Jefferson Township, Preble County

Township · Preble County · 1,732 residents

Preble County

Local events in Jefferson Township, Preble County

Nothing is posted for Jefferson Township itself yet; here is what is on within 20 miles. All local events in Jefferson Township, Preble County

  1. Trick or Treat

    5:30 to 7:30 p.m. · Arcanum · 15 mi · From Arcanum Public Library

  2. New Paris Puzzle Swap

    All day · New Paris · New Paris · 1.1 mi · From Preble County District Library

  3. Holiday Storytime

    5:30 to 6 p.m. · New Paris · New Paris · 1.1 mi · From Preble County District Library

Know a calendar we should watch? Send the link

Checked October 20; the events page is refreshed daily.

How Jefferson Township, Preble County began

Jefferson Township, in the northwest corner of Preble County, was first settled around 1806 by pioneers from Kentucky who took advantage of the milling power along the East Fork of the Whitewater River, and was organized as a township in 1807 or, by another account, 1809, and named for Thomas Jefferson. Elder David Purviance, an early pioneer preacher, opened the township's first church and later served as an Ohio state representative and a trustee of Miami University, helping secure its land in Oxford. In 1808, township founders James Fleming and Andrew Ireland, both originally from the vicinity of Paris, Kentucky, platted a village on their adjoining lands and named it New Paris.

Settled 1806, incorporated 1807 (one source) or 1809 (another).

Where the name comes from

The township was named Jefferson, after President Thomas Jefferson.

Before the town

The 1915 county history says the township's original settlers 'came here to divide the occupancy of the primeval forest with the Indians' about 1806 and that one family, the Porterfields, left for Tennessee because the Indians were so troublesome, returning only after the War of 1812. A glacial moraine of granite boulders crossed the township from northwest to southeast and a 100-foot outcrop of Niagara limestone at New Paris was quarried from very early days. No mound, village or trail inside Jefferson Township is named in the county histories.

Nations recorded here: Miami, Shawnee.

Timeline

  1. — The first settlements in Jefferson Township were made by a few pioneers from Kentucky, drawn by milling power on the East Fork of the Whitewater River.
  2. — Jefferson Township was formally organized (one source gives 1807, another 1809).
  3. — David Purviance, born in North Carolina in 1766 and a legislator in Kentucky, emigrates to Ohio and settles in section 31, where he organizes a church of the New Light or Christian faith; Lewis Mitchell also comes with his parents this year.
  4. — James Fleming and Andrew Ireland, settlers originally from the area around Paris, Kentucky, platted adjoining parcels of their land as the village of New Paris.
  5. — David Ireland, born in North Carolina in 1765, comes from Tennessee with his son, John Harvey settles on sections 4 and 5, and James Fleming, a founder of New Paris, comes from Kentucky about this time; the original settlers, from Bourbon County, Kentucky, were chiefly the Flemings, Irelands, Purviances, Morrisons and Mitchells.
  6. — Purviance is elected to represent Preble and Montgomery counties in the state legislature; he is elected to the Senate in 1812 and again in 1826, and dies in 1848, buried in the old cemetery at New Paris.
  7. — John Mitchell, born in North Carolina in 1784, settles in section 14, John Wasson comes from Kentucky, and Adam Reid of Rockbridge County, Virginia, settles about this time.
  8. — A Jefferson Township settler serves in the army at Fort Nisbet, just across the north line of the township in Darke County; a Porterfield family that had come before the axe touched the forest returns to Tennessee because the Indians were so troublesome and does not come back until the close of the war.
  9. — The township takes the form it still has (the 1915 history says 1916 would round out a century as now formed); Michael Hahn, born in Cincinnati in 1794, settles in section 7 this year.
  10. — The first board of township trustees on record, James Jackson, James Graham and John Campbell, serves; public records of the earlier organization were meager or not preserved.
  11. — Jefferson Township has 22,095 acres of farm land and about seventy-five miles of graveled road, with real property valued at over $2 million and the Niagara limestone outcrop at New Paris, quarried for building stone and burned for lime for generations, now crushed in one of the largest crushing plants in the state.
  12. — The census counts 3,226 people in Jefferson Township.
  13. n.d. — Elder David Purviance, an early pioneer preacher in the township, opened its first church; he later served as an Ohio state representative and was a Miami University trustee, helping secure the land for the university at Oxford.

