Lake Township, Logan County

How Lake Township, Logan County began

Lake Township was one of Logan County's original four townships when the county organized in 1818, and it has since been whittled down repeatedly as Union (1820), McArthur (1823), and Harrison and Liberty (both 1832) townships were set off from its original territory. It took its name not from Indian Lake but from a smaller body of water within its early bounds, called first Blaylock's Lake, then Spencer's Lake, and known today as Silver Lake (now in Harrison Township). Most of Bellefontaine, the Logan County seat, sits within Lake Township's present boundaries, on ground once occupied by Blue Jacket's Town, a Shawnee settlement destroyed in 1786. The township today is centered on that county seat and carries the bulk of the city's population and its 19th- and 20th-century landmarks.

Settled c. 1800 (John Tullis among the first arrivals), incorporated 1818 (township organized), by Logan County's original organization.

Where the name comes from

Lake Township took its name from a lake within its early boundaries, first called Blaylock's Lake and afterward Spencer's Lake, now known as Silver Lake — which lies in present-day Harrison Township after later boundary changes carved territory away from Lake Township. The name predates, and is unrelated to, Indian Lake (the large reservoir built 1851-1860 southeast of the county), which sits in other Logan County townships.

Before the town

This township holds Logan County's best-documented Native American site: Blue Jacket's Town, a Shawnee settlement led by war chief Blue Jacket that occupied the ground on which Bellefontaine now stands, on the southwestern slope of the rise the city is built on. Kentucky militia destroyed the town in 1786 during Logan's Raid, after which Blue Jacket relocated to the Maumee River region; he went on to lead Native forces at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Blue Jacket Creek, which runs through the township, carries his name, and nearby Buckongehelas River is named for a prominent Delaware (Lenape) chief. The Greenville Treaty Line of 1795, which for a time marked the boundary between the United States and Native territory, ran about four miles north of Bellefontaine. Indian Lake, built later as a canal reservoir on ground that was earlier Native hunting and fishing territory, lies in neighboring townships (Richland/Washington/Stokes), not within Lake Township itself, and is not treated here as a Lake Township site.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Lenape (Delaware).

• Blue Jacket's Town (village) — Site of present-day Bellefontaine, on the southwestern slope of the town's rise, c. 1777-1786 (genealogytrails.com)

Timeline

1. 1777 — Shawnee war chief Blue Jacket establishes a settlement on the ground where Bellefontaine now stands.
2. 1786 — Blue Jacket's Town is destroyed during Logan's Raid by Kentucky militia; Blue Jacket relocates northwest toward the Maumee River.
3. 1795 — The Greenville Treaty Line, running about four miles north of the future Bellefontaine, marks the boundary of Indian territory in the region.
4. 1818 — Logan County organizes with Lake Township as one of its four original townships.
5. 1820 — Bellefontaine is platted on land owned by John Tullis and William Powell and named for the springs in the area; Union Township is set off from Lake Township's southern part the same year.
6. 1822 — The Bellefontaine plat is formally recorded on August 12, with proprietors John Tullis Sr., William Powell, and John Tullis Jr.
7. 1823 — McArthur Township is set off from Lake Township.
8. 1832 — Harrison and Liberty townships are both set off from Lake Township, further reducing its area.
9. 1835 — Bellefontaine is incorporated by the Ohio legislature.
10. 1891 — Concrete pioneer George Bartholomew lays a test patch of Portland cement pavement near the courthouse in Bellefontaine, within Lake Township.
11. 1893 — The Bellefontaine city council permits paving of the streets around the courthouse, including Court Avenue, in concrete — the oldest surviving concrete street pavement in the United States.
12. 1974 — Court Avenue in Bellefontaine is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the first concrete street in the United States.

Stories

A war chief's town becomes a county seat

Around 1777, Shawnee war chief Blue Jacket built a settlement on a rise of ground in what is now the middle of Logan County. The town stood until 1786, when Kentucky militia destroyed it during a campaign remembered as Logan's Raid, forcing Blue Jacket to relocate his people northwest toward the Maumee River, where he later helped lead Native forces at the 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers. More than three decades later, in 1820, American settlers John Tullis and William Powell platted a new town on almost exactly the same ground and named it Bellefontaine, for the springs nearby. The creek that still runs through the township carries Blue Jacket's name, one of the few visible threads connecting the Shawnee town to the county seat that replaced it.

Paving the first concrete street in America

In 1886, an itinerant concrete promoter named George Bartholomew arrived in Logan County and found the local limestone and sand well suited to making Portland cement. By 1891 he had persuaded the Bellefontaine city council to let him lay a small test patch of concrete pavement near Main Street, over the objections of skeptics who expected it to crack apart within a season. It held. Two years later the council authorized paving the streets ringing the courthouse, including Court Avenue, with Bartholomew supplying material while county engineer James Wonders oversaw the work. That stretch of Court Avenue, still bearing its original 1891-93 surface, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 as the first concrete street laid in the United States — a small-town experiment in Lake Township that helped launch an entire industry.

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

local wells (shallow carbonate aquifer) The water here

• Bellefontaine City100% of residentslocal wells (shallow carbonate aquifer)
• Sci Lakeridge Estates, Llc0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Spills reported since 2021 (4)

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.
• Basic Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-07-29

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