks, naming it Warner after himself. He did not enjoy a monopoly for long: a company of four men bought a neighboring tract across the road and laid out their own competing plat, whose backers wanted to call it Lorain. The dispute over what to call the place was settled by the postal service rather than by either side: the new post office was registered as Burgoon, as a compliment to the superintendent of the new railroad, and the name stuck to the merged village regardless of whose plat a given lot happened to sit on.

A vote with the subscription paper

By 1866 the United Brethren class that met near Winter Station had outgrown its old meeting-house, and members split over where to build the new one: Mowry's Corners or Winter Station. The preacher, Michael Long, proposed a way around the quarrel: as the subscription paper was passed around, each member would write down his preferred location along with his pledge. Both parties subscribed liberally, but Winter Station was the point decided upon, and a handsome frame building went up and was christened Eaton Chapel. Long, who had preached his maiden sermon in Jacob Winter's barn, held revivals there in the winters of 1867 and 1868, and the class numbered about fifty by 1881.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Fremont City99% of residentsSandusky River (via Ballville Dam intake and city reservoir)
• Shorewood Village Subdivision1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Brightstar Fremont MHP0% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (6)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-01-24: county board of elections.

Money issues on the ballot since 2025: 1 of 2 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 2025-07-22

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