Palmer Township, Putnam County

How Palmer Township, Putnam County began

Palmer Township, in northern Putnam County, was the last township organized in the county, in 1855, having previously been known as North Greensburg; it is one of only two Palmer Townships in Ohio, the other in Washington County. Settlement in this stretch of the "Black Swamp" came slowly, and its towns -- Kieferville, North Creek, Hector and Miller City -- were all platted after the Civil War. It holds the village of Miller City in its southeast.

Incorporated 1855-01-01 (organized; election ordered by commissioners after citizens petitioned in fall 1854).

Where the name comes from

Named for Judge Palmer, described by Putnam County's 1915 history as "an eminent jurist who had served on the bench in Putnam county with universal satisfaction to the people of the county"; his first name is not given in that source. Before its 1855 organization the area was known as North Greensburg.

Before the town

No Native American site or village specific to Palmer Township was located in the sources checked.

Timeline

1. 1854-fall — Residents of what was then called North Greensburg petition the county commissioners for a new township; the commissioners order an election for January 1, 1855.
2. 1855-01-01 — Thirteen voters organize Palmer Township, named for Judge Palmer, and elect John Frazee, John Kerns and John S. Welch trustees.
3. 1870 — D. A. Kiefer, with surveying by ex-county surveyor Lewis E. Holtz, plats Kieferville along the old Continental railroad grade -- the first town laid out in the township.
4. 1879 — North Creek, the township's second town, is platted on the Clover Leaf railroad, its first lots surveyed for William Schafer.
5. 1882-08-22 — Aaron Overbeck plats Miller City, dedicated as St. Nicholas by proprietors Nicholas Noriot and Nicholas Miller.
6. 1882-12-26 — Hector is platted by county surveyor E. W. Dimmock and named for Hector Havemeyer of the Hector Stave Company, whose mill becomes one of the township's leading industries.
7. 1890-11-26 — Miller City incorporates, taking the name of proprietor Nicholas Miller.
8. 1891 — The Hector Creamery and Cheese Company organizes, the first creamery started in the county.

Stories

The Last Township, Drained From a Black Swamp

Palmer Township came late to Putnam County for a simple reason: not enough people lived there yet to justify it. Known until the mid-1850s as North Greensburg, the area sat within what settlers called the Black Swamp, low ground so waterlogged that beavers dammed the sluggish North and South Powell creeks and spread standing water across much of the future township. Only in the fall of 1854 did enough citizens petition the county commissioners for organization, and on New Year's Day 1855 thirteen voters -- a roster heavy with Johns and Davids, as the county's historian later joked -- elected the township's first officers. Clearing the beaver dams and draining the swamp took decades of continued work, but by 1915 the historian could report that no better farmland existed in the county than ground that, within living memory, had lain under a foot or two of standing water.

Hector: A Company Town That Outlived Its Timber

Hector was platted on December 26, 1882, and named for Hector Havemeyer, a partner in the Hector Stave Company that gave the town its reason to exist. For a time it thrived: the Hector store built a reputation for square dealing that was known throughout Putnam County, and in 1891 the company helped organize the Hector Creamery and Cheese Company, the first creamery started anywhere in the county. Churches, a school and a Knights of Pythias lodge hall all followed, built with the stave company's support. But Hector's fortunes were tied entirely to the surrounding timber, and once the forests that fed the stave mill were exhausted, the town's prosperity went with them. By the time the county's history was written, Hector -- once a genuine commercial center -- had been reduced to little more than a railroad stop, a company town that quite literally ran out of the resource it was built on.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Continental Village50% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Leipsic Village49% of residentsGroundwater wells (7 wells)
• Country Acres Golf Club1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 5 of 5 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 1 of 1.

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, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-11-13

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