Rising Sun

How Rising Sun began

Rising Sun was first settled in 1834 by Benjamin Wollam, and the small community that grew up around it changed names three times before settling on its final one: first 'St. Elms,' then, in reaction, 'Coon Town,' then 'Stony Battery' for a nearby limestone outcrop, before a Fourth of July 1874 motion by resident David Earl renamed it 'Rising Sun.' The village was not formally platted until 1876, with a post office under the name Rising Sun opening three years earlier in 1873. It incorporated in March 1879, and in 1894 its official spelling was compressed to the single word Risingsun that the post office and, eventually, the village itself have used since.

Settled 1834, by Benjamin Wollam, platted June 1876, surveyed by W. H. Wood for a group of nine original owners, incorporated village, ordered March 13, 1879, on a petition of 41 residents presented December 16, 1878, by Henry Baker, John Mervin and John Carey (original landowners).

Where the name comes from

The 1897 county history traces the name through three earlier changes. The site was first called 'St. Elms,' but residents found that too refined for a wilderness settlement and swung the other way, naming it 'Coon Town.' A local limestone outcrop then suggested 'Stony Battery,' which the place was called until July 4, 1874, when a motion by David Earl to rename it 'Rising Sun' was adopted -- a fitting choice for an Independence Day christening. The post office opened under the two-word spelling 'Rising Sun' in 1873 (a year before the village itself formally took the name, per the county history); the spelling was changed to the single word 'Risingsun' in 1894.

Before the town

No mound, earthwork or named Native village specific to Rising Sun was found in any source consulted; the county's own 1897 history states that no such evidence exists anywhere in Wood County.

Nations recorded here: Ottawa.

Timeline

1. 1834 — Benjamin Wollam becomes the first settler near the future village, purchasing land in Section 25 and building a pole shanty with the help of a Native neighbor before fleeing the wild animals infesting the area.
2. 1836 — A United Brethren church organizes nearby, near Bower's mill west of the future village, part of Montgomery Township's earliest religious life.
3. 1837 — Settler Straub locates directly on the future village site and builds a log cabin.
4. 1837 — A cabin for school purposes is built, with Arnold Moon as teacher, before Straub builds on the site.
5. 1844 — David Phillips and Conrad Shefler settle in the village.
6. 1849 — George Strause builds the first frame dwelling house; he builds the first frame barn in 1851.
7. 1857 — The Prentiss sawmill is built, later operated by J. W. Blessing.
8. 1866 — William Shoup opens a small mercantile house near the Prentiss sawmill (built 1857), by which time the settlement is known as 'Stony Battery.'
9. 1873 — A post office opens under the name Rising Sun.
10. 1873-07-17 — John W. Blessing is commