Richland Township, Marion County

How Richland Township, Marion County began

Richland Township, in the southeastern corner of Marion County along the Olentangy River (the Whetstone in early records), was organized on June 8, 1824, one of the first townships set off in the new county, and named by its first settlers for the rich soil of the river valley. Families began arriving in the spring of 1820, among them the Gleasons, Peter Dunklebarger, and John and Catherine Emery, and a Methodist society formed at the Emery cabin in 1822. Henry Worline's saw mill of 1821 on the Whetstone was the first in the township, and Titus King's fulling, carding and saw mill of 1827 made the river a small milling center; from 1830 to about 1840 a steady immigration from Germany filled the eastern and southeastern parts of the township and brought Lutheran, German Reformed and German Methodist congregations. It covers 30.7 square miles, all Congress Lands, and holds no incorporated village.

Settled 1820, incorporated 1824-06-08, by Marion County commissioners; first settlers the Gleason, Dunklebarger and Emery families.

Where the name comes from

Richland Township was named for the rich, fertile farmland along the Olentangy (Whetstone) River bottoms. The 1883 county history says the few settlers living there when the township was organized in 1824 asked for the name 'Rich-land' because of the soil, and the commissioners granted it.

Before the town

No Native village, mound, or trail specific to Richland Township is recorded in the sources checked, including the township's own chapter in the 1883 county history, which begins with the arrival of settlers in 1820 and says nothing of earlier inhabitants. The township lies in southeastern Marion County, and like the rest of the county was Wyandot hunting ground before the treaties of 1817 and 1818 cleared the remaining claims to the north. No source located assigns a specific site to Richland Township.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot.

Timeline

1. 1820 — The Gleason family, Peter Dunklebarger's family, and John and Catherine Emery settle in the township in the spring, followed the same year by Samuel Scribner and Adam Conklin.
2. 1821 — Henry Worline builds a saw mill on the bank of the Whetstone, the first in the township, and moves his family there the next year.
3. 1822 — Rev. Jacob Bacon organizes the township's first religious society, a Methodist class of five members, at John Emery's cabin.
4. 1822 — Two roads are laid out, one on each side of the river, both leading to the Norton settlement.
5. 1824-06-08 — Richland Township is organized, one of the first townships set off within the new Marion County.
6. 1824-09-30 — Henry Worline dies with the frame of a grist mill beside his saw mill still unfinished; S. W. Knapp completes the grist mill soon after.
7. 1826 — The Methodists build the township's first house of worship, a log church on the Emery farm.
8. 1827 — Titus King buys land on the Whetstone from Mr. Kelley and builds a fulling and carding mill with a saw mill attached.
9. 1828 — The township's first Sunday school, a union school of several denominations, is organized at the home of Mrs. Conner.
10. 1830-1840 — Immigration from Germany to the township runs steadily for ten years, settling the eastern and southeastern parts from about 1835.
11. 1838 — The Lutheran society, formed in 1835, and the German Reformed together build a log church on land donated by John Jacoby Jr.
12. 1859 — The German Reformed congregation, organized in 1850, builds its own church near Daniel Firstenberger's at a cost of $1,000.
13. 1879 — The Methodist society, which had moved from its log church to a frame building by the river in 1851, builds St. James' Church for $2,400 on ground donated by Michael Jacoby.
14. 1881 — The steam grist mill built about 1844 across the river from the old Worline mill burns to the ground in February.

Stories

An axe heard through the woods

John Emery, born in Virginia in 1797, and Catherine Harter Emery, born in Perry County, Pennsylvania, in 1800, married in Monroe County, Ohio, in 1818 and came to what became Richland Township in the spring of 1820. They believed they had gone past every white settlement. On their first Sunday a neighbor arrived: Peter Dunklebarger, who had come a few weeks earlier and lived still farther from the Delaware County settlements, had heard Emery's axe through the forest all week and walked over to welcome them. While her husband was away searching for horses that were never found, Catherine Emery took her spinning wheel into the small field each day, spinning the thread for the family's clothes while she kept the squirrels off the crop. In 1883 she was the oldest living settler in the township and the last surviving member of the Methodist class organized in her cabin in 1822.

Mills on the Whetstone

Henry Worline, who had lived in Delaware County, built a saw mill on the Whetstone in 1821, the first in the township, and brought his family the next year. Early in 1824 he raised the frame of a grist mill about five rods from the saw mill, but he died on September 30, 1824, before it was finished. S. W. Knapp completed the grist mill, which ran until about 1844, when it was replaced by a larger steam mill on the opposite bank that burned in February 1881; Michael Jacoby, Worline's son-in-law, ran the saw mill until it was torn down in 1838. In 1827 Titus King built a fulling and carding mill with a saw mill attached a short way along the river, and the 1883 history notes that these mills gave Richland settlers bread, cloth and lumber close at hand that settlers in other townships had to travel for.

Local history sources: richland-twp.com · en.wikipedia.org · ohiogenealogyexpress.com · en.wikipedia.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · archive.org · ohioghosttowns.wordpress.com

Olentangy River intake at Del-Co's plant on Olentangy River Rd, Liberty Twp, south of the city of Delaware The water here

• Aqua Ohio - Marion59% of residentsScioto River and Little Scioto River intakes, blended with local groundwater wells
• Del-co Water Company, Inc.35% of residentsOlentangy River, O'Shaughnessy and Alum Creek reservoirs, plus Knox County wells
• Cardington Village6% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Pleasant Acres Mobile Home Community Llc0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Bridges rated poor (2)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (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.
• Basic Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-09-30

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