Nelsonville

Village · Athens County · 4,616 residents · 1.75% municipal income tax

Athens County

Local events in Nelsonville

Nelsonville itself has 1 event posted in the next 90 days; the others here are within 20 miles. All local events in Nelsonville

  1. Wrestling - Steve Yinger Invitational

    All day · Nelsonville-York High School, 2 Buckeye Dr, Nelsonville, OH 45764, USA · From Adena Local School District

  2. R.O.A.R. Day

    Starts midnight · Lake Hope State Park · Brown Township · 10 mi · From Vinton County CVB

  3. Lifestyle Medicine & Wellness Club, Wellness Committee, & TOUCH - HCOM Costume 5K

    10 a.m. to 2 p.m. · West State Street Park · Athens · 9.8 mi · Paid · From Ohio University

Checked October 20; the events page is refreshed daily.

How Nelsonville began

Nelsonville grew up on the Hocking River in the northwest corner of Athens County, first settled in 1814 by Daniel Nelson and incorporated in 1838 with Charles Cable as its first mayor. Coal, fire clay and salt drove its economy through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the Hocking Canal and later railroads carried those goods out. The town earned a place in Civil War history when Morgan's Raiders passed through in 1863, and again in 1888 when it claimed to be the first city west of the Alleghenies with citywide electric street lighting. Its brick-paved public square, the Dew House hotel and Stuart's Opera House, all still standing, anchor a National Register historic district downtown.

Settled 1814, platted 1818-06 (laid out in June 1818 by Daniel Nelson, who owned the land), incorporated 1838, by Daniel Nelson (first settler and platter); Charles Cable (first mayor, elected at the town's first election, April 27, 1839).

Where the name comes from

Nelsonville is named for Daniel Nelson, who settled the site in 1814.

Before the town

No source consulted documents a specific Native American village, trail, mound or treaty boundary within present-day Nelsonville itself. The town sits in the Hocking Valley, a landscape with documented Adena and Hopewell mound-building activity elsewhere in the county (notably at The Plains, several miles away) and Shawnee presence by the historic era. Nothing site-specific to Nelsonville was found.

Timeline

  1. — Daniel Nelson settles the site that becomes Nelsonville.
  2. — The town is laid out and named after Daniel Nelson, who owned the land on which it stands.
  3. — Solomon Roberts, a blacksmith newly arrived from New York, settles in Nelsonville and finds fewer than half a dozen cabins and one frame house; coal is not yet known to exist locally, so he gets his coal from Minker's Run and Monday Creek.
  4. — Samuel Robbins, born in Massachusetts in 1771, settles in Nelsonville and builds and runs the first tannery in this part of the county; he dies there September 21, 1832.
  5. — James Knight, a Nelsonville innkeeper, helps build the first bridge over the Hocking River at Nelsonville, financed mainly by individual subscriptions paid in grain and labor.
  6. — Nelsonville is incorporated, with Charles Cable serving as its first mayor.
  7. — Nelsonville holds its first town election: Charles Cable is chosen mayor, A. J. Bond recorder, and John Coe, S. M. Sheppard, John Hull, W. W. Poston and (later, replacing James Rusk, who declined) Thomas L. Mintun trustees.
  8. — The Hocking Canal, a branch of the Ohio and Erie Canal, is completed from Carroll through Lancaster, Logan and Nelsonville to Athens, giving Nelsonville's coal a shipping route to Columbus and beyond.
  9. — During Morgan's Raid, Confederate cavalry under General John Hunt Morgan pause in Nelsonville and burn ten wooden canal boats on the Hocking Canal; townspeople extinguish fires set to the covered bridge over the canal before it can be destroyed.
  10. — George Stuart, a former showboat operator whose boat had sunk in 1869, builds Stuart's Opera House on the public square during Nelsonville's coal boom.
  11. — Nelsonville becomes, by local claim, the first city in the United States west of the Allegheny Mountains to have citywide electric street lights.
  12. — Stuart's Opera House closes as audiences turn to motion pictures and the local coal industry declines.
  13. — The Dew House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  14. — Stuart's Opera House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
  15. — A major fire damages Stuart's Opera House during its restoration by the Hocking Valley Museum of Theatrical History, nearly derailing the project.
  16. — Ohio EPA issues a preliminary finding of no significant impact for a $2.7 million, fully forgivable Water Pollution Control Loan Fund project to improve Nelsonville's regional wastewater collection system, Phase 3.

