Oak Run Township, Madison County

How Oak Run Township, Madison County began

Oak Run Township was the last township erected in Madison County, formed March 5, 1856 from parts of Range, Pleasant, Fairfield and Union townships on the petition of Robert C. Amos and others. It is one of the smallest and most irregularly shaped townships in the county, drained by Deer Creek, Oak Run and Bradford's Fork, and it has never contained a single town or village, remaining purely rural. William Jamison, who arrived from Kentucky about 1805, is remembered as its first settler, well before the township itself existed. The township's most notable landmark is a large Native burial mound on the John Dun farm overlooking Deer Creek, one of the largest in the county. Oak Run Township's early elections were held at Harvey's Mills, an early grist and saw mill on Oak Run, until a township house was built in 1881.

Settled 1805, incorporated 1856-03-05, by petitioned by Robert C. Amos and other residents of Range, Pleasant, Fairfield and Union townships; first settler William Jamison.

Where the name comes from

The township is named for Oak Run, the creek that crosses it and joins Deer Creek; the 1883 county history does not explain why the stream itself bears that name, though burr oak was noted as the predominant tree of the surrounding oak-opening prairie.

Before the town

Oak Run Township holds one of the largest documented Native burial mounds in Madison County, on the John Dun farm overlooking Deer Creek: about 240 feet around the base and originally at least 12 feet high, opened in January 1881 by Mathew Rea and Thomas Roby, who found two skeletons with the skulls best preserved, along with the usual layers of burnt clay, charcoal and ash found in sepulchral mounds; the 1883 county history suggests it may also have served as an observation mound given the view from its summit. The township also held a well-known Native camping ground: an Indian trace, later called Chenoweth's Trace, ran from Franklinton (Columbus) through Georgesville to "Springer's Spring" in Oak Run Township and on to Old Chillicothe (near Xenia); Jonathan Alder, who lived among the Mingo as a captive in his youth, later pointed out this spring as a favorite camping ground of his adoptive people. The township lay within the hunting range the 1883 county history assigns to the Shawnee, Wyandot, Delaware and Mingo along Deer Creek, Paint Creek, Oak Run and the Darby creeks; the last Native residents of the county are said to have left the area about 1820.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Wyandot, Lenape (Delaware), Mingo (Seneca-Cayuga).

• Dun Mound (mound) — John Dun farm, Oak Run Township, overlooking Deer Creek, pre-contact (sepulchral/possible observation mound) (archive.org)
• Springer's Spring (camp) — on the Chenoweth Trace between Georgesville and Old Chillicothe, Oak Run Township, pre-1820 (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1805 — William Jamison, from Kentucky, settled just south of the mouth of Glade Run and purchased 200 acres, the first known settler within what became Oak Run Township.
2. c. 1808 — John Simpkins, a Marylander, buys land on Walnut Run and Oak Run; he serves as county treasurer in 1816, collector in 1817 and associate judge.
3. c. 1810 — The brothers Elias and Van De Lashmut, from Maryland, buy land on Deer Creek on the line between Fairfield and Oak Run; Elias, once sheriff of Franklin County, becomes an early London merchant.
4. c. 1818 — Joseph Rea, born in Pennsylvania in 1754, settles on Oak Run, the ancestor of the Reas who remain large landowners; his son Matthew settles in the township in 1835.
5. c. 1820 — James Foster, from Ross County, settles on the north side of Bradford's Fork and later serves as county commissioner; his brother John follows.
6. c. 1825 — Jonathan Farrar, an English-born stockman, settles on land later owned by Chenoweth and later helps buy blooded stock in England for the county breeders' association.
7. 1831-32 — John C. Robison, an English-born teacher, erected a saw and grist mill on Oak Run, later known as Harvey's Mills and the Gregg Mill, which became the township's election site for decades.
8. c. 1835 — Farrar builds a sawmill near the mouth of Oak Run, later adding a grist mill.
9. 1856-03-05 — The Madison County Commissioners erected Oak Run Township from parts of Range, Pleasant, Fairfield and Union townships, on the petition of Robert C. Amos and others.
10. 1856-04-07 — Qualified electors met at Harvey's Mills, elected John Foster, Jonathan Harvey and Robert C. Amos as the first Trustees, and put the new township into working order.
11. c. 1865 — Mr. Gregg buys the old Robison mill on Deer Creek and runs it for years, known as the Gregg mill.
12. 1880 — Five school subdistricts enumerate 219 scholars; the township has no justice of the peace after 1866 and no constable after 1869, and no town, store or saloon.
13. 1881-01 — The large burial mound on the John Dun farm was opened by Mathew Rea and Thomas Roby, who found two skeletons and the usual burnt-clay and ash layers of a sepulchral mound.
14. 1881 — A township house was built at the corner of Robert Rea's land, ending the practice of holding township elections at Harvey's Mills.
15. 2020 — Oak Run Township has 521 residents.

Stories

A township with no town at all

Of Madison County's fourteen townships, Oak Run alone never grew a village within its borders. The 1883 county history notes this plainly: "another peculiarity it has is in not possessing a single town or village within its limits; hence it is purely a rural township." Its Justice of the Peace and Constable offices sat vacant for years at a stretch after 1867 without apparent inconvenience, which the historian took as proof of a quiet, orderly farming community rather than a failing of local government: "there is no town or village within the township, and no saloons, stores or other places to attract or keep loafers or idlers." The township's business instead centered on Harvey's Mills, a grist and saw mill on Oak Run that had passed through several owners since John C. Robison built it about 1831-32, and that doubled for decades as the polling place for every township election.

The mound on the Dun farm

On a rise overlooking the Deer Creek valley, on land belonging to John Dun, stood the largest of a chain of burial mounds the 1883 historian traced from the southern to the northern edge of Madison County. Roughly 240 feet around its base and originally taller than the twelve feet it stood in 1883, the mound was circular and tapered gradually to its summit, giving a wide view of the valley that led the historian to suspect it had doubled as a lookout point as well as a burial place. In January 1881, Mathew Rea and Thomas Roby dug into it to a depth of six or eight feet and found two skeletons, their skulls the only bones in fair condition, along with the alternating layers of burnt clay, charcoal and ash typical of sepulchral mounds across the region. No tools, ornaments or pottery were reported from this particular excavation, unlike some smaller Madison County mounds where stone axes, pipes and pottery jars had turned up.

Grass tall enough to tie over a horse

The first settlers of Oak Run Township found the west and south parts of it in oak openings and prairie where a sedge grew so tall that a man riding through on horseback could take the grass from either side and tie the tops together over his horse's back. Rich black loam lay under it. The township was settled slowly, first by William Jamison about 1805, and was still sparsely settled when the commissioners created it in 1856 from pieces of four older townships. By 1883 the county historian could say it had never had a town, a saloon or a store, went years without a justice of the peace or a constable, 'and, as far as is apparent, suffers very little inconvenience from the want of them'. He credits that to a farming community of industrious, law-abiding citizens, 'beacon lights among the townships of Madison County'.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Mid-ohio WSD - Chrisman Avenue WTP73% of residentsLocal glacial sand-and-gravel wells (Madison County)
• Mount Sterling Village14% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Choctaw Utilities, Inc.12% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Green Meadows Mobile Home Park1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Sunset Mobile Home Park1% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)

Power plants (1)

Bridges rated poor (2)

Spills reported since 2021 (18)

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 2026-05-07

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