Pike Township, Brown County

How Pike Township, Brown County began

Pike Township was set off from Clark Township in 1823, its boundaries surveyed by John McBeth, in the western part of Brown County. Vincent Brown, who came from Kentucky in 1801 and married Martha Ann Allen soon after his arrival -- the township's first marriage -- was among its earliest settlers; John Allen, who settled in the eastern part in 1810, was likely the first white settler there, and his son Sanford was probably the first white child born in the township. It has no incorporated village of its own, but holds the hamlets of New Harmony (laid out 1847), Locust Ridge, Surryville and the White Oak rail station.

Settled 1801 (Vincent Brown), incorporated 1823, by surveyed by John McBeth, set off from Clark Township.

Where the name comes from

No documented source for the township's name exists; townships of this name across Ohio are commonly attributed to Brigadier General Zebulon Pike, though nothing confirms that for this township.

Before the town

The 1883 county history records one Native event in the township: in 1795 a settler named Snider killed an Indian belonging to one of the neighboring tribes, without naming the tribe or the place. No mound, village or trail in Pike Township is named. The township lies in the 1795 Treaty of Greenville cession and the Virginia Military District.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Miami.

Timeline

1. 1795 — A settler named Snider kills an Indian belonging to one of the neighboring tribes, the earliest event the county history assigns to what became Pike Township.
2. 1801 — Vincent Brown, born in Kentucky in 1786, settles in the township and soon after marries Martha Ann Allen -- the first marriage ceremony performed in Pike Township.
3. 1810 — John Allen becomes probably the first settler in the eastern part of the township; his son Sanford was probably the first white person born within its bounds.
4. 1818 — James D. Higgins, who has just come to the township, teaches its first school on the Allen farm near Sterling Creek; the next schools follow in 1820 and 1821, paying $5 to $10 a month from patrons.
5. 1823 — The township's boundaries are established, surveyed by John McBeth, setting it off from what had been part of Clark Township.
6. 1824 — Rev. Otho Parrell of the Christian Church holds services in the western part at John Earhart's house; in 1827 services are held at Isaiah Wells's house near New Harmony.
7. 1835 — The first buildings of New Harmony are erected about this time; David Wade keeps a store there in 1848, and Delos Laughlin follows in 1850.
8. 1841 — The Providence Meeting-House, the first church built in the township's northwestern part, is erected by the Methodist Episcopal Church organization.
9. 1846 — The Methodist Protestant society builds a frame church in the graveyard at New Harmony; the Methodist Episcopal society builds one in town in 1853, later sold, and the Protestants build the present church in 1856.
10. 1847 — E. B. Whorton lays out the village of New Harmony in the northwestern part of the township; its post office, the township's oldest, is established in 1850 with Delos Laughlin as first postmaster.
11. 1853-04-18 — The first school board of the township meets at the Pleasant Hill Schoolhouse; Shiloh Methodist Episcopal Church is organized the same year by Revs. Bennett and Gossard and builds Shiloh Chapel in 1877.
12. 1856 — Christian Drum builds the township's only mill, in the hamlet now known as Gorgonia, producing lumber and chair material; by 1883 it stood idle with worn-out machinery.
13. 1867 — The Mount Orab & Georgetown Free Turnpike, built 1867-68 on the two-mile assessment system, runs north to south through the township.
14. 1869-10-20 — New Harmony Lodge No. 435, F. & A. M., is established with H. S. Reynolds as first master; Pike Grange No. 448 follows in 1874.
15. 1875-08-05 — Lodge No. 618, I.O.O.F., is established at Locust Ridge, with John W. McMahan the first Noble Grand.
16. 1878 — A post office named White Oak opens on the Cincinnati & Eastern Railway in the extreme northeast, the fourth in the township after New Harmony (1850), Locust Ridge and one for Clover Valley.
17. 1881 — Citizens near the center of the township improve the road from the hill south of James Blair's house to the bridge over Sterling Creek at Blair's Crossing, and a new school is built in town on a lot bought that year.
18. 2020 — The census counts 4,134 people in Pike Township.

Stories

Six dead of cholera in one house

Henry Gates was the first settler on the land where James Liming later lived. Out of his family of ten, six died of cholera in 1848, with three of the bodies lying dead in the house at the same time -- one of the starkest single losses recorded among the township's pioneer families in the 1883 county history.

The kidnapped boy who became William Lewis Kinner

William Lewis Kinner was born William Lewis in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1759. At age six, while playing near the coast, he was kidnapped by a seaman and carried away from his family. His captor, a man named Banner, taught him to go by the name William L. Kinner, which he adopted for the rest of his life. He eventually married Nancy Becham in 1784 and moved west through Adams, Ross and Clermont counties before settling in Pike Township on February 23, 1815, where he lived until his death a few years later.

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

Sterling Run (reservoirs) The water here

• Mount Orab Village53% of residentsSterling Run (reservoirs)
• Tate-monroe Water Association15% of residentsOhio River valley aquifer (collector/vertical wells)
• Williamsburg Village14% of residentsWilliam H. Harsha Lake plus wells in the Little Miami River and Ohio River aquifers
• Western Water Company11% of residentsLittle Miami River valley wells (51%) plus Cincinnati Ohio River water (49%)
• Bethel Village7% of residentsOhio River valley aquifer (collector/vertical wells)
• Felicity Village0% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Nursing homes (1)

High-hazard dams (1)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-09-18: county board of elections.

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 2026-04-21

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