Stories

The showman who built an opera house

George Stuart ran a showboat on the Ohio and Hocking rivers until it sank in 1869. Rather than give up the entertainment business, he built a proper theater on dry land: Stuart's Opera House, raised on Nelsonville's public square in 1879 as the town's coal boom was bringing rail traffic, money and touring acts through the Hocking Valley. For more than four decades it hosted some of the era's most successful traveling performers, until changing tastes for motion pictures and the decline of the coal trade closed its doors in 1924. The building sat mostly dormant for half a century before the Hocking Valley Museum of Theatrical History bought it in the 1970s to restore it as a working theater — a restoration nearly undone by a major fire on March 24, 1980. It was rebuilt anyway, and today it operates again as a music and theater venue, home to the annual Nelsonville Music Festival.

Raiders on the canal

In July 1863, John Hunt Morgan's Confederate cavalry swept through southern Ohio in the raid that bears his name, and Nelsonville was one of the towns they passed through. The raiders burned ten wooden canal boats tied up on the Hocking Canal, but when they set fire to the covered bridge that carried the canal towpath, Nelsonville residents put the flames out before serious damage was done — a small act of resistance that let Union pursuers keep the bridge usable as they chased Morgan's column across the state.

Bricks with a star on them

Nelsonville's clay deposits made it a brickmaking town as well as a coal town, and its most distinctive local product was a decorative glazed paving brick stamped with a star pattern. Those bricks still pave parts of the historic public square and sidewalks downtown, a small, walkable trace of an industry that, along with coal and salt, built the town's economy for a century.

The innkeeper who talked up a canal

James Knight, an English-born immigrant who settled in Nelsonville in 1821 and kept public house there for years, became one of the young town's most useful citizens without ever holding office. He helped raise the money, mostly paid in grain and labor rather than cash, to build Nelsonville's first bridge over the Hocking River in 1827 and a second one in 1832, plus a bridge over Monday Creek three miles below town the same year. In 1832 he wrote and circulated a pamphlet arguing for a canal to connect the Hocking Valley with the Ohio and Erie Canal by way of Lancaster, sending it to leading men across southern Ohio; the campaign he helped start led to the chartering of the Hocking Canal in 1839 and its completion in 1843, opening a cheap way to ship Nelsonville's coal and salt to Columbus and the wider Ohio and Erie Canal system. Knight died in 1836, three years before the canal he had argued for was even chartered, but his subscription papers, building plans and contracts for the town's early bridges survived in his own handwriting among his papers.

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

Historic places

2 places in Nelsonville on the National Register of Historic Places. Press a pin or a name for its whole record.

  1. Dew HouseBuilding · Nelsonville · listed 1978
    Address
    Public Sq.
    Where
    Nelsonville, Athens County · ZIP 45764
    What it is
    Building
    Listed on the National Register
    1978
    NRIS reference number
    78002006
    Coordinates
    39.46006, -82.23197
  2. Stuart's Opera HouseBuilding · Nelsonville · listed 1978
    Address
    Public Sq. and Washington St.
    Where
    Nelsonville, Athens County · ZIP 45764
    What it is
    Building
    Listed on the National Register
    1978
    NRIS reference number
    78002007
    Coordinates
    39.46079, -82.23175

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places point file. The listing year is shown where NPS's certification date agrees with the listing's reference number. Listing recognizes significance; it does not restrict a private owner.

Every historic place in Athens County on the full map

Water

Groundwater wells (3 wells) The water here

Hospitals, fire stations and more

Inside Nelsonville's boundary: 1 health center, 1 fire or EMS station, 2 colleges, 4 public schools, 2 libraries, 1 museum, 1 police station, 3 public charging sites and 6 spill cases. Press a pin or a name for its whole record and its source.

Community health centers (1)

  1. Hopewell Health Centers - NelsonvilleHealth center · Nelsonville
    Run by
    a federally qualified health center
    Setting
    Clinic
    City
    Nelsonville
    Coordinates
    39.46315, -82.24306

Source: HRSA health center service delivery sites, active, September 2026 (school-based sites left out). Health centers see patients whether or not they have insurance, with fees on a sliding scale.

Fire and EMS stations (1)

  1. Nelsonville Fire DepartmentNelsonville
    Address
    211 Lake Hope Drive, Nelsonville, OH 45764
    Coordinates
    39.45864, -82.24090

Source: USGS National Map structures (most Ohio records last updated 2019 to 2022), checked against the Columbus and Cleveland station lists. The department that answers a call is set by jurisdiction and mutual aid, not by distance.

