Monroe Township, Richland County

• Malabar FarmNovelist Louis Bromfield built Malabar Farm near Lucas in 1938-1939. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall married there on May 21, 1945; it became a state park in 1976.

How Monroe Township, Richland County began

Monroe Township was organized February 11, 1817. David Hill built its first cabin in the southwest section, and settlers including Adam Wolfe, Solomon Gladden, and Abraham Baughman (an earlier Greentown-area settler displaced by the War of 1812) arrived by 1816-1818. Milling on Rockyfork and the Octorora stream powered the township's early economy, and its churches were overwhelmingly Lutheran, with St. John's Lutheran organized in 1838 in the Darling valley. The township holds the county's most direct documented links to Native history outside Greentown itself: Mohawk Hill, named for Mohawk burials from the nearby Delaware town of Helltown (occupied until 1783), and Pipe's Cliffs, which commemorates the Munsee Delaware leader Captain Pipe.

Settled 1809, incorporated 1817-02-11, by organized February 11, 1817.

Where the name comes from

No source found gives a documented reason for choosing the name 'Monroe' for this township; President James Monroe took office in 1817, the same year the township organized, which is the likely but unconfirmed connection.

Before the town

Monroe Township carries two named sites tied directly to the historic Delaware (Lenape) presence at Helltown, a Delaware village on the Clear Fork occupied until its residents relocated to found Greentown around 1783: Mohawk Hill, named for the burial there of Mohawk people associated with Helltown's occupancy, and Pipe's Cliffs, which commemorates Captain Pipe (Hopocan), the Munsee Delaware leader active in the Ohio country during the Revolutionary War era. Beyond these two named features, no mound, earthwork, or additional village site within the township is documented in the sources reviewed.

Nations recorded here: Lenape (Delaware), Mingo.

• Mohawk Hill (burial) — Monroe Township, Richland County, to 1783 (richland.ohgenweb.org)
• Pipe's Cliffs (other) — Monroe Township, Richland County, 18th century (richland.ohgenweb.org)

Timeline

1. 1809 — A few of the township's earliest settlers arrive, with more following in 1810 and 1811 and all in place by 1818, according to the 1903 county history.
2. 1816 — Adam Wolfe and Solomon Gladden settle in the township; Abraham Baughman, previously the first settler near Greentown, relocates to Monroe Township during the War of 1812 and enters land in the southwest quarter of section 25.
3. 1817-02-11 — Monroe Township is formally organized.
4. 1820 — Peter Zerby builds the township's first gristmill, the Octorora mills.
5. 1820 — Reinhart Oldfield builds a mill on Rockyfork, still operating as of the 1903 county history.
6. 1821 — Abraham Baughman dies in the township in January, having resided there since relocating from the Greentown area.
7. 1838 — St. John's Lutheran Church is organized on the north side of the Darling valley.
8. 1846 — A woolen factory begins operating on Rockyfork near Lucas.
9. 1851-05 — Rev. Richard Gailey founds the Monroe Seminary.

Stories

Mohawk Hill and Pipe's Cliffs

Two places in Monroe Township carry names that reach back to the Delaware town of Helltown, which stood on the Clear Fork until its people relocated a few miles away to found Greentown around 1783. Mohawk Hill takes its name from the burial there of Mohawk people who had lived at or visited Helltown during its occupation. Pipe's Cliffs commemorates Captain Pipe, the Munsee Delaware leader known in the Ohio country through the Revolutionary War years, whose name recurs across other Richland-area places tied to Helltown and Greentown. Neither site has a documented archaeological investigation on record; both survive as place-name memory rather than excavated sites.

From Greentown's first settler to Monroe Township's early death

Abraham Baughman had been the first white settler near Greentown, the Delaware village on the Black Fork, before the tensions of the War of 1812 made that area unsafe. He removed to Monroe Township and entered land in the southwest quarter of section 25, where he lived until his death in January 1821. His descendants, including the family that would later produce the county historian A.J. Baughman, remained prominent in local records for the rest of the nineteenth century.

Photographs

Local history sources: richland.ohgenweb.org · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org

Every historic place in Richland County on the full map

Mostly private wells The water here

• Lucas Village77% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Perrysville Village21% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Bellville Village2% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Clearfork MHP0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Mohican Young Star Academy0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Bridges rated poor (2)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2015: 2 of 2 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.
• Financial Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-06-17

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