Lyme Township, Huron County

How Lyme Township, Huron County began

Lyme Township's earliest settlement, on the ridge in its northern section, began with George Ferguson's family in December 1811 and Major Joseph Strong, who bought land in 1811, sent two sons out in 1812, and brought the rest of his family in 1815. The township was known first as Wheatsborough, after landowner Mr. Wheat, until the county commissioners renamed it Lyme on September 19, 1819, at Major Strong's request, after he stayed at the McCurdy mansion in Lyme, Connecticut and resolved to name his new home for it. By 1811, in the township's southeastern corner, the Sutton Settlement had also taken root -- the community later renamed Hunts Corners, listed as a National Register historic district in 1993.

Settled December 1811 (George Ferguson, first settler on the ridge) / 1808 (per Wikipedia, general settlement), incorporated September 19, 1819 (renamed Lyme by the county commissioners), by George Ferguson; Major Joseph Strong, of Manlius, Onondaga County, New York.

Where the name comes from

The township was originally known as Wheatsborough, after a Mr. Wheat who owned large tracts of land in the area. Major Joseph Strong, an early landowner, was a guest at the McCurdy mansion in Lyme, Connecticut -- staying with Richard McCurdy, from whom he had purchased a large tract of township land -- and resolved during that visit to have the township renamed for it. The county commissioners made the change official on September 19, 1819. Lyme, Connecticut traces its own name back to Lyme Regis, England.

Before the town

No Native American village, trail, or site specific to Lyme Township is documented in the sources consulted.

Timeline

1. 1811 — George Ferguson's family, the first to settle on the township's ridge, arrives in December; the same year Major Joseph Strong, of Manlius, New York, buys 1,800 acres of land in what becomes Lyme and Groton townships.
2. 1812 — Major Strong's sons Nathan and Leicester come out and take up residence in a blockhouse on the creek bank where a stone mill and distillery are later built; Captain Zadoc Strong also settles that winter.
3. 1815 — Major Strong returns east and brings the rest of his family to Lyme; Francis Strong and his brother-in-law John Baker also arrive from New York and settle on the ridge, near the war's close.
4. 1817 — The township's Presbyterian church, one of its earliest religious organizations, is organized in July with ten original members, including John Baker, who dies in December the same year from an injury sustained raising a log house.
5. 1819 — The county commissioners formally rename the township Lyme, after Lyme, Connecticut, on September 19, at Major Joseph Strong's request.
6. 1974 — The John Wright Mansion, on State Route 113 northeast of Bellevue, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 27.
7. 1993 — The entire Hunts Corners community is designated a historic district and listed on the National Register on September 2.
8. 2006 — The Tremont House, in Bellevue, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 31.

Stories

A township renamed after a good visit

For its first years the township was called Wheatsborough, after a landowner named Wheat who held large tracts here. That changed because of a social visit: Major Joseph Strong, one of the township's earliest settlers, had bought a large tract of local land from Richard McCurdy, and while staying as McCurdy's guest at the McCurdy family mansion in Lyme, Connecticut, he was taken enough with his host and the village on the Connecticut River that he decided, on the spot, to rename his own township after it. The county commissioners made it official on September 19, 1819. It was, the 1879 county history notes dryly, an appropriate choice -- Connecticut already had three townships called some version of Lyme, tracing the name back across the Atlantic to Lyme Regis, England.

The Sutton Settlement becomes Hunts Corners

By 1811, in the township's southeastern corner, a cluster of families had put down roots in a community known at first as the Sutton Settlement. Over the following decades the crossroads community took the name Hunts Corners, and it grew into what Wikipedia's own National Register documentation calls one of Huron County's oldest continuously settled places. That standing was formally recognized in 1993, when the whole community -- not just one building, but its collected historic structures -- was listed on the National Register as a historic district, a rarer designation than the single-building listings more common elsewhere in the county.

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

Every historic place in Sandusky County on the full map

Frink Run and Berry Creek, pumped into four upground reservoirs before treatment (per the 2025 CCR). The city's Water Treatment Plant page separately says the supply is held in 5 reservoirs storing about 1 billion gallons, so the city's own two documents differ on the reservoir count. The city also makes a regular daily purchase of about 200,000 gallons or more from Erie County, pumped into the North Industrial Park water tower. The water here

• Bellevue City94% of residentsFrink Run & Berry Creek/Big Ditch runoff (own reservoirs); backup Lake Erie via Erie Co.
• Monroeville Village6% of residentsWest Branch Huron River, stored in Monroeville's reservoir

Bridges rated poor (2)

Spills reported since 2021 (7)

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