Perry Township, Richland County

How Perry Township, Richland County began

Perry Township was organized September 3, 1816, under the name Leipsic, covering two survey townships, and was renamed Perry on October 11, 1816, by Wikipedia's account for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry (the 1880 county history says the reason is unknown). Its western survey township became Congress Township in 1825, and when Morrow County was created in 1848 the original township was split in half; the eighteen eastern sections stayed in Richland County as 'East Perry'. John Frederick Herron (spelled Herring in the 1908 county history) built the first house and, in 1811-12, a gristmill on the south branch of the Clear Fork four miles west of Bellville, later the Hanawalt mill. The township sits on the divide between the Clear Fork of the Mohican and Owl Creek (the Kokosing); its one village, Darlington, was first called Hagerstown.

Settled 1809 (John Frederick Herron, near the later Hanawalt mill on Section 11), incorporated September 3, 1816 (organized as Leipsic Township; never a municipality), by first trustees John Cook, James Huntsman and John Coon.

Where the name comes from

Organized as 'Leipsic' (for the German city of Leipzig) and renamed Perry on October 11, 1816, 'for some reason now unknown' according to the 1880 county history; Wikipedia says the name honors Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, victor at the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813.

Before the town

No Native village, mound or burial is recorded in the Richland County part of Perry Township. The 1880 county history says only that George Ruhl, who came in 1812 and cut his own road from Bellville to his land on Section 13, had Native neighbors who visited his cabin often and borrowed cooking pots and dishes, which they returned promptly; it does not name their nation. The township drains to the Clear Fork of the Mohican and to Owl Creek (the Kokosing), and lies north of the 1795 Greenville Treaty line in land ceded at Fort Industry in 1805.

Timeline

1. 1809 — John Frederick Herron makes the first settlement in the township and builds its first house, on Section 11 near the later Hanawalt mill.
2. 1811 — Peter Weirick settles on Section 12 and begins the carpenter work on Herron's log gristmill, for which Herron hauls millstones from Baltimore with a six-horse team; Baughman calls it the second mill in Richland County.
3. 1812 — John Coon comes from Belmont County to the southwest quarter of Section 12, and George Ruhl of York County, Pennsylvania, cuts a road from Bellville to his land on Section 13.
4. 1816 — The township is organized September 3 as Leipsic, embracing present Perry and part of Congress Township; its first officers are sworn in September 28.
5. 1816 — The name is changed from Leipsic to Perry on October 11; the next day Perry takes over half of Jefferson Township's $54.94 debt.
6. 1820 — Silas Ensign, a Swedenborgian, organizes a church at the Center Church site on Section 15 and builds a meetinghouse in 1822; it burns about five years later and a Methodist house replaces it in 1828.
7. 1825 — On June 6 the western thirty-six sections become Congress Township, leaving Perry six miles square (Baughman gives June 5).
8. 1833 — John Hanawalt buys the Herron mill, which Francis Baughman had run since 1814; it is known as the Hanawalt mill for fifty years.
9. 1837 — Jackson and Samuel Eby build the Perry (Eby) grist mill on the Clear Fork, which runs thirty-seven years.
10. 1848 — Morrow County is created February 24 and the township is divided; the eastern eighteen sections in Richland County become known as East Perry and hold their first election April 3.
11. 1852 — The Clear Fork United Brethren church is formed on Section 2 and builds its meetinghouse about the same time.
12. 1860 — Through John Sherman's influence a post office named Hagersville is opened at Hagerstown; because its mail kept going to Haysville, it is renamed Darlington.
13. 1872 — After Center Church's trustees refuse it the house, a new Methodist Episcopal society builds a 34-by-46-foot church at Darlington for $1,600 in cash.

Stories

Millstones from Baltimore

John Frederick Herron, the first settler in Perry Township, chose a site on Section 11 where the south branch of the Clear Fork could turn a wheel, four miles west of Bellville. While Peter Weirick did the carpentry in 1811-12, Herron drove a six-horse team to Baltimore to bring back the millstones. The mill was a log building with wooden gearing, and its meal was coarse; when customers complained that it would not go through the sieve, the miller answered that it would go through their ladder. Francis Baughman ran it from 1814 to 1833 and John Hanawalt after him, and it served for about three-quarters of a century before it was gone by 1908.

Lost Run

A tributary of Owl Creek rises in the central part of the township and runs diagonally to the Knox County line. It got its name, the 1880 county history says, from a man on a prospecting tour who became lost in the woods and followed the stream down until it brought him to the settlements in Knox County. Baughman's 1908 history places the Lost Run country in the southwest part of the township, says its water once ran the Hosack mill, and notes a Lost Run distillery just north of the county line.

The devil in the Swedenborgians' corn

In 1820 Silas Ensign organized a Swedenborgian congregation at what became Center Church, and in 1822 it built a meetinghouse that burned about five years later. A local folk tale published by richlandcountyhistory.com says that in November 1826 the church's corn stood unharvested because neighbors would not work for the Swedenborgians, and that one morning the whole field was found cut and bound overnight, which people put down to the devil. The same account ties the church to John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed), who spread Swedenborg's books, and places the site at Wirick and Woodbury roads, where Old Center Cemetery remains. The 1880 history records only the church, its fire, and the Methodist house built on the site in 1828.

Photographs

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Bellville Village44% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Lexington Village24% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Mansfield City17% of residentsClear Fork Reservoir (Clear Fork of the Mohican River), plus 9 city wells
• Clearfork MHP6% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Fredericktown Village4% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Walnut Hills Water Association2% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Del-co Water Company, Inc.2% of residentsOlentangy River, O'Shaughnessy and Alum Creek reservoirs, plus Knox County wells
• Cedar Creek MHP1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Hanley Village Water Association0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• M & H MHP, Llc0% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)

Nursing homes (1)

Bridges rated poor (2)

Spills reported since 2021 (5)

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.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-10-14

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