Local events in Perry Township, Hocking County
Nothing is posted for Perry Township itself yet; here is what is on within 20 miles. All local events in Perry Township, Hocking County
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Checked October 20; the events page is refreshed daily.
How Perry Township, Hocking County began
Perry Township sits in the northwestern corner of Hocking County and has an unusual origin: it was originally part of Madison Township, Fairfield County, and was not transferred to Hocking County until 1850, more than thirty years after Hocking County itself was organized in 1818. The shift happened because carving Vinton County out of the region south of Hocking left a gap that needed to be filled, so Perry Township's southern tier of sections was attached from Fairfield County, leaving the township with 42 sections instead of the usual 36. The village of Laurelville, founded in 1871 by William A. Albin and Jacob Riegel and named for the mountain laurel that grew in the surrounding hills, sits mostly in the southwestern corner of the township, straddling the line with Salt Creek Township. It is one of twenty-six townships named Perry statewide in Ohio, and remains a rural, unincorporated township of farms outside Laurelville.
Incorporated Transferred from Madison Township, Fairfield County to Hocking County in 1850; Hocking County itself was organized March 1, 1818.
Where the name comes from
Perry Township is one of twenty-six townships in Ohio named Perry, almost certainly honoring Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie, as with most Ohio Perry Townships; no source specific to this township's naming was found.
Before the town
No source reviewed documents a Native American village, mound, trail, or treaty site specifically within Perry Township's boundaries. The county-wide record applies here as elsewhere in Hocking County: the Hocking River watershed carries a Delaware (Lenape) name generally translated as 'bottle river,' and Delaware, Wyandot, and Shawnee people traveled and hunted through the wider Hocking Valley region in the 18th century, following the Adena culture's earlier presence. Salt Creek, which runs through Laurelville at the township's edge, was itself a route used by Native travelers moving between the Scioto and Hocking valleys, but no source ties a specific camp, village, or mound to Perry Township's own ground.
Nations recorded here: Wyandot, Shawnee, Lenape (Delaware), Adena culture.
Timeline
- — Hocking County is organized from parts of Athens, Fairfield, and Ross counties; the future Perry Township remains part of Fairfield County's Madison Township for another three decades.
- — Perry Township is detached from Madison Township, Fairfield County, and attached to Hocking County, gaining sections 31-36 from Madison Township's southern tier and ending up with 42 sections instead of the usual 36.
- — William A. Albin and Jacob Riegel found Laurelville, in the township's southwestern corner, as a planned center for commerce and transportation, naming it for the mountain laurel native to the area.
- — The M&C (Marietta and Cincinnati) Railroad reaches Laurelville, making it a stop for travelers and merchants and spurring sawmills and dry-goods businesses.
- — A passenger train is photographed crossing Main Street in Laurelville, the image later preserved as one of the village's oldest surviving photographs.
- — Laurelville's local elementary school is demolished following school district consolidation.
- — The U.S. Census records 2,408 residents in Perry Township.
Stories
A township with six extra sections
Most Ohio townships surveyed under the rectangular system hold 36 sections, six miles to a side. Perry Township has 42. The reason traces back to county-making in the 1840s and 1850s: when Vinton County was organized in 1850 out of pieces of five surrounding counties, it pulled land from the south side of Hocking County, and the resulting boundary adjustments left Fairfield County's Madison Township with a southern tier of six sections that made more administrative sense attached to Hocking County than kept in Fairfield. So in 1850, those six sections, plus the rest of what had been Madison Township, were reorganized as Perry Township of Hocking County. The result is a township whose shape and section count still carry the fingerprint of a boundary line redrawn seventy years after Ohio statehood, long after the original 1818 formation of Hocking County itself.
Laurelville: a railroad town on Salt Creek
William A. Albin and Jacob Riegel laid out Laurelville in 1871 along Salt Creek, on the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau, betting on the arrival of the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad to turn a rural crossroads into a shipping point. The bet paid off: the rail line made Laurelville a stop for travelers and merchants, and sawmills and dry-goods stores followed. A photograph taken around 1903 shows a passenger train crossing Main Street, a scene that captures the village at the height of the rail era that built it. Laurelville today sits in Perry Township's southwestern corner, one of the few village centers in this stretch of northwestern Hocking County.
Photographs
Photo: Unknown photographer, Wikimedia Commons, public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org
Water
Mostly private wells The water here
- Laurelville, Vlg Of49% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
- Ross County Water Co. Inc41% of residentsTeays Valley Aquifer (buried valley groundwater)
- Amanda Village8% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
- Old Straitsville-rockbridge2% of residentsGroundwater wells (8 wells)
Hospitals, fire stations and more
Inside Perry Township, Hocking County's boundary: 1 high-hazard dam and 1 Superfund site. Press a pin or a name for its whole record and its source.
