Marion Township, Hardin County

Township · Hardin County · 998 residents

Hardin County

Local events in Marion Township, Hardin County

Nothing is posted for Marion Township itself yet; here is what is on within 10 miles. All local events in Marion Township, Hardin County

  1. ONU Band-O-Rama: America

    4 to 6 p.m. · Freed Center for the Performing Arts · Ada · 3.5 mi · From Ohio Northern University

  2. Open Doors GA

    6:30 to 7:30 p.m. · Pharmacy Hakes-Pierstorf 157 · Ada · 3.6 mi · From Ohio Northern University

Know a calendar we should watch? Send the link

Checked October 20; the events page is refreshed daily.

How Marion Township, Hardin County began

Marion Township, in western Hardin County, is named for Revolutionary War officer Francis Marion. Sources differ on its start: Wikipedia gives 1856 for its organization, while the county's 1883 history records the first township election in the spring of 1836, among about a dozen voters. Settlement began in the 1830s, with Irish, Virginian, and Canadian families clearing farms around a stretch of Scioto Marsh near Huntersville. Two villages grew up along later railroads within the township, Alger (laid out 1882 as 'Jagger', renamed for U.S. Secretary of War Russell A. Alger, incorporated 1896) and McGuffey (laid out 1890, named for landowner John McGuffey, incorporated 1896), the latter becoming a nationally known center of onion farming after the marsh was drained. The township remains rural farmland today, population 998.

Settled 1833, incorporated 1856 (Wikipedia; the 1883 county history records a first township election in spring 1836), by organized as a township; named for Gen. Francis Marion.

Where the name comes from

Named for Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War 'Swamp Fox' officer; one of twelve Marion Townships in Ohio.

Before the town

No Native American village, mound, or trail specific to Marion Township is documented in the sources checked. The township includes part of the Scioto Marsh, a large wetland along the upper Scioto River that was drained for farmland beginning in the 1860s; wetlands of this kind were used seasonally by Native peoples in the region for hunting and gathering, but no source found here places a named site or settlement in Marion Township itself. At the county level, Hardin County lay within lands used by the Wyandot and Shawnee, with a documented trail (today's County Road 265) linking Wyandot villages at Upper Sandusky to Shawnee towns to the southwest.

Timeline

  1. — Mathew Dolson, from Canada, settles near Huntersville, among the earliest arrivals in what becomes Marion Township.
  2. — Irish immigrants Isaac McElhaney and John McClure settle on opposite halves of Section 10; McClure remains 49 years. Sampson Shadley, from Virginia, settles north of the marsh near Huntersville.
  3. — The township's first election is held in spring, with about a dozen voters participating; Samuel Kirkland, elected the previous spring, serves as the first Justice of the Peace.
  4. — Joshua Ford builds a horse-powered grist mill, one of the first mills in the township.
  5. — A Presbyterian church is organized in the township with James M. Nelson as its first elder; Methodist Episcopal classes had already formed by 1840.
  6. — Marion Township is organized as a civil township, named for Francis Marion.
  7. — Elias Jagger lays out the village of Jagger along the Chicago & Atlantic Railroad; it is later renamed Alger for Russell A. Alger, U.S. Secretary of War.
  8. — The village of McGuffey is laid out, named for landowner John McGuffey, who donated land for a railroad depot in exchange for the naming right.
  9. — Both Alger and McGuffey are incorporated as villages.

Stories

The marsh that grew onions

John McGuffey first tried draining a corner of the Scioto Marsh in the 1860s, but it took a larger, more determined drainage effort by others arriving in the 1880s to turn the swamp into farmland. Over several decades, thousands of acres of the marsh's black, spongy soil were brought into cultivation, and the village that took McGuffey's name, laid out in 1890 where he had donated land for a rail depot, became the shipping point for what it grew. By the turn of the twentieth century through just after World War II, the reclaimed marshland was nationally known for onions, along with potatoes, celery, asparagus, hemp, and mint, and McGuffey's Great Onion Strike of 1934 is still marked with a historical sign in the village today. What had been unusable wetland when the township's first settlers arrived in the 1830s became, within two generations, some of the most intensively farmed ground in Ohio.

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · ohiogenealogyexpress.com · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · hmdb.org · hmdb.org

Water

Mostly private wells The water here

Hospitals, fire stations and more

Inside Marion Township, Hardin County's boundary: 1 power plant and 2 spill cases. Press a pin or a name for its whole record and its source.

Power plants (1)

  1. Hardin Solar Energy LLC 100 MW or moreSolar · 150 MW
    Capacity
    150 MW
    Main source
    Solar
    Technology
    Solar Photovoltaic
    Operator
    Dominion Renewable Energy
    Sector
    IPP Non-CHP
    Where
    Alger, Hardin County
    Generating units
    1
    Built
    2021
    EIA plant code
    63029

Source: EIA-860 power plant inventory via HIFLD (February 2025), with plant codes, units and years from EIA-860 2025.

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

  1. Manure Dairy2022-07-26 · Marion Twp
    Reported
    2022-07-26
    What spilled
    Manure Dairy
    Where
    Marion Twp, Hardin County
    Ohio EPA district office
    NWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2207EPA0001138
  2. Manure Dairy Reached water2022-07-26 · Marion Twp
    Reported
    2022-07-26
    What spilled
    Manure Dairy
    Reached a waterway
    33 - Scioto River
    Where
    Marion Twp, Hardin County
    Ohio EPA district office
    NWDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2207EPA0001135

Source: Ohio EPA emergency response spill reports, 2021 to September 2026, one point per case where Ohio EPA placed it. A report is what the caller or responder recorded; amounts are often blank or estimated.

Its ZIP codes

Each ZIP code that touches Marion Township, Hardin County, with the share of its residents who live here and the same headline figures as the ZIP page.

Local government

Who holds office in Marion Township, Hardin County, how its elections and ballot issues came out, and the state auditor's record.

Ballot issues

DateIssueForAgainstResult
2022-11-08 Issue: 13. Marion Township Fire 482195Passed (71.2% for), unofficial

Elections for office

DateOfficeCandidates and votes
2021-11-02 Township Trustee Kyle A. Long 176, 29.14%; Paul Osborne 192, 31.79%; Jeff N. Thompson 236, 39.07%
2019-11-05 Township Trustee Robert J. Underwood 272, 100.0%
2019-11-05 Township Fiscal Officer Brice S. Beaman 258, 100.0%

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

Quick answers

What county is Marion Township, Ohio in?

Marion Township, Hardin County is a township in Hardin County, Ohio, with 998 residents.

When was Marion Township, Ohio founded?

Marion Township, Hardin County was settled 1833; incorporated 1856 (Wikipedia; the 1883 county history records a first township election in spring 1836). Founders on record: organized as a township; named for Gen. Francis Marion. Source

How did Marion Township, Ohio get its name?

Named for Francis Marion, the Revolutionary War 'Swamp Fox' officer; one of twelve Marion Townships in Ohio. Source

What ZIP code is Marion Township, Ohio?

Marion Township, Hardin County is served by ZIP codes 45812 and 45810; 45812 holds the largest share of its residents.

Where does Marion Township, Ohio get its water?

The main water source for Marion Township, Hardin County (Alger Village): Mostly private wells.

Cite this page

Cite this page as:

Cracked Buckeye, "Marion Township, Hardin County", https://crackedbuckeye.com/place/marion-township-hardin-county/, built 2026-10-31, accessed [date].

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