Reily Township, Butler County

How Reily Township, Butler County began

Reily Township, the eighth township organized in Butler County, was carved from St. Clair Township by the county commissioners on December 7, 1807 and named for John Reily, Butler County's first clerk of courts; the township's first officers were elected at Henry Burget's house on January 2, 1808. Sitting in the county's west-central corner along the Indiana line, it is the only township of its name in Ohio. Its south end, along the Oxford-Reily Road, holds the 1860 James P. Hidley Cottage, a Carpenter Gothic house on the National Register of Historic Places. The township remains sparsely populated farm country, with 2,660 residents recorded in 2020 across 36.7 square miles.

Incorporated 1807, by Butler County Commissioners, dividing it from St. Clair Township; first officer election held January 2, 1808 at Henry Burget's residence.

Where the name comes from

Reily Township was named for John Reily (1763-1850), a Revolutionary War veteran who had served as clerk of the Northwest Territory's legislature before becoming Butler County's first clerk of courts, a post he held for 37 years; he also served as county recorder from 1803 to 1811 and as Hamilton's postmaster.

Before the town

No Native village, trail, or burial site specifically within Reily Township was found in the sources consulted. Miami and Shawnee people were present in the county before the 1795 Treaty of Greenville and the 1807 Treaty of Detroit, both of which affected land claims in this part of southwestern Ohio.

Timeline

1. 1799-1801 — John Reily, the township's future namesake, serves as elected clerk of the Northwest Territory's legislature, re-elected twice.
2. 1803-1811 — Reily serves as Butler County recorder, alongside a 37-year tenure as the county's first clerk of courts.
3. 1807 — Reily Township is organized December 7 from St. Clair Township, the eighth township created in Butler County, and named for John Reily.
4. 1808 — The township's first officers are elected January 2 at the residence of Henry Burget.
5. 1860 — The James P. Hidley Cottage, a Carpenter Gothic house, is built at what became 1820 Oxford-Reily Road, south of Oxford.
6. 1980 — The James P. Hidley Cottage is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
7. 2020 — Township population is recorded at 2,660 across 36.7 square miles.

Stories

The clerk who gave the township its name

John Reily was seventeen years old when he joined the Revolutionary War, fighting at Camden, Guilford Court House, and Eutaw Springs before the war's end. He made his way west afterward, first to Kentucky and then in 1790 to Columbia, now part of Cincinnati, where he built and taught at John Reily's Classical School, one of the earliest schools anywhere in the Northwest Territory. Political and administrative work followed: elected clerk of the territorial legislature in 1799 and reelected twice more, then, after relocating to the new town of Hamilton, appointed Butler County's very first clerk of courts in 1803 -- a post he would hold for the next 37 years, alongside stints as county recorder and Hamilton's postmaster. When Butler County commissioners carved a new township from St. Clair Township's western edge in 1807, they named it for Reily, whose decades of quiet county administration had by then made him one of the most familiar names in the courthouse -- a recognition that outlived him by more than a century and a half, since Reily Township remains the only one of its name anywhere in Ohio.

Photographs

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

Every historic place in Butler County on the full map

Seven active wells drawing from the sand-and-gravel Great Miami buried valley aquifer near Oxford The water here

• Oxford City64% of residentsGreat Miami Buried Valley Aquifer (wells)
• Southwest Regional Water District25% of residentsGreat Miami Buried Valley Aquifer (wells)
• Hamilton Public Water System11% of residentsGreat Miami Buried Valley Aquifer (wells)
• Harrison City1% of residentsGreat Miami Buried Valley Aquifer (wells)
• New Miami Village0% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Cincinnati Public Water System0% of residentsOhio River (Miller Plant, ~88%) plus Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer wells (~12%)

Fire and EMS stations (2)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-07-27: county board of elections.

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-12-03

Cite this page