Pandora

How Pandora began

Pandora, in Riley Township, began life in 1837 as the settlement of Columbia, with a post office established under a third name, Pendleton, the same year. The village took its current name in 1883 and incorporated in 1892. Its motto, "The Garden Spot of Ohio," and a population with substantial German and Swiss ancestry reflect the farming community it has remained; north of the village stands the Bridenbaugh District No. 3 Schoolhouse, a one-room school on the National Register of Historic Places.

Platted 1837 (as Columbia), incorporated 1892.

Where the name comes from

The village was laid out in 1837 as Columbia; its post office opened the same year under the name Pendleton, and the settlement and post office were renamed Pandora in 1883. No source consulted explains the origin of either the Pendleton or Pandora name.

Before the town

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

Timeline

1. 1835 — John Stout builds a grist mill on Riley Creek, one of the first in Putnam County, and on December 1, 1836 lays out the town of Columbia on the Ridge road between Findlay and Kalida.
2. 1837 — The settlement is laid out as Columbia, and a post office opens under the name Pendleton.
3. 1850 — Brice W. Viers lays out the first addition to Pendleton, as Columbia was later called; Henry Kilhoffer keeps the town's tavern and only store.
4. 1852 — Henry Kilhoffer lays out East Pendleton, surveyed by Henry Blosser, the only town ever platted in Riley Township.
5. 1882-83 — The narrow-gauge Pittsburgh, Akron & Western railroad, later standard gauge, is built through the town (the 1890s atlas says 1882; the date in the 1915 history is garbled in the scan, apparently 1883); Kiene and Suter lay out their addition and the name becomes Pandora.
6. 1883 — The village and post office are renamed Pandora.
7. 1889 — The Bridenbaugh District No. 3 Schoolhouse is built north of Pandora in Riley Township.
8. 1892 — Pandora incorporates as an Ohio village.
9. 1892-11-05 — Pandora, resurveyed by court order on April 24, is incorporated on November 5.
10. 1900 — The Farmers Bank Company of Pandora is organised.
11. 1901-08 — The Pandora Overall Company is organised by John M. Amstutz, John Gerber, Jacob A. Suter, Albert A. Hilty and Carl Gerber with $10,000 capital; the first six sewing machines go into part of an old woolen mill.
12. 1902-09 — The old woolen mill burns before the overall company's new stock is offered, and a new building is started at once.
13. 1910 — Pandora counts 562 residents.
14. 1915 — The overall company is renamed the Pandora Manufacturing Company, the county's largest manufacturing plant at about a quarter of a million dollars a year, with branch plants at Celina and Zanesville.
15. 2000 — The census counts 1,188 residents in Pandora.
16. 2005-04-28 — The Bridenbaugh District No. 3 Schoolhouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
17. 2020 — The census counts 1,204 residents in Pandora.

Stories

One Village, Three Names

Few Putnam County villages changed identity as many times, in as short a span, as the settlement that became Pandora. It was platted in 1837 as Columbia, a name common enough across the young republic that it told a visitor nothing about the place itself. Its post office, opened that same year, took a third and entirely different name, Pendleton -- so that for decades the village and its post office answered to two different names at once, a mismatch common in nineteenth-century Ohio but no less confusing for it. Not until 1883, nearly half a century after founding, did both village and post office settle on the name Pandora, which has stuck ever since.

From Columbia to Pandora, and an overall factory

John Stout laid out the town of Columbia on December 1, 1836, on the Ridge road about halfway between the county seats of Hancock and Putnam, where Henry Kilhoffer kept the tavern that lawyers and judges used while riding the circuit. The name became Pendleton, and when the narrow-gauge railroad came in 1883 it became Pandora, which the county historian said the third time charmed. The farmers around it were mostly Mennonites, whose faith forbids quarrelling and litigation. In August 1901 five local men organised the Pandora Overall Company with $10,000 and put six sewing machines in part of an old woolen mill. The mill burned in September 1902 but the company rebuilt, grew under manager Elias Welty, and by 1915 was Putnam County's largest factory, making a quarter of a million dollars of goods a year.

Photographs

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

Groundwater wells (2 wells) The water here

• Pandora Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Public schools (3)

Public libraries (1)

Police stations (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (2)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

Money issues on the ballot since 2022: 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.
• Financial Audit, 2024, released 2025-09-25

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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