Colleges (2)

  1. Hocking CollegePublic two-year college · Nelsonville
    What it is
    Public two-year college
    City
    Nelsonville
    Students, 2023-24 (12-month count)
    2,537
    Tuition and fees, in state
    $5,300
    Tuition and fees, out of state
    $9,810
    Graduation rate
    29% within three years (a class of 555)
    IPEDS unit ID
    203155
  2. Tri-County Adult Career CenterPublic career school · Nelsonville
    What it is
    Public career school
    City
    Nelsonville
    Students, 2023-24 (12-month count)
    88
    IPEDS unit ID
    206172

Source: NCES IPEDS 2024 directory, 2023-24 enrollment and tuition, graduation rates for the 2017 (four-year) and 2020 (two-year) entering classes.

Public schools (4)

  1. Nelsonville-York Elementary School3.5 of 5 stars · Nelsonville
    Address
    4 Buckeye Dr, Nelsonville, OH 45764
    School district
    Nelsonville-York City School District
    Kind (NCES)
    Regular School
    Students, 2023-24
    504
    Teachers (full-time equivalent)
    43
    Report card, 2025-26
    3.5 of 5 stars
    Performance index
    73.7%
    Ohio building IRN
    042440
    NCES school ID
    390444401371
  2. Nelsonville-York High School3 of 5 stars · Nelsonville
    Address
    1 Buckeye Dr, Nelsonville, OH 45764
    School district
    Nelsonville-York City School District
    Kind (NCES)
    Regular School
    Students, 2023-24
    295
    Teachers (full-time equivalent)
    21
    Report card, 2025-26
    3 of 5 stars
    Performance index
    61.4%
    Four-year graduation rate
    89.2%
    Ohio building IRN
    026567
    NCES school ID
    390444401368
  3. Nelsonville-York Junior High School2.5 of 5 stars · Nelsonville
    Address
    3 Buckeye Dr, Nelsonville, OH 45764
    School district
    Nelsonville-York City School District
    Kind (NCES)
    Regular School
    Students, 2023-24
    246
    Teachers (full-time equivalent)
    18
    Report card, 2025-26
    2.5 of 5 stars
    Performance index
    59.3%
    Ohio building IRN
    026575
    NCES school ID
    390444401369
  4. Tri-County Career Center BuildingNelsonville
    Address
    15676 State Route 691, Nelsonville, OH 45764
    Kind (NCES)
    Career and Technical School
    Students, 2023-24
    564
    Teachers (full-time equivalent)
    43.5
    NCES school ID
    390516004090

Source: NCES EDGE public school locations 2024-25 and Common Core of Data 2023-24 (type, students, teachers); Ohio School Report Cards 2025-26 (Department of Education and Workforce), matched by name within the district.

Public libraries (2)

  1. Athens County Public LibrariesCentral library · Nelsonville
    Address
    95 W. Washington, Nelsonville, OH 45764
    What it is
    Central library
    Library system
    Athens County Public Libraries
    Open
    2,288 hours a year, 52 weeks
    Building
    17,602 sq ft
    System's visits, FY2024
    315,692
    System's loans, FY2024
    559,090
    People the system serves
    62,431
    Phone
    (740) 753-2118
  2. Nelsonville Public Library BsBookmobile stop · Nelsonville
    Address
    95 W. Washington, Nelsonville, OH 45764
    What it is
    Bookmobile stop
    Library system
    Athens County Public Libraries
    Open
    728 hours a year, 52 weeks
    System's visits, FY2024
    315,692
    System's loans, FY2024
    559,090
    People the system serves
    62,431
    Phone
    (614) 753-2118

Source: IMLS Public Libraries Survey FY2024 (outlets and their systems). Any Ohio resident can get a free card at any Ohio public library.

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

  1. Hocking College Art GalleryArt museum · Nelsonville
    What it is
    Art museum
    City
    Nelsonville
    Coordinates
    39.44161, -82.22186

    The museum list is IMLS's 2018 file; a museum may have closed or moved since.

Source: IMLS Museum Data Files, 2018.

Police stations (1)

  1. Nelsonville Police DepartmentNelsonville
    Address
    211 Lake Hope Drive, Nelsonville, OH 45764
    Coordinates
    39.45860, -82.24101

Source: USGS National Map structures, police stations, corrected and completed by hand (September 2026). The department that answers a call is set by jurisdiction, not by distance.

