Lafayette Township, Coshocton County

How Lafayette Township, Coshocton County began

Lafayette Township, in the southeastern part of Coshocton County along the Tuscarawas River, was first settled about 1804 and was the last of the county's twenty-two townships to be organized, in 1835, the year after the Marquis de Lafayette's death, and was named for him. Its only village is West Lafayette, platted in 1850 on the river; a short-lived rival village, Birmingham, was laid out on the canal in 1830 but never grew beyond its founder's house and a warehouse. Away from the village the township is farm country whose two National Register houses, the Andrew Ferguson House and the Daniel Miller House, both stand on rural roads outside the village rather than inside it, and whose low prehistoric mounds near Plain Hill have mostly been leveled by the plow.

Settled c. 1804, incorporated 1835, by first township officers Wendel Miller, Laken Wells and Simon Moses, trustees, and John Dean, clerk.

Where the name comes from

Organized in 1835, the year after the Marquis de Lafayette's death, the township was named in his honor; the 1881 county history states that news of Lafayette's death reached Coshocton during the very commissioners' session at which the township was ordered organized. The village of West Lafayette, platted within it in 1850, carries the same name; Ohio has only one other Lafayette Township, in Medina County.

Before the town

No Indian village is known to have stood in Lafayette Township, though the 1881 county history notes that the level ground called White Eyes Plains, which begins in the township's western part, was a favorite hunting ground of the Indians. An Indian trail ran from the Tuscarawas River up Burt's Run, then down Rock Run to the Muskingum, connecting to Lichtenau, the Moravian mission town for Delaware (Lenape) converts a few miles downstream near present-day Coshocton. No important earthworks remain: a circular fortification once stood on Plain Hill north of West Lafayette, and several small mounds between it and the village, on the Ferguson farm, on Velser Shaw's farm, and on the old Higbee place, but all have been leveled by the plow or destroyed in railroad construction, and nothing was found inside them to indicate their builders or period.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware).

• Plain Hill circular fortification and mounds (mound) — Plain Hill, north of West Lafayette, and the adjoining Ferguson, Velser Shaw and Higbee farms, prehistoric (undetermined) (archive.org)
• Burt's Run-Rock Run Indian trail (trail) — from the Tuscarawas River up Burt's Run, down Rock Run to the Muskingum, toward Lichtenau, 18th century (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1804 — The first permanent settlers begin occupying the township, according to the 1881 county history.
2. 1830 — Joseph C. Higbee lays out the village of Birmingham on the Ohio canal in the township's eastern part; it never grows beyond his residence and a warehouse before the nearby village of Evansburg, platted months later in Oxford Township, draws away its prospects.
3. 1835 — Lafayette Township is organized, the last of Coshocton County's twenty-two townships to be formed.
4. 1850 — West Lafayette is platted within the township on the Tuscarawas River by Robert Shaw and William Wheeler.
5. 1855 — The Steubenville and Indiana Railroad is built through the township, following the river past West Lafayette.
6. 1878 — An iron bridge across the Tuscarawas River about a mile north of West Lafayette is completed, its stonework and superstructure together costing about $15,000.
7. 1978 — The Andrew Ferguson House, east of West Lafayette on State Route 751, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (November 30).
8. 1980 — The Daniel Miller House, west of West Lafayette at 52357 County Road 16, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (January 3).

Stories

Two farmhouses, one village apart

Lafayette Township's only two entries on the National Register of Historic Places are not in West Lafayette at all but out among its farms: the Andrew Ferguson House sits east of the village on State Route 751, and the Daniel Miller House sits west of it at 52357 County Road 16. Both are the kind of substantial nineteenth-century farmhouse that got a family's name attached and stayed in Register nomination files as the township's built record of its early farming population, while the village itself grew up around the railroad and later the enamelware trade.

A village killed by its rival before it grew

Birmingham was laid out on the Ohio canal in 1830 by Joseph C. Higbee, in the extreme eastern part of the township, at a time when a canal-side platted lot seemed a safe bet for a future town. It never became more than Higbee's own residence and a warehouse. A few months later a competing village, Evansburg, was platted just across the line in Oxford township and grew quickly, drawing off the trade Birmingham needed to survive; by the time the 1881 county history was written, Birmingham had left no further trace worth recording.

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

Every historic place in Coshocton County on the full map

Mostly private wells The water here

• Coshocton84% of residentsSand & gravel aquifer near Walhonding River/Mill Creek valley (wells)
• Millers Acres Home Owner Association16% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Bomac Mobile Home Park1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Spills reported since 2021 (4)

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 1 of 1 passed.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked. The county's results on file run through 2022-05-03; later elections are not loaded yet.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2025-07-10

Statewide question: State Issue 3: Voter ID

Local questions for Lafayette Township, Coshocton County, Coshocton County and its school district:

• Coshocton County: Renews a 3-mill property tax levy for the EMS of Coshocton County for 5 years, beginning in 2027.

Races, candidates and every question for an address: your ballot. County offices and judges are on your county board's sample ballot.

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