New Waterford

How New Waterford began

New Waterford was laid out in 1851 by brothers John and Robert Silliman under the name Bull Creek, for the stream that once powered its sawmills and gristmills, before being renamed for Waterford, Ireland; it did not incorporate as a village until 1900. Small and largely residential today, the village still centers on the dammed pond on Bull Creek in its village park, a modern echo of the water-powered milling that first drew settlers there.

Settled 1851, platted 1851 (as Bull Creek), incorporated 1900, by John and Robert Silliman.

Where the name comes from

The 1879 county history says that when the railroad first located a station at the village it was known by the name of the creek (Bull Creek) 'but the present name was soon after selected'; it gives no reason. Wikipedia says the village was renamed for Waterford, Ireland.

Before the town

No source reviewed names a specific Native American village, camp or burial site within present New Waterford's boundaries. The village was not platted until 1851, more than half a century after the region's Native land claims were ceded under the 1785 Treaty of Fort McIntosh and confirmed by the 1795 Treaty of Greenville.

Timeline

1. 1800s — Sawmills and gristmills powered by Big Bull Creek drive the village's early economy.
2. 1804 — Soon after this year John Hatcher builds saw and grist mills on Big Bull Creek a mile above the later village, and Richard Beeson puts up pioneer mills about 1803 farther downstream, later known as Mendenhall's.
3. 1848 — Christ and Roos build a water-power grist mill near the future depot, which passes some years later to the Silliman brothers, who add steam power.
4. 1851 — John and Robert Silliman lay out the village as Bull Creek.
5. 1852 — Thomas Chess puts up a steam sawmill on the south side of the creek; it burns, and is replaced by a mill built by Fisher and Company.
6. 1857 — John Nevin goes into trade on the south side of the creek, the village's second merchant after John Silliman.
7. 1858 — The Methodist Episcopal church is organized May 16 in Joseph Taylor's barn by Rev. G. D. Kinnear; a frame meeting house is built and dedicated in March 1859.
8. 1873 — James C. Scott builds the 'Tip-Top Mills' on the site of the burned Silliman mill, a frame building of three runs of stones driven by water and steam (the 1879 history dates the earlier fire to 1862, the 1905 history to 1865).
9. 1877 — John M. Ott builds a carriage factory employing ten men; by 1879 the village has sixty dwellings, two churches, a schoolhouse and several stores, and Fisher and Butz have run a planing mill since 1875.
10. 1880 — The census counts 192 residents.
11. 1882 — W. Grant Scott issues the New Waterford Times, the village's first newspaper, monthly until 1884; it is followed by the Monthly Gleaner (1885-88) and by the New Waterford Magnet, begun December 6, 1894.
12. 1900 — New Waterford incorporates as a village.
13. 1903 — A coal mine is at work at New Waterford among the mines reported by the state mine inspector for Columbiana County.
14. 1904 — Of 19,395 dozen eggs shipped out of Columbiana County to other states, 11,795 dozen are shipped from New Waterford.
15. 1970s-1980s — New Waterford's population jumps 78.8 percent, its fastest growth on record.
16. 1980 — The census counts 1,314 residents, up from 735 in 1970.
17. 2020 — The census counts 1,194 residents.

Stories

Mills on Big Bull Creek

Big Bull Creek gave the New Waterford neighborhood its first industry. Richard Beeson put up pioneer mills about 1803 and John Hatcher built saw and grist mills a mile above the future village soon after 1804, which the county historians say were kept in almost constant operation for three-quarters of a century. About 1848 Christ and Roos built a water-power grist mill by the new depot, and a few years later it passed to the Silliman brothers, who also laid out the village and added steam power. After a fire destroyed it, the spot stood vacant until 1873, when James C. Scott, who had run a mill on Big Bull Creek since 1867, erected the three-run 'Tip-Top Mills' there. By 1879 the village had a planing mill, a carriage factory and a steam sawmill alongside it, and a cider mill that turned out cider on a large scale each fall.

The eggs of New Waterford

In the assessors' returns for 1904, as summarized in the 1905 county history, Columbiana County shipped 19,395 dozen eggs out of the state, and 11,795 dozen of them, more than three in every five, went from New Waterford. The 1879 county history had already said that New Waterford had 'an excellent reputation as a trading centre,' and the egg figures show it a shipping point for the farms around it by the early 1900s.

Photographs

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• New Waterford Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (6 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Police stations (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2021: 1 of 3 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, 2022 to 2023, released 2025-08-05

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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