Pike Township, Clark County

How Pike Township, Clark County began

Pike Township, in the northwest corner of Clark County, is exactly six miles square and was formed in June 1818, when the commissioners divided the new county into ten townships. Unlike its neighbors it was settled late: Andrew and Samuel Black, Virginians, entered Section 25 in 1805 and built the first cabin in 1806, and its first mill, Black's on Honey Creek, ground corn in 1814. North Hampton, its only village, was platted in January 1829 by Peter Baisinger, and Dialton had a post office from 1865. The 1908 county history says nothing is known of the origin of the township's name. The township had 1,758 residents in 1880 and 3,733 in 2020, when part of New Carlisle lay inside it.

Settled 1805-06 (Andrew and Samuel Black, Section 25), platted January 13, 1829 (North Hampton, by Peter Baisinger), incorporated June 1818 (erected by the Clark County commissioners), by Clark County commissioners; Black brothers first settlers.

Where the name comes from

Not known. The 1908 county history says 'Nothing is known now as to the origin of its name.' The suggestion that it honors General Zebulon Pike is not supported by any source we read. Wikipedia counts eight Pike townships in Ohio.

Before the town

No Native village, mound, trail or camp within Pike Township is recorded in the county histories read. The 1881 history names no encounter with the Native people there; the township was 'not settled, comparatively speaking, until a later day,' beginning in 1805. The land lies in the area ceded by the Treaty of Greenville (August 3, 1795). Piqua (Peckuwe), the Shawnee town destroyed on August 8, 1780, lay to the south near the Mad River.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee.

Timeline

1. 1805 — Andrew and Samuel Black, brothers from Montgomery County, Virginia, select and enter Section 25, dividing it; they return to Virginia for the winter.
2. 1806 — The Black brothers return with Andrew's family and build the first log cabin on the south half of Section 25; Adam Verdier of Jefferson County, Virginia, settles on Section 19 the same year.
3. 1811 — The Staffords from Giles County, Virginia, enter the northwest quarter of Section 31; James and John Black, brothers of the first Blacks, also arrive.
4. 1814 — James Black builds the first mill in the township on the East Fork of Honey Creek, a 'corn cracker' with one set of burrs, still in the Black family in 1881; Samuel Black dies and is the first buried in what becomes the Black Cemetery.
5. 1816 — About this year the German Baptist church is organized by Elder Christian Frantz and Jacob Frantz settles on Section 7.
6. June 1818 — The Clark County commissioners divide the county into ten townships and define Pike, with its first election at the house of William Black.
7. about 1820 — Peter Baisinger builds a water-powered mill on Donnel's Creek, later converted to steam by George Cost; burials begin at Asbury Cemetery by this year.
8. January 13, 1829 — Peter Baisinger plats North Hampton with sixteen lots, surveyed by Reuben Miller (the year is dropped in the scan of the 1881 book; Wikipedia, citing it, gives 1829).
9. 1830 — Joseph Smith, North Hampton's first merchant, builds the first frame house, sixteen by twenty-two feet, using $150 as capital; he later goes to Michigan and becomes wealthy.
10. about 1833 — Alexander Johnston opens the first hotel in North Hampton; the Beech Grove Methodist Episcopal Church is organized at George Otewalt's house.
11. 1835 — The North Hampton post office is established with Daniel Raffensperger as postmaster, according to the 1881 history; Wikipedia, citing Jim Forte's postal history, gives 1839.
12. 1843 — Typhoid fever kills Alexander Johnston and others in the township.
13. about 1844 — The North Hampton and Donnelsville Turnpike, the first graveled road, is begun; the Clark and Miami Turnpike between Troy and Springfield follows in 1846.
14. 1851 — Jacob N. Myers and Jonathan Lehman build a steam saw-mill at Dialton that becomes, in 1860, the Myers hub and spoke factory, employing twenty-two men in 1881.
15. November 1858 — The German Reformed church at North Hampton is dedicated; the Asbury Methodist church is dedicated July 4, 1858.
16. February 20, 1865 — The Dialton post office opens with William Michael as postmaster, named for Judge Dial of Springfield.
17. 1880 — The township has 1,758 residents: North Hampton 173 and Dialton 95 (1,471 in 1850).
18. 1969 — A booking mix-up sends the band Vanilla Fudge to North Hampton instead of the Blossom Music Center in Northampton Township; they charter a plane and arrive four hours late (Wikipedia, citing a 2018 ideastream article).
19. 1997 — Ollie's Tavern, 10516 Marquart Road north of New Carlisle, is listed on the National Register on January 25.
20. 2020 — The census counts 3,733 residents in the township.

Stories

The first crop in Pike Township

Andrew and Samuel Black, brothers from Montgomery County, Virginia, entered Section 25 in 1805 and went home for the winter. In 1806 Andrew, with his wife and child and Samuel, came back to the chosen ground and built a rude pole cabin, the first in the township. They deadened five acres, cleared the underbrush and planted corn, but squirrels were so numerous that, despite their efforts, nearly the whole crop was eaten. Three bushels were gathered and stored in the cabin loft for later use. When the time came and Andrew planned a trip to the mill, he found that mice had destroyed the entire yield. 'So much for the first settlement and first crop,' the 1881 historian wrote. The brothers stayed: Samuel, a captain in the War of 1812, died in 1814 and was the first buried in the Black Cemetery, and Andrew lived on the homestead until 1854.

The wrong Hampton

In 1969 the rock band Vanilla Fudge was booked to play the Blossom Music Center, the Cleveland-area summer venue. Wikipedia's article on North Hampton, citing a 2018 ideastream piece on Blossom's history, says the similar name of Northampton Township near Cleveland caused the band to arrive at North Hampton in Clark County instead, about 200 miles away, and that they chartered a plane and arrived four hours late. North Hampton, which the 1881 history says was 'circumscribed and dwarfed in growth' for lack of building lots because neighboring farmers would not sell, counted 173 residents in 1880 and 457 in 2020.

Photographs

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

Every historic place in Clark County on the full map

Groundwater wells (4 wells) The water here

• New Carlisle City49% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Clark County Park Layne38% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Honey Creek Village MHP4% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Springfield City3% of residentsMad River Buried Valley Aquifer (12 wells)
• Clark County Northridge3% of residentsMad River Buried Valley Aquifer (12 wells)
• Brookwood MHP1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Clark County Lawrenceville1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Chateau Estates MHP1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• North Hampton Village0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Rolling Terrace MHP0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (4)

Money issues on the ballot since 2018: 2 of 2 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, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-10-14

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