Pulaski Township, Williams County

How Pulaski Township, Williams County began

Pulaski Township began in October 1833, when Judge John Perkins moved up from Brunersburg with his sons and son-in-law and started a colony called Lafayette on Beaver Creek. There he built what is believed to be the first gristmill and sawmill within the present county. The township was organized in 1834 as Beaver Township, took the name Pulaski in 1837 for Count Casimir Pulaski, the Polish officer who died in the American Revolution, and is the only Pulaski Township in Ohio. Lafayette, renamed Pulaski, expected to become the county seat, but in 1840 the seat went to the new town of Bryan, platted west of the township's center, and Pulaski stayed a small unincorporated village. The township today is farmland around the city of Bryan and the Pulaski community on Beaver Creek.

Settled October 1833 (John Perkins's colony on Beaver Creek), incorporated Organized as Beaver Township March 3, 1834; renamed Pulaski August 1837; present boundaries December 4, 1837, by John Perkins (first settler).

Where the name comes from

Named for Count Casimir Pulaski (1745-1779), the Polish officer who joined the Continental Army and died of wounds received at the Siege of Savannah. The township was first called Beaver, after Beaver Creek, and county commissioners changed the name to Pulaski on petition in August 1837. According to the 1920 county history, the village of Lafayette also took the name Pulaski because another Ohio place, in Allen County, already used the name Lafayette, and residents wanted the town and post office to share one name.

Before the town

No Native village or mound in Pulaski Township is recorded in the sources checked. The 1920 county history repeats 'one account' that two early trails crossed at the site of Pulaski: one from Fort Wayne to Detroit, and one from the Columbus country past Fort Defiance into Michigan. It says the crossing was what drew John Perkins to lay out his town there. The history does not say who made or used the trails, so no nation is assigned here. The 1817 Treaty of the Maumee Rapids carried Indian title to this part of northwestern Ohio to the United States. Williams County's Native sites include the Nettle Lake Mound Group.

• Crossing of the Fort Wayne-Detroit trail and a trail from Fort Defiance into Michigan (trail) — Site of the village of Pulaski, on Beaver Creek, Pulaski Township, before settlement (as told in the 1920 county history; not dated) (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1817 — The Treaty of the Maumee Rapids carries Indian title to this part of northwestern Ohio, including the future Pulaski Township, to the United States.
2. 1833 — In October, Judge John Perkins moves from Brunersburg with his sons Isaac and Garrett, son-in-law John Plummer, John Moss, George Lantz, Henry Jones and a Mr. Hood. They settle on Beaver Creek and name their colony Lafayette.
3. 1833 — Perkins builds a gristmill and sawmill on Beaver Creek. They are believed to be the first mills within the present limits of Williams County.
4. 1834 — On March 3, the county commissioners create Beaver Township from surveyed townships 6, 7 and 8 north of range 3 east, with the first election set for April 7 at John Perkins's house.
5. 1834 — Joseph Moss and Jabez Jones, elected at Alonzo Rawson's house in Lafayette, are commissioned as Beaver Township's justices of the peace on October 16.
6. 1837 — On May 1, the Pulaski post office is established with John Perkins as postmaster. It is the earliest office on the 1882 history's list of post offices within the present county.
7. 1837 — In August, on petition, the county commissioners rename Beaver Township as Pulaski and order an election at Alonzo Rawson's house.
8. 1837 — On December 4, the township is given its present boundaries, and an election follows on December 16 at Thomas Shorthill's.
9. 1840 — The 1840 poll book for a justice of the peace election lists thirty-six voters, including the Perkins, Rawson, Gleason, Kent and Jones families.
10. 1840 — Bryan, the new county seat, is platted west of the center of Pulaski Township, ending hopes that Pulaski would be chosen.
11. 1849 — On March 7, the Ohio legislature incorporates Bryan, the only incorporated town ever formed in the township by 1882.
12. 1862 — In the spring, a United Brethren church is built on Beaver Creek. A Dunkard (Tunkard) church also stands on Lick Creek.
13. 1873 — A Methodist church is dedicated at Pulaski. The German Reformed church follows in 1874.
14. 1882 — Enoch Cox's Pulaski Flouring Mills, run partly by water and partly by steam, stand on the site of the old Perkins mills.
15. 1894 — Pulaski Township appears on sheet 12 of the Atlas of Williams County, and the Pulaski village plat on sheet 11.

Stories

Lafayette, the county seat that wasn't

John Perkins had built the first mills at Brunersburg, near Defiance, before selling them in 1833 and moving north to Beaver Creek. There he laid out a town called Lafayette, later Pulaski, and sold a half interest to John Patterson of Columbus. Its settlers expected that when the county seat left Defiance for a point nearer the center of the county, it would settle permanently at Lafayette. Alonzo Rawson opened the first store in a building still in use as a store in 1882. The 1920 county history tells, half in jest, how John A. Bryan instead persuaded the legislature to put the seat in a thicket about four miles southwest, and the new town of Bryan was platted in 1840. Pulaski never had a town government. The 1882 history says it kept the township's first school, first place of worship, first post office and a flour mill on the old Perkins site, and a few artesian wells.

Two names in one year

In 1837 the county commissioners at Defiance reworked the townships around Beaver Creek three times. First they created Jefferson Township to the north out of Beaver. In August they moved half a tier of sections from Jefferson back into Beaver, which placed John Perkins's home, near the line, in Beaver, and at the same session they renamed the township Pulaski. The 1905 history says Perkins wanted to be counted in Pulaski, probably for county-seat reasons. In December, residents of the northern town petitioned for the original survey lines to be restored, which returned the section and gave Pulaski its present shape. The 1905 county history says this made Perkins the first settler of two townships without his ever moving.

Photographs

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

Regional glacial aquifer (generally identified as the Michindoh aquifer), groundwater wells The water here

• Bryan City94% of residentsMichindoh (Maumee) Glacial Aquifer, groundwater wells
• Aqua Ohio - Norlick4% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Williams Co/hillside Country Living1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Oakwood MHP1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Stryker Village0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Brunersburg Wd - Evansport0% of residentsTiffin River (plus Brush Creek), stored in two reservoirs

Power plants (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-07-06: county board of elections.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Financial Audit, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-06-18
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-08-06

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