Monroe Township, Putnam County

How Monroe Township, Putnam County began

Monroe Township, in the northwestern corner of Putnam County, was cut off from Perry Township and organized in 1852, one of twenty-two Monroe Townships across Ohio; it was, at the time, the second-youngest township in the county. First settled in 1849 by Adam Perrin in swampy, malaria-prone land, it holds the village of Continental in its south, near the small rail hamlets of Hartsburg and Wisterman.

Settled 1849, incorporated 1852 (organized, cut off from Perry Township), by Adam Perrin, first permanent settler.

Where the name comes from

No specific origin for the name 'Monroe' is documented; it is one of twenty-two Monroe Townships in Ohio, a common presidential township name.

Before the town

No Native American site or village specific to Monroe Township is recorded.

Timeline

1. 1849 — Adam Perrin makes the township's first permanent settlement, alone in the township for two years afterward.
2. 1851 — John Grant becomes the second settler, described by the county's historian as risking his fortunes in the "malaria-ridden district."
3. 1852-04-05 — Monroe Township organizes, cut off from Perry Township; only twelve votes are cast at the first election.
4. 1883 — E. W. Dimock plats the hamlet of Wisterman for proprietors W. S. Daly, E. R. Eastman and Jane James; it never grows beyond a rail stop.
5. 1888-03-23 — Continental, in the township's south, is platted as Marice City and renamed within eleven years.
6. 1888-03-22 — Marice City (Continental) is incorporated, the Buckeye Stave Company builds its stave factory on its addition that year.
7. 1899-04-17 — The court changes the name of Marice City to Continental.
8. 1910 — Continental has more than a thousand residents, an elevator and milling company, two banks and a hotel.
9. 2020 — The census counts 2,044 residents in Monroe Township.

Stories

Two Years Alone in a Malarial Swamp

Monroe Township was the second-youngest in Putnam County, its settlement held back by the same swampy soil that slowed development across the region. Adam Perrin arrived alone in 1849 and, as far as the record shows, had the entire township to himself for two years before John Grant joined him in 1851 -- a decision the county's 1915 historian described bluntly as risking one's fortunes in a "malaria-ridden district." More families followed quickly after: John and Eli Fickle, Hiram Madden, William Moore, D. D. Barnes, James Early and others through 1851 and 1852. When the township organized on April 5, 1852, cut off from Perry Township, only twelve men cast votes, and six of them were immediately elected to fill every township office between them. George Krites taught the first school, in a small cabin on section 5 -- a modest beginning for a township whose only real town, Continental, would not be platted for another thirty-six years.

Hartsburg and Wisterman, Two Stops That Never Grew

West of Continental on the Nickel Plate railroad sits Hartsburg, a hamlet so modest that even the county's own 1915 historian could not determine whether it had ever been formally platted at all. By then it had a church and a school building and functioned as a railroad stop, nothing more. Wisterman, laid out in 1883 by the surveyor E. W. Dimock for proprietors W. S. Daly, E. R. Eastman and Jane James, fared little better -- the town, in the historian's words, "failed to materialize to any great extent," ending up as merely a stop on the Toledo, St. Louis & Western railroad. A third place, Rice, had once been a post office serving the surrounding farm country, but by 1915 that too had been reduced to an interurban stop. Together the three hamlets sketch a pattern common across Monroe Township's short history: plans for towns that never quite became more than places where a train might pause.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Continental Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Power plants (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

Money issues on the ballot since 2023: 2 of 2 passed.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

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

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