New London Township, Huron County

How New London Township, Huron County began

New London Township's first settlers arrived by 1815 -- Abner Green built the first house that February -- and the township organized in 1817, with its first election held at William Sweet's house. Village founder John Corey put up the first log cabin at the site in 1816; the settlement was known successively as Merrifield Settlement, Kinsley's Corners and King's Corners before taking the New London name, and it incorporated in 1853 after the railroad arrived. The township hosted an early Latter Day Saint congregation, which built a large log meeting house around 1829-30 with Elder Sidney Rigdon among its members, before most Mormon settlers moved on with the westward migration of the church. It is named, like the village, for New London, Connecticut, whose burned-out Revolutionary War residents received Firelands land claims.

Settled February 1815 (Abner Green, first house), incorporated 1817 (township organized), by Abner Green; township organizers William Sweet, Isaac P. Case and Solomon Hubbard.

Where the name comes from

New London Township is named for New London, Connecticut, the hometown of many of its pioneer settlers and one of the Connecticut towns burned by British forces in the Revolutionary War.

Before the town

No Native American village, trail, or site specific to New London Township is documented in the sources consulted.

Timeline

1. 1815 — Abner Green erects the township's first house, on lot ten, section three, in February; John Corey builds the first log cabin at the future village site the following year, becoming its first settler.
2. 1816 — The township's first birth (a short-lived, unnamed son of John Hendryx, born February 29) and its first religious organization, a Methodist class of about thirty gathered by James Haney of Savannah, both take place; the first schoolhouse also opens on lot thirteen, third section, with Sophia Case teaching fifteen pupils.
3. 1817 — New London Township organizes formally, with its first election held at William Sweet's house on the first Monday in April; William Sweet, Isaac P. Case and Solomon Hubbard are elected trustees.
4. 1818 — The township's Baptist church is organized in the Peter Kinsley schoolhouse with about twenty to twenty-five members, including Joseph Merrifield, Deacon Isaac Sampson and John Corey and their wives.
5. 1829 — A Latter Day Saint (Mormon) congregation builds a large log meeting house on the south side of the highway between the Townsend and Hooker farms; early members include Elder Sidney Rigdon, an important early Mormon leader, and Elder Benjamin B. Brackenbury.
6. 1850 — The Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railroad begins running through the village, spurring rapid growth.
7. 1853 — New London village, embracing about 800 acres, is formally incorporated in the fall; its first council includes R. C. Powers as mayor.
8. 1872 — A major fire on November 17 destroys forty to fifty thousand dollars' worth of village property, the second serious fire after one in 1851.
9. 2002 — The Miller-Bissell Farmstead, on State Route 60, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 23.

Stories

A Mormon meeting house on the New London road

Around 1829 or 1830, New London Township's small Latter Day Saint congregation built an 'immense log structure' for worship on the south side of the highway between the Townsend and Hooker farms. Its early members included Elder Sidney Rigdon, one of the most important leaders of the early Mormon movement and later a close associate of Joseph Smith, alongside Elder Benjamin B. Brackenbury and their families. The congregation reflected a wider wave: between 1831 and 1834, many members of the township's own Baptist church left to join what the 1879 county historian called 'the popular religious revival of the Latter Day Saints, or Mormon emigrants,' before the church's westward migration eventually carried most of its adherents out of Ohio entirely, leaving the log meeting house as a brief, specific trace of a movement usually associated with Kirtland, not with this corner of Huron County.

Merrifield Settlement to King's Corners to New London

The village that became New London went through several names before settling on its permanent one. John Corey put up the first log cabin in 1816, and for the next several years the little settlement was called Merrifield Settlement after an early family; by 1822 it was Kinsley's Corners, for postmaster and hotelkeeper Peter Kinsley, who ran a double log house as both inn and store; and by 1840 it was known for a time as King's Corners. Only after the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railroad came through in 1850 and the village incorporated in 1853 did the New London name take permanent hold, alongside a more unusual local trade: farmers in the area became known for breeding ferrets, which were shipped to buyers across the United States.

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

Every historic place in Huron County on the full map

New London's upground reservoir, filled by pumping from Buck Creek, just outside the Village of New London The water here

• New London Village77% of residentsBuck Creek, impounded in New London's upground reservoir
• Rural Lorain Co. Water A23% of residentsMostly Lake Erie (bought from Avon Lake); some New London Reservoir and Ashland wells

Money issues on the ballot since 2023: 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, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-07-29

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