Public EV charging (3)

  1. CITY STATION 1 DC fast2 DC fast · Nelsonville
    Address
    28 E Columbus St, Nelsonville, OH 45764
    Ports
    2 DC fast
    Plugs
    CCS, CHAdeMO
    Network
    ChargePoint Network
    Hours
    24 hours daily
    Phone
    888-758-4389
  2. ROCKY BRANDS 14 Level 2 · Nelsonville
    Address
    39 E Canal St, Nelsonville, OH 45764
    Ports
    4 Level 2
    Plugs
    J1772
    Network
    ChargePoint Network
    Hours
    24 hours daily
    Phone
    888-758-4389
  3. Stuart's Opera House - Parking Lot1 Level 2 · Nelsonville
    Address
    52 Public Square, Nelsonville, OH 45764
    Ports
    1 Level 2
    Plugs
    J1772
    Network
    Non-Networked
    Hours
    24 hours daily
    Price
    Free
    Phone
    740-753-1924

Source: NREL Alternative Fuels Data Center station list (May 2026), public and open stations, the posts at one address counted as one site.

Spills reported since 2021 (6)

  1. Fuel Gasoline ( 25% Ethanol Not E85)2025-08-02 · Nelsonville
    Reported
    2025-08-02
    What spilled
    Fuel Gasoline ( 25% Ethanol Not E85)
    Where
    Nelsonville, Athens County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SEDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2508EPA0001308
  2. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road) Reached water2023-03-04 · Nelsonville
    Reported
    2023-03-04
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Reached a waterway
    Hocking River
    Where
    Nelsonville, Athens County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SEDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2303EPA0000336
  3. Oil Hydraulic Fluid(S)2022-09-30 · Nelsonville
    Reported
    2022-09-30
    What spilled
    Oil Hydraulic Fluid(S)
    Where
    Nelsonville, Athens County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SEDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2209EPA0001494
  4. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2022-07-27 · Nelsonville
    Reported
    2022-07-27
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)
    Where
    Nelsonville, Athens County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SEDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2207EPA0001144
  5. Material Blue Reached water2022-01-12 · Nelsonville
    Reported
    2022-01-12
    What spilled
    Material Blue
    Reached a waterway
    05 - Dorr Run
    Where
    Nelsonville, Athens County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SEDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2201EPA0000039
  6. Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road)2026-07-07 · Nelsonville
    Reported
    2026-07-07
    What spilled
    Fuel Diesel / Diesel Fuel (Vehicle On Or Off Road); Oil Motor / Lube Oil / Vehicle
    Where
    Nelsonville, Athens County
    Ohio EPA district office
    SEDO
    Ohio EPA case number
    2607EPA0001233

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 Nelsonville, with the share of its residents who live here and the same headline figures as the ZIP page.

Local government

How its elections and ballot issues came out and the state auditor's record.

Money issues on the ballot since 2020: 3 of 3 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 1 of 1.

Ballot issues

DateIssueForAgainstResult
2025-05-06 4: #4 City of Nelsonville Proposed Charter Amendment 202236Failed (46.12% for)
2024-11-05 2: 2 City of Nelsonville Tax Levy Roads 759523Passed (59.2% for)
2024-11-05 23: 23 City of Nelsonville Ordinance 860364Passed (70.26% for)
2022-05-03 2: #2 City of Nelsonville Tax Levy Repl Parks 238120Passed (66.48% for)
2020-11-03 2: 2 City of Nelsonville Tax Levy Roads 811516Passed (61.12% for), unofficial

Elections for office

DateOfficeCandidates and votes
2021-11-02 Member of Council at Large (unofficial count) Justin Booth 299, 22.3%; Gregory J. Clement 246, 18.34%; Elizabeth Pidcock Jones 299, 22.3%; Opha L. Lawson 186, 13.87%; Cory W. Taylor 311, 23.19%
2021-11-02 Member of Council at Large (unofficial count) Daniel L. Sherman 202, 52.74%; Gregory Smith 181, 47.26%

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked. The county's results on file run through 2026-05-05; later elections are not loaded yet.

Auditor of State record

On the November 3, 2026 ballot

Statewide question: State Issue 3: Voter ID

Local questions for Nelsonville, Athens County and its school district:

  • Athens County: Authorizes an additional 1-mill property tax levy to maintain & operate health department of Athens County for 10 years, beginning in 2026.

Races, candidates and every question for an address: your ballot. County offices and judges are on your county board's sample ballot.

The county

Athens County: 16 ZIP codes, 29 cities, villages and townships with pages here, 63,197 people (Census Bureau estimate, July 2025).

