New Bloomington

How New Bloomington began

New Bloomington is a small village in southeastern Montgomery Township, Marion County, on the railroad that was built as the Bellefontaine & Indiana in the early 1850s. When the line came through there was one log cabin at the spot; in 1856 W. W. and Wingate Carey, Carey Darlington and Armstrong M. Smallwood laid out a town around the station, called Carey after the two Carey men, and W. W. Carey built its first frame house, store and warehouse. The place has carried four names: Carey or Carey Station, New Bloomington, Belfast for the railroad station from 1879, and Agosta for both post office and station from 1883, before returning to New Bloomington. By 1883 it had a steam grain elevator, a union school and a Methodist church of about a hundred members; its population peaked at 399 in 1900 and stood at 413 at the 2020 census.

Platted 1856, by W. W. Carey and Wingate Carey, with Carey Darlington and Armstrong M. Smallwood.

Where the name comes from

The village's first name, Carey (Carey Station), came from W. W. and Wingate Carey, who laid out most of the lots in 1856. The 1883 county history says it was known as Carey until a year it leaves blank, when it became New Bloomington; the railroad station was renamed Belfast in 1879 while the post office stayed New Bloomington, and on April 1, 1883, both were changed to Agosta. Why the names New Bloomington and Agosta were chosen, and when the village went back to New Bloomington, were not found.

Before the town

No Native village, mound, or trail specific to New Bloomington or Montgomery Township is recorded in the sources checked, including the village section of the 1883 county history. The site lay within the area of Marion County that stayed closed to settlement under the 1795 Treaty of Greenville line until roughly 1819, hunting ground used chiefly by the Wyandot and Lenape (Delaware) before that.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot, Lenape (Delaware).

Timeline

1. 1852 — The Bellefontaine & Indiana Railroad (later the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis) is completed through Montgomery Township; at the future village site there is a single log cabin.
2. 1856 — The village was laid out under the name Carey Station.
3. 1856 — W. W. Carey lays out the lots east of Main Street south of the railroad, Wingate Carey those north of it, Carey Darlington the west side north of the railroad and Armstrong M. Smallwood the west side south of it.
4. 1857-05-14 — A post office is established at the village.
5. 1873 — Jacob Zimmerman serves as the first mayor listed for the village, 1873-74.
6. 1875 — The Methodist Episcopal church builds its house of worship for $1,500, and the New Bloomington Union School District is organized.
7. 1876 — A union school building costing $2,500 is put up on two acres bought from Wingate Carey Sr., with three departments.
8. 1879 — A $1,000 station house is built, $300 of it given by the village, with a telegraph office; the station is renamed Belfast while the post office keeps the name New Bloomington.
9. 1883 — The post office is renamed Agosta on February 5, and on April 1 both office and station take the name Agosta.
10. 1888 — Howe's Historical Collections lists New Bloomington in the western part of the county, with a population of 271 in 1880 and a school census of 150.
11. 1900 — The village reached its historical population peak of 399 residents.
12. 2020 — The village recorded a population of 413 at the U.S. census, part of Montgomery Township's total of 2,064.

Stories

One village, four names

When the Bellefontaine & Indiana Railroad was built through southeastern Montgomery Township there was only one log cabin at the spot. In 1856 W. W. and Wingate Carey laid out a town there, with Carey Darlington and Armstrong M. Smallwood platting the west side, and it was called Carey after the two Careys. It later became New Bloomington; in 1879 the railroad renamed its station Belfast while the post office kept New Bloomington; and in 1883 both became Agosta, the name the 1883 county history uses for the village. By 1888 Howe's Historical Collections was calling it New Bloomington again, the name it carries today.

A station the village helped pay for

In 1879 the railroad built a station house at New Bloomington for $1,000, of which the village gave $300, and opened a telegraph office there with G. W. Bailey as operator. A two-story steam elevator holding 5,000 bushels, built by Burke & Porter of Green Camp, shipped about 150 carloads of grain a year. In the first half of 1883 the station received 790,145 pounds of freight and forwarded 1,776,587 pounds, and in 1882 it sold $2,012.43 in passenger tickets.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · co.marion.oh.us · ohiogenealogyexpress.com · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · commons.wikimedia.org

No water-system data is linked to New Bloomington's ZIP codes yet.

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2015: 1 of 1 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.
• Basic Audit, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-06-09

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.

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