Lindsey

How Lindsey began

Lindsey is a village in Washington Township, northwestern Sandusky County, that grew around a railroad station on the Lake Shore line nine miles west of Fremont. The 1882 county history says Charles Loose started a grain elevator there, lots were surveyed on March 23, 1868, and the station, first called Washington, was renamed Lindsey the same year; Wikipedia gives an 1853 plat under the name Washington, which that history does not mention. By 1880 the village had 409 people, an Evangelical church (1869), two hotels, a mill and an Odd Fellows lodge (1877). The population peaked at 652 in 1970 and was 457 in 2020. The Overmyer-Waggoner-Roush Farm on South Main Street is its one National Register listing.

Settled 1826 (Josiah Topping, first settler of Washington Township), platted 1868 (lots surveyed March 23, 1868, per Everett 1882); an 1853 plat under the name Washington is reported by Wikipedia, citing Meek 1909, and is not confirmed, by Charles Loose (elevator and store); lots surveyed by C. A. Monk and Isaiah Overmyer.

Where the name comes from

The railroad station was first named Washington, for the township; after the lots were surveyed in 1868 the name was changed to Lindsey, and the post office, until then called Loose, took the new name the same year (the 1882 county history). No source read says whom or what Lindsey was named for.

Before the town

No source found records a Native village, trail, mound, or treaty event specific to Lindsey or Washington Township. The township's first settler arrived in 1826, nine years after the 1817 Treaty of the Maumee Rapids opened the region to settlement; the 1882 county history describes the land as the Black Swamp, which pioneers avoided until it was drained. The county's wider record includes the Wyandot towns at Lower Sandusky and the Seneca reservation of 1817.

Timeline

1. 1826 — Josiah Topping becomes the first settler of Washington Township, locating on the pike; David Grant, John Wolcutt and, in spring 1831, George Skinner follow.
2. 1830-12-06 — A. C. Ross petitions the county commissioners to organize original township 5, range 14 as a township; it is named Washington at Ross's wish, although the county history thought Perry a more fitting name for its Perry County settlers.
3. 1831-01-01 — The first township election is held at the house of Daniel Karshner; Josiah H. Topping is elected justice of the peace.
4. 1853 — The village is said to have been platted under the name Washington (Wikipedia, citing Meek's 1909 history; the 1882 county history does not mention it).
5. 1868-03-23 — Lots are surveyed for the town by C. A. Monk and Isaiah Overmyer after Charles Loose has built a grain elevator and begun the grain trade; Overmyer lays out an addition south of the railroad on December 20.
6. 1868 — The post office, first called Loose with William Overmyer as postmaster, is renamed Lindsey to match the station's new name; W. M. Boyer is postmaster afterward.
7. 1869 — The Evangelical church is built and the Lindsey House hotel is built by H. J. Kramb.
8. 1872 — J. Burger builds the National House, 'a capacious hotel building for a small town.'
9. 1877-06-27 — Lindsey Lodge No. 668, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, is instituted with thirteen charter members.
10. 1880 — The census counts 409 people in Lindsey; Washington Township as a whole has 2,608.
11. 1900 — The village's population is 614, the highest before 1970.
12. 1970 — The village's population peaked at 652.
13. 1983-09-08 — The Overmyer-Waggoner-Roush Farm, on South Main Street, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
14. 2020 — The census counts 457 people in Lindsey.

Stories

A railroad station named Washington

Lindsey began as a grain stop. Charles Loose, according to the 1882 county history, took the first steps toward founding a town by building a grain elevator on the Lake Shore railroad, nine miles west of Fremont, and began the grain trade; the next year he put up a store and dwelling. The railroad station was at first named Washington, for the township, and the first post office, at William Overmyer's house, was called Loose. Lots were surveyed on March 23, 1868, by C. A. Monk and Isaiah Overmyer, and after the survey the station and the post office were renamed Lindsey. W. M. Boyer built the sawmill and a store, H. J. Kramb the Lindsey House in 1869, and J. Burger the National House in 1872. By 1881 the history judged that Lindsey 'bears more evidence of thrift' than the township's two other villages, Hessville and Helena.

Cashtown, the neighbor that became Hessville

Washington Township had three villages in 1881, and the oldest story belongs to Hessville, on the pike. Henry Bowman kept a tavern there and Levi Hess, whose father David had entered an immense tract of land, made a settlement; William Haverfield opened a store in 1835. In the cash-poor frontier years Bowman was reputed to keep a 'barrel,' and his poor neighbors called him 'Old Cash' and his hamlet 'Cashtown.' When the northern part was laid out, Hess gave the trading point his own name, and the county historian saw no reason to regret it. Hessville then had a union meeting house built in 1843, a mill and a distillery of Henry Reiling's, and about thirty houses.

Photographs

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Lindsey Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2023: 1 of 1 passed.

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 2025-09-16

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

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