Pittsfield Township, Lorain County

How Pittsfield Township, Lorain County began

Pittsfield Township's Western Reserve land saw early settlers before 1813 who did not stay, and permanent settlement began only in 1821 when major landowner Milton Whitney recruited residents to the area. The township, separated from Wellington Township and formally named for Whitney's Massachusetts hometown of Pittsfield in 1831, organized its own government the following year. On April 11, 1965, the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak struck the township directly, killing seven people and destroying every building in its small town center. Population has held steady since, from 1,549 in 2000 to 1,573 in 2020.

Settled Spring 1821 (Jerry and Thomas Waite, sons of Thomas Waite of New York, permanently), incorporated 1831 (separated from Wellington Township and named), 1832 (government organized), by Milton Whitney (landowner) and Jerry and Thomas Waite (first permanent settlers).

Where the name comes from

The township is named for Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the original home of Milton Whitney, the substantial landowner who recruited its permanent settlers in 1821.

Before the town

Beers's 1879 county history says the pioneers of Pittsfield had little experience with Native people: a few Wyandot and Seneca roamed the woods but had no extensive encampment near, and seldom appeared in bands of more than half a dozen. The one incident it records is that of Mrs. George Rathburn, alone in her cabin, who was confronted by a man who demanded bread, brandishing a large knife; she told him he could have some as soon as it was done, and he waited in silence, cut off a large piece and left. No named village, mound, trail or treaty site specific to the township is recorded.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot, Seneca.

Timeline

1. 1812 or 1813 — A man named Baker and his two sons clear ground and build a cabin on lot ninety-six, the first white inhabitants known in the township; they leave out of fear of Indians and British soldiers active during the War of 1812. A cache of surveying instruments found later in their abandoned cabin, and their names on early settlers' deeds, suggest they may have conducted the township's original survey.
2. 1819 — The township is surveyed into lots and divided among purchasers; Milton Whitney becomes a large landowner.
3. Spring 1821 — Jerry and Thomas Waite, sons of settler Thomas Waite, become the first men to settle in Pittsfield with the intention of permanent residence, each receiving fifty acres from Milton Whitney on lot one hundred seven.
4. 1822-08-18 — Mary, wife of Chauncey Remington, dies, the first death in the township; the first child, Henry H. Remington, is born August 12, 1823.
5. 1823 to 1824 — Jeremiah Waite marries Clara Smith, daughter of the Rev. Nathan Smith, in the township's first wedding.
6. 1831 — The township separates from Wellington Township and is formally named Pittsfield, after Whitney's hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
7. 1832 — Township government is organized.
8. 1832 — The township has only three roads, the State road from Elyria to Wellington and two rough ones; John Sibley keeps the first tavern, on the State road, about this year.
9. 1833 — A man named Terry builds the first framed house in the township, on lot ninety-five.
10. 1834 — Milton Whitney, the landowner after whose Massachusetts home the township is named, takes up permanent residence.
11. 1835 — Dr. Daniel Howard becomes the township's first physician; a saw-mill is built by Parsons and Whitney about this time.
12. 1845 — The Methodist Episcopal church of Pittsfield is organized by the Rev. Hugh L. Parrish with fourteen members.
13. 1851 — Harris R. Sheldon builds the first brick house in the township.
14. 1859 — A revival under the Rev. G. A. Reeder brings sixty people into the Methodist church at one service in a maple grove.
15. 1869 — J. W. Worcester builds a cheese factory and creamery that by 1878 takes milk from about 400 cows.
16. 1878 — A new brick schoolhouse is built at the township center, one of nine school districts.
17. April 11, 1965 — The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak strikes Pittsfield, killing seven people and destroying every building in the town.
18. 2000 — The census counts 1,549 people in Pittsfield Township; it counts 1,573 in 2020.

Stories

Palm Sunday, 1965

Pittsfield Township took decades to find permanent settlers -- an earlier wave arrived sometime before 1813 and left again, and it was not until 1821 that Milton Whitney, a substantial landowner, successfully recruited people to stay for good. Ten years later, in 1831, the settlement split off from Wellington Township and took the name Pittsfield, after Whitney's home town of Pittsfield, Massachusetts; township government followed in 1832. For more than a century afterward, the community's history was the ordinary rural history of the Western Reserve. That changed on April 11, 1965, when the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak -- one of the largest tornado outbreaks in United States history, spawning dozens of twisters across six Midwestern states in a single afternoon and evening -- sent one directly through Pittsfield's small town center. Seven people died, and every building in the town was destroyed. It remains, by a wide margin, the single deadliest recorded event in this rural township's history.

A branch of the underground railroad

The 1879 county history says a branch of the 'underground railroad' ran through Pittsfield, and that quite a number of residents held stock in it. In one episode, undated, two fugitives, a man and a woman, were arrested in the township by people of pro-slavery feeling and brought before Squire Asa W. Whitney, whose court sat at Harmon's tavern. The question arose whether a justice court was a court of record, the squire having no right to hold the fugitives if it was not. Another squire, Clark, wanting them held and a little amusement too, drew out the argument with a joke, and the proof that Whitney had power to hold them was never strong enough to convince him. After considerable talk the captives were sent to Elyria and put in jail, from which they soon escaped, to the joy of their abolition friends.

Whisky or no whisky

In the early Western Reserve, the 1879 county history says, nobody thought a barn could be raised without whisky. Edward Matcham, a strong temperance man, refused to provide it for his own barn-raising, and there were not enough men of his persuasion to lift the frame, so the crowd dispersed after eating. Soon after, a neighbor, Ebenezer Parsons, had a raising with liquor on hand, and the building went up quickly. Standing on a beam, Parsons told the men they had acted like fools at Matcham's, and that he was going over there and wanted all who would to raise that barn 'whisky or no whisky.' He set off, and one by one the farmers followed in a procession ten rods long. They arrived at Matcham's on the double-quick, and the barn went up that day.

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

Every historic place in Lorain County on the full map

Lake Erie, drawn through two separate offshore intakes serving the Lake Road filtration plant The water here

• Rural Lorain Co. Water A41% of residentsMostly Lake Erie (bought from Avon Lake); some New London Reservoir and Ashland wells
• Wellington Village30% of residentsCharlemont Creek, via Wellington Upground Reservoir
• Oberlin Water Department28% of residentsWest Branch Black River, via Oberlin Upground Reservoir
• Pheasant Run Association1% of residentsLake Erie
• South Amherst Village0% of residentsLake Erie

Colleges (1)

Public schools (1)

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, 2022 to 2023, released 2025-04-03

Cite this page