Richmond Township, Huron County

How Richmond Township, Huron County began

Richmond Township was originally named Cannon, for Samuel Cannon, a wealthy Norwalk, Connecticut merchant and Firelands 'sufferer'; before its land was even offered for sale, about twenty squatter families settled the marsh's north shore to pick the thousands of bushels of wild cranberries that grew there each year, living by cranberry-picking, deer hunting and helping themselves to neighbors' free-ranging hogs. For years the township's only resident was a trapper named Morehead, who lived alone on a point of upland jutting into the marsh and lived on johnny cake and venison. Formal settlement began in 1825 with William Tindall, who planted the township's first orchard from fifty trees out of Johnny Appleseed's own nursery, though Amos Ogden, arriving in 1833, is remembered as the first permanent settler. Richmond, organized in 1836, sits in Huron County's southwestern corner and holds almost all of the county's border with Crawford County.

Settled 1825 (William Tindall, first land sale and settlement) / 1833 (Amos Ogden, first permanent settler), incorporated 1836 (township organized), by William Tindall; Amos Ogden, first permanent settler.

Where the name comes from

The township was originally named Cannon, in honor of Samuel Cannon, a wealthy Norwalk, Connecticut merchant who was one of the Firelands 'sufferers.' The reason for the later name Richmond is not recorded; Ohio has another Richmond Township in Ashtabula County.

Before the town

The 1909 county history says that the southeast part of section one, a marshy tract, was thought at a very early day to have been a lake, because early white settlers found decaying Indian canoes along its shores. No Native village, trail or burial is recorded for the township.

Timeline

1. 1808 — After the Firelands grants are partitioned into sections, Judge Mills of New Haven, Connecticut, and his brother Elisha Mills begin buying up the grantees' shares and come to own the whole of Richmond (then Cannon) Township; the south part later goes to Judge Mills and the north part, through George Hoadley, to John M. Woolsey.
2. 1815 — Richmond is attached to New Haven Township for civil purposes and remains so until 1836; before its lands go on sale, about twenty squatter families live by picking cranberries and hunting on the north shore of the marsh.
3. 1825 — Isaac Mills sells the township's first plot of land for settlement to William Tindall, who clears a field, builds a cabin, and plants the township's first orchard -- fifty trees from Johnny Appleseed's own nursery -- before soon tiring of pioneer life and trading the land away.
4. 1833 — Amos Ogden begins on lot one, section two, and becomes the township's first permanent settler; he dies in 1850 leaving no children.
5. 1835 — Jacob Croninger and Philip Upp both settle in the township, Upp moving his family into a newly built cabin the third week of February 1836.
6. 1836 — William Hutchison, Daniel Sykes and Eleazer Day (who opens the township's pioneer hotel the following year with a brother-in-law) all settle in the township; Richmond Township is formally organized.
7. 1836 — The township is organized in June, with the first election of township officers on July 4; the Tiffin road, the first opened through the township, is begun this year and takes four years to complete.
8. 1837 — The township is divided into two school districts and a frame schoolhouse is built in each, the first frame buildings in the township; school is kept only in the west one that winter.
9. 1839 — A post office is established with James Foglesong as postmaster; the township's first church organization is Methodist, and the first sermon was preached by Michael Long, of the Brethren, at Jacob Croninger's house.
10. 1909 — The Sandusky and Newark division of the Baltimore and Ohio cuts a corner of the northeast of the township and the Chicago division crosses half its width; Pittsburgh buyers have purchased a large acreage of the marsh and surveyed it into 100-acre lots, and Hollanders are developing celery gardens along the east side.
11. 2020 — The census counts 985 people in Richmond Township.

Stories

The cranberry squatters of Cannon marsh

Long before Richmond's land went up for legal sale, the marsh that covers over a third of the township -- a spongy, six-mile expanse of decayed grass and timbered islands, home to Pigeon Roost, a favorite summer roosting ground for wild pigeons -- drew a settlement of perhaps twenty squatter families to its north shore. They lived off the land in the plainest sense: picking and selling the thousands of bushels of wild cranberries that grew there each year, hunting the deer that flocked to the marsh to escape flies in summer and hunters in winter, and, less honestly, helping themselves to neighboring farmers' free-ranging hogs without much regard for ownership marks. A lone trapper named Morehead lived even more remotely, in a cabin at the tip of a mile-long point of upland jutting into the marsh, spearing muskrats and feeding weary hunters johnny cake and venison on a floor spread with deerskins. None of the squatters ever bought land or became what the 1879 county historian would call real settlers, and by the time Richmond organized as a proper township in 1836, its founding families had entirely outlasted them.

The trapper on the marsh

For years the only inhabitant of Richmond Township was a trapper named Morehead, whose cabin stood at the northern tip of a point of timbered upland jutting a mile into the marsh from its south shore. He made his living trapping and spearing muskrats and, in high water, made his daily rounds over the marsh in a small boat. The 1909 county history says that many a weary hunter sought his cabin and shared his homely fare of johnny cake and venison. The marsh itself covered more than a third of the township, about twenty square miles in all, and its northern shore was an immense bed of cranberry bushes of some two hundred acres. Section one, at the southeast, was thought at a very early day to be a lake, because decaying Indian canoes lay along its shores when the white settlers first saw it.

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

Raw water pumped from the West Branch Huron River roughly 3 miles to a 215-acre, 2.3-billion-gallon upground reservoir at the Class III surface water plant on Central Ave. The water here

• Willard City86% of residentsWest Branch Huron River, stored in Willard's upground reservoir
• Attica Village11% of residentsHoney Creek (via 2 storage reservoirs)
• Plymouth Village2% of residentsWest Branch Huron River, stored in Willard's upground reservoir

Community health centers (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (5)

Money issues on the ballot since 2021: 1 of 1 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.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-08-28

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