Stories

David Purviance and the New Light church

Elder David Purviance, one of the earliest settlers and most influential men in shaping Jefferson Township, was born in Iredell County, North Carolina, in 1766 to strict Presbyterian parents who drilled him in the catechism. At twenty-three he married Mary Ireland, and they moved to Tennessee near Nashville and then to a Bourbon County, Kentucky, farm covered in forest and canebrake, where he toiled until 1791, when he was selected to the Kentucky legislature and his abilities were first revealed. In 1807 he came to Ohio and settled in section 31, a pioneer preacher whose first act was to organize a church of the New Light or Christian faith to which he had given his adherence in Kentucky. He represented Preble and Montgomery counties in the Ohio legislature from 1809 and the Senate from 1812, served in the legislatures of Kentucky and Ohio fifteen sessions in all, and was on the 1812 electoral ticket that re-elected James Madison. He died in 1848 and is buried in the old cemetery at New Paris.

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

Water

Mostly private wells The water here

Hospitals, fire stations and more

Inside Jefferson Township, Preble County's boundary: 3 public schools, 2 poor-rated bridges, 1 Toxics Release Inventory facility and 16 spill cases. Press a pin or a name for its whole record and its source.

Public schools (3)

  1. National Trail Elementary School3.5 of 5 stars · New Paris
    Address
    6940 Oxford Gettysburg Rd, New Paris, OH 45347
    School district
    National Trail Local School District
    Kind (NCES)
    Regular School
    Students, 2023-24
    363
    Teachers (full-time equivalent)
    23
    Report card, 2025-26
    3.5 of 5 stars
    Performance index
    87.9%
    Ohio building IRN
    018002
    NCES school ID
    390492703545
  2. National Trail High School3.5 of 5 stars · New Paris
    Address
    6940 Oxford Gettysburg Rd, New Paris, OH 45347
    School district
    National Trail Local School District
    Kind (NCES)
    Regular School
    Students, 2023-24
    273
    Teachers (full-time equivalent)
    20.5
    Report card, 2025-26
    3.5 of 5 stars
    Performance index
    73.9%
    Four-year graduation rate
    100%
    Ohio building IRN
    026468
    NCES school ID
    390492703547
  3. National Trail Middle School3.5 of 5 stars · New Paris
    Address
    6940 Oxford Gettysburg Rd, New Paris, OH 45347
    School district
    National Trail Local School District
    Kind (NCES)
    Regular School
    Students, 2023-24
    296
    Teachers (full-time equivalent)
    24
    Report card, 2025-26
    3.5 of 5 stars
    Performance index
    74%
    Ohio building IRN
    025247
    NCES school ID
    390492703546

Source: NCES EDGE public school locations 2024-25 and Common Core of Data 2023-24 (type, students, teachers); Ohio School Report Cards 2025-26 (Department of Education and Workforce), matched by name within the district.

Bridges rated poor (2)

  1. B Road over Little CreekPoor · built 1960
    Condition
    Poor: a deck, superstructure, substructure or culvert rated 4 or below on the 0 to 9 scale
    What it is
    Bridge
    Built
    1960
    Length
    7 ft
    Owner
    County
    Vehicles a day
    420
    Coordinates
    39.90186, -84.72834
  2. N.paris Eldorado over Little CreekPoor · built 1980
    Condition
    Poor: a deck, superstructure, substructure or culvert rated 4 or below on the 0 to 9 scale
    What it is
    Bridge
    Built
    1980
    Length
    13 ft
    Owner
    County
    Vehicles a day
    304
    Coordinates
    39.89185, -84.75035

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory 2025. "Poor" means one major part rated 4 or below on the 0 to 9 scale; it calls for repair, not closing, unless the state posts or closes the bridge.

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

  1. Np Manufacturing Group LlcToxics Release Inventory · New Paris
    Address
    8205 Oh-121, New Paris, OH 45347
    County
    Preble County County
    Status
    Reports to the Toxics Release Inventory (***unchanged***)
    EPA program ID
    4534WNPMNF825H1
    EPA registry ID
    110071424587

Source: EPA Facility Registry Service, Toxics Release Inventory reporters. Reporting a release is required of large users of listed chemicals; it is not by itself a violation.