High-hazard dams (1)
-
Holiday Haven Lake Dam ITributary To Middle Fork · condition: satisfactory
- Hazard class
- High: a failure would probably cost a life
- Condition
- Satisfactory (assessed 10/24/2023)
- River or stream
- Tributary To Middle Fork
- Purpose
- Recreation
- Type
- Earth
- Height
- 38 ft
- Storage
- 88 acre-feet
- Completed
- 1961
- Owner type
- Private
- County
- Hocking County
- Nearest town (NID)
- Buena Vista
- Last inspection
- 12/07/2022
- Emergency action plan
- Yes
- NID ID
- OH01764
National Inventory of Dams record ↗ National Inventory of Dams (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers National Inventory of Dams, August 2026. "High hazard" rates what a failure would cost downstream, not how likely one is; the condition is the state's assessment.
Superfund sites (1)
-
South Perry AsbestosSuperfund program · Laurelville
- Address
- 19999 Ohio 180, Laurelville, OH 43135
- County
- Hocking County
- Status
- Superfund program site, not on the National Priorities List
- EPA program ID
- OHN000506109
- EPA registry ID
- 110067351270
EPA facility record ↗ EPA Facility Registry Service (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
Source: EPA Facility Registry Service, Superfund (SEMS) and National Priorities List sites. Many program sites were assessed and needed no cleanup.
Its ZIP codes
Each ZIP code that touches Perry Township, Hocking County, with the share of its residents who live here and the same headline figures as the ZIP page.
| ZIP | Share | Water | Radon | Home value | Schools | Flood |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43135 Perry Township and Laurelville | 32% | Mostly private wells | 4.7 pCi/L average radon | Median year built 1989 | Logan Elm Local · 3.5 stars overall | 6.3% of residents in the 1% floodplain |
| 43149 Good Hope Township and Rockbridge | 12% | Mostly private wells | 15.7 pCi/L average radon | Median year built 1987 | Logan-Hocking Local · 3.5 stars overall | 4.8% of residents in the 1% floodplain |
| 43102 Clearcreek Township and Amanda | 5% | Mostly private wells | 6.5 pCi/L average radon | Median year built 1979 | Amanda-Clearcreek Local · 3 stars overall | 1.4% of residents in the 1% floodplain |
Local government
Who holds office in Perry Township, Hocking County, how its elections and ballot issues came out, and the state auditor's record.
Money issues on the ballot since 2018: 3 of 3 passed.
Ballot issues
| Date | Issue | For | Against | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-11-02 | Issue: Perry Township Fire Protection | 367 | 152 | Passed (70.71% for), unofficial |
| 2019-11-05 | Issue: Perry Township Tax Levy - Renewal | 231 | 176 | Passed (56.76% for) |
| 2018-11-06 | Issue: Perry Township 1 mill Renewal (1.0 mills, renewal) | 564 | 285 | Passed (66.43% for) |
Elections for office
| Date | Office | Candidates and votes |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-11-02 | Trustee (unofficial count) | Lisa Hall 278, 35.32%; Jeff Karr 313, 39.77%; Tina Marshall 196, 24.9% |
| 2019-11-05 | Trustee | Tereasa Marshall 208, 43.7%; Mike Smith 268, 56.3% |
| 2019-11-05 | Fiscal Officer | Shelah Stahr 178, 40.36%; Angie Stump 263, 59.64% |
| 2015-11-03 | Township Fiscal Officer | Clayton Stahr 506, 100.0% |
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.
- Agreed Upon Procedures, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-07-14
- Agreed Upon Procedures, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-12-19
The county
Hocking County: 8 ZIP codes, 13 cities, villages and townships, 27,033 people.
Nearby places
Quick answers
What county is Perry Township, Ohio in?
Perry Township, Hocking County is a township in Hocking County, Ohio, with 1,896 residents.
When was Perry Township, Ohio founded?
Perry Township, Hocking County was incorporated Transferred from Madison Township, Fairfield County to Hocking County in 1850; Hocking County itself was organized March 1, 1818. Source
How did Perry Township, Ohio get its name?
Perry Township is one of twenty-six townships in Ohio named Perry, almost certainly honoring Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, hero of the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie, as with most Ohio Perry Townships; no source specific to this township's naming was found. Source
What ZIP code is Perry Township, Ohio?
Perry Township, Hocking County is served by ZIP codes 43135, 43149 and 43102; 43135 holds the largest share of its residents.
Where does Perry Township, Ohio get its water?
The main water source for Perry Township, Hocking County (Laurelville, Vlg Of): Mostly private wells.
Cite this page
Cite this page as:
Cracked Buckeye, "Perry Township, Hocking County", https://crackedbuckeye.com/place/perry-township-hocking-county/, built 2026-10-31, accessed [date].
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