Nearby places

Rain and snow

How much has actually fallen on Nelsonville, day by day, from 1893 to now. Daily totals, not averages.

rain, last 30 days
1.19 in
2026-10-01 to 2026-10-30
rain so far in 2026
47.0 in
11.2 in above normal for the date
snow so far in 2026
16.1 in
a normal year brings 14.5 in
a normal year
42.0 in
average of 30 years, 1991-2020
The last twelve months
MonthRain (in)Snow (in)Days counted
October 2026 1.19 — 30
September 2026 8.02 — 30
August 2026 9.44 — 31
July 2026 5.22 — 31
June 2026 5.14 — 30
May 2026 5.28 — 31
April 2026 3.54 — 30
March 2026 6.04 2.4 31
February 2026 0.96 3.5 28
January 2026 2.21 10.2 31
December 2025 2.19 7.8 31
November 2025 2.79 0.4 30
On the record, 1893–2026
Wettest year (estimated)2018 — 62.9 in
Driest year (estimated)1930 — 23.9 in
Wettest day (estimated)13 October 1893 — 4.48 in
Heaviest snowfall in a day (estimated)23 January 1966 — 12.46 in
Deepest snow on the ground (estimated)15 January 1968 — 20.63 in

Mostly estimated. Only 3% of these days come from a gauge standing inside Nelsonville - the rest are worked out from the nearest gauges around it, so read them as close estimates rather than readings.

48,441 days of records, 1893-05-01 to 2026-10-30. Source: NOAA NCEI GHCN-Daily, 3,240 gauges in and around Ohio. A day is "gauged" when a gauge standing inside the boundary reported it, and the value is the mean of those gauges. Otherwise it is interpolated by inverse distance from every gauge reporting within 50 miles. Nothing is carried forward, back-filled or smoothed. Against NOAA nClimDiv county monthly precipitation over 136,848 complete county-months (checked 2026-11-01): correlation 0.9515, median absolute difference 0.217 in a month. Built 2026-11-01 from the Cracked Buckeye precipitation archive. Snow is the softer number — snowfall is measured by hand with a ruler, no agency publishes a gridded county snowfall series, and blowing snow defeats every observer.

Environmental permits and filings

What Ohio EPA has on file for Nelsonville: permits, inspections, violations, cleanups and the state loans behind sewer and water work. Every line links to the agency's own document.

facilities and sites on file
38
those placed on the map inside Nelsonville
What kind of permits
ProgramFacilities and sites
Sewer and water-line construction9
State water loans9
State sewer loans8
Wastewater and stormwater discharge7
Hazardous waste3
Public drinking water1
Spills and emergencies1
The latest filings
DateFacility or siteWhat
NELSONVILLE WTP Public drinking water notice of violation
NELSONVILLE PWS Public drinking water inspection
NELSONVILLE WWTP Wastewater and stormwater discharge notice of violation
NELSONVILLE PWS Public drinking water compliance letter
NELSONVILLE PWS Public drinking water notice of violation
NELSONVILLE WWTP Wastewater and stormwater discharge monitoring results
NELSONVILLE PWS Public drinking water compliance letter
NELSONVILLE PWS Public drinking water warning letter
NELSONVILLE WWTP State sewer loans
NELSONVILLE WWTP Wastewater and stormwater discharge monitoring results
NELSONVILLE PWS Public drinking water report
NELSONVILLE WWTP Wastewater and stormwater discharge report
NELSONVILLE WWTP Wastewater and stormwater discharge report
NELSONVILLE WWTP State sewer loans
NELSONVILLE WWTP Wastewater and stormwater discharge report
NELSONVILLE WWTP State sewer loans
NELSONVILLE WWTP Wastewater and stormwater discharge report
NELSONVILLE PWS Public drinking water notice of violation
NELSONVILLE WWTP State sewer loans
NELSONVILLE PWS Public drinking water inspection
NELSONVILLE WWTP State sewer loans
NELSONVILLE PWS State water loans
NELSONVILLE WWTP Wastewater and stormwater discharge report
NELSONVILLE PWS Public drinking water notice of violation
NELSONVILLE PWS Public drinking water permit

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.

Quick answers

What county is Nelsonville, Ohio in?

Nelsonville is a village in Athens County, Ohio, with 4,616 residents.

When was Nelsonville, Ohio founded?

Nelsonville was settled 1814; laid out 1818-06 (laid out in June 1818 by Daniel Nelson, who owned the land); incorporated 1838. Founders on record: Daniel Nelson (first settler and platter); Charles Cable (first mayor, elected at the town's first election, April 27, 1839). Source

How did Nelsonville, Ohio get its name?

Nelsonville is named for Daniel Nelson, who settled the site in 1814. Source

What ZIP code is Nelsonville, Ohio?

Nelsonville is served by ZIP codes 45764 and 45716; 45764 holds the largest share of its residents.

Where does Nelsonville, Ohio get its water?

The main water source for Nelsonville (Nelsonville): Groundwater wells (3 wells).

Cite this page

Cite this page as:

Cracked Buckeye, "Nelsonville, Athens County", https://crackedbuckeye.com/place/nelsonville/, built 2026-10-31, accessed [date].

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