Spills reported since 2021 (16)

  1. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2025-10-22 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2025-10-22
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Largest amount reported
    150 gallons
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2510EPA0001734
  2. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2025-02-21 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2025-02-21
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Largest amount reported
    120 gallons
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2502EPA0000239
  3. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2025-01-22 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2025-01-22
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Largest amount reported
    50 gallons
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2501EPA0000079
  4. Fuel Gasoline ( 25% Ethanol Not E85)2024-12-12 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2024-12-12
    What spilled
    Fuel Gasoline ( 25% Ethanol Not E85)
    Largest amount reported
    30 gallons
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2412EPA0002003
  5. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2024-10-22 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2024-10-22
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Largest amount reported
    60 gallons
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2410EPA0001777
  6. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2024-07-24 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2024-07-24
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2407EPA0001261
  7. Fat(S) / Oil / Grease / Tallow Food Types (Fog)2024-02-21 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2024-02-21
    What spilled
    Fat(S) / Oil / Grease / Tallow Food Types (Fog); Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2402EPA0000266
  8. Oil Motor / Lube Oil / Vehicle2023-12-21 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2023-12-21
    What spilled
    Oil Motor / Lube Oil / Vehicle
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2312EPA0002078
  9. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2023-07-18 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2023-07-18
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Largest amount reported
    25 gallons
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2307EPA0001204
  10. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2023-02-28 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2023-02-28
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Largest amount reported
    50 gallons
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2302EPA0000301
  11. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2022-12-15 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2022-12-15
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2212EPA0001864
  12. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2022-07-19 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2022-07-19
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Largest amount reported
    100 gallons
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2207EPA0001098
  13. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2022-03-10 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2022-03-10
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Largest amount reported
    30 gallons
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2203EPA0000313
  14. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2021-12-02 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2021-12-02
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2112EPA0001803
  15. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2026-03-21 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2026-03-21
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2603EPA0000448
  16. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2026-03-09 · Jefferson Twp
    Reported
    2026-03-09
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Largest amount reported
    75 gallons
    Where
    Jefferson Twp, Preble County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2603EPA0000331

Source: Ohio EPA emergency response spill reports, 2021 to September 2026, one point per case where Ohio EPA placed it. A report is what the caller or responder recorded; amounts are often blank or estimated.

Its ZIP codes

Each ZIP code that touches Jefferson Township, Preble County, with the share of its residents who live here and the same headline figures as the ZIP page.

The ZIP codes serving Jefferson Township, Preble County
ZIPShareWaterRadon Home valueSchoolsFlood
45347 Jefferson Township and New Paris 41% Mostly private wells 2.8 pCi/L average radon Parcel list only National Trail Local · 3.5 stars overall 14% of residents in the 1% floodplain

Local government

Who holds office in Jefferson Township, Preble County, how its elections and ballot issues came out, and the state auditor's record.

Elections for office

DateOfficeCandidates and votes
2021-11-02 Township Trustee (unofficial count) Paul Brehm 275, 42.05%; David J. McDermitt 379, 57.95%

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

The county

Preble County: 12 ZIP codes, 23 cities, villages and townships, 43,242 people.

Nearby places

Quick answers

What county is Jefferson Township, Ohio in?

Jefferson Township, Preble County is a township in Preble County, Ohio, with 1,732 residents.

When was Jefferson Township, Ohio founded?

Jefferson Township, Preble County was settled 1806; incorporated 1807 (one source) or 1809 (another). Source

How did Jefferson Township, Ohio get its name?

The township was named Jefferson, after President Thomas Jefferson. Source

What ZIP code is Jefferson Township, Ohio?

Most of Jefferson Township, Preble County is in ZIP code 45347.

Where does Jefferson Township, Ohio get its water?

The main water source for Jefferson Township, Preble County (New Paris Village): Mostly private wells.

Cite this page

Cite this page as:

Cracked Buckeye, "Jefferson Township, Preble County", https://crackedbuckeye.com/place/jefferson-township-preble-county/, built 2026-10-31, accessed [date].

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