Liberty Township, Clinton County

How Liberty Township, Clinton County began

Liberty Township was organized in 1817 from land taken out of Richland Township, in the northern part of Clinton County along the Greene County line, roughly midway between Wilmington and Xenia, entirely within the Virginia Military District. The village of Port William lies in its north. By 1833 the township supported a flouring mill, two saw mills, a fulling mill, a distillery and a store, a snapshot of an early water-powered milling economy. Today Interstate 71 and US 68 cross it, and its residents draw on both the Wilmington and Sabina municipal water systems.

Incorporated 1817, by Clinton County Commissioners, from Richland Township.

Where the name comes from

The sources consulted do not say why the township was named Liberty; it is one of twenty-five Ohio townships of that name. The 1915 county history says only that it was organized on July 15, 1817 and lies in the center of the northern tier, bordering Greene County.

Before the town

The 1915 county history says that when Stephen Mendenhall settled on Dutch Creek in 1803 he had only 'the native Indians' for neighbors the first summer, the nearest white family being seven miles away, in an unbroken wilderness. Two archaeological mounds in Liberty Township, both above the Anderson Fork near McKay Road, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the Keiter Mound (October 21, 1975) and the Hurley Mound (May 5, 1978). No named Native village or trail in the township is recorded in the sources checked. The township lies in the Virginia Military District, opened after the Treaty of Greenville (1795).

Nations recorded here: Shawnee.

Timeline

1. 1803 — Stephen Mendenhall, born in Tennessee in 1780, settles on 100 acres on Dutch Creek, the first white settler in Liberty Township; the first summer his only neighbors are Indians.
2. 1804 — Samuel Miller of Kentucky buys 600 acres on Anderson's Fork; elected justice of the peace in 1814, he serves until his death nearly thirty years later and builds the township's second gristmill in 1838.
3. 1805 — Abram Ellis, a Revolutionary War veteran from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Aaron Jenkins and Joseph Lucas settle on Anderson's Fork.
4. 1807 — John Unthank builds a gristmill on the site of Port William, the first mill in that part of the country; township elections are held there for years.
5. 1812 — The first schoolhouse is built of round logs, with Henry Hester as first teacher; Benjamin Bangham and Josiah Borton also settle that year.
6. 1816 — The Salem schoolhouse is built on land given by Aaron Jenkins, with Samuel Hyde as first teacher.
7. 1817 — Liberty Township organized, carved from Richland Township on July 15.
8. 1818 — The Salem log meeting house of the Methodist Episcopal church, the first house of worship in the township, is completed.
9. 1819 — William Ireland builds the first brick house in the township.
10. 1827 — Shadrach Thornburgh and William Stanley build a pottery kiln that burns sugar pots for the early settlers.
11. 1830 — Sabina, whose water system serves part of the township, platted by founder Warren Sabin with 37 original lots.
12. 1833 — Township industry recorded as a flouring mill, two saw mills, a fulling mill, a distillery and one store.
13. 1856 — Aaron Weller makes drain tile by hand and Allen Hiatt lays the first tile ditch; Weller builds a tile factory in 1858.
14. 1878 — The Dayton, Toledo and Ironton railroad opens through Port William, making it a market for grain and stock.
15. 1880 — The 1880 census, as printed in the 1882 county history, counts 1,201 residents in Liberty Township and 181 in Port William.
16. 1906 — Wilmington's first municipal water system completed, following a mixed 1899 vote and a successful 1901 vote; Wilmington's system now also serves part of Liberty Township.
17. 1990 — Wilmington's current water treatment plant built.
18. 2020 — Liberty Township has 1,123 residents.

Stories

A township built on water power

Long before Wilmington piped water to its edges, Liberty Township ran on it directly: by 1833 the township held a flouring mill, two saw mills, a fulling mill (for finishing woven wool cloth) and a distillery, all likely sited on the same handful of streams that still cross the township toward the Greene County line. That concentration of water-powered trades — grinding grain, sawing lumber, finishing cloth, distilling grain into whiskey — was the standard economic base of an early Ohio farm township, feeding and clothing the surrounding countryside before railroads reorganized the region's trade.

The Liberator on Anderson's Fork

Before the Civil War the lines of the Underground Railroad passed through Clinton County, and in Liberty Township the principal station keeper was Elihu Oren, whose station was often full of refugees on their way to Canada. The 1882 county history quotes Jesse N. Oren's history of the township: the fugitives 'usually took passage in Abram Allen's Liberator, a large curtained carriage made for the purpose', and were driven by the light of the stars toward the land of promise. Other helpers named there include Joseph Coate, Abel Beven and Dr. Watson at Painterville, and Samuel Haines, D. S. King, Andrew Strickle and W. M. Wain elsewhere in the township. The county's anti-slavery movement grew so heated that about 1843-44 the Methodist Episcopal church split and a Wesleyan Methodist church was founded.

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

Caesar Creek Lake (about 14 miles northwest of Wilmington) is a source, treated at a surface-water lime-softening plant. Two reservoirs near Burtonville, about 3 miles south of Wilmington, are kept as an alternative source and can be filled from Cowan Creek OR Caesar Creek Lake; often used when Caesar Creek Lake water is poor quality. There is also an auxiliary connection to Western Water Company for outlying customers during main-break repairs. The water here

• Wilmington City69% of residentsCaesar Creek Lake (with Burtonville reservoirs/Cowan Creek as backup)
• Western Water Company22% of residentsLittle Miami River valley wells (51%) plus Cincinnati Ohio River water (49%)
• Jamestown Village9% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Public EV charging (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (10)

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, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-08-13
• Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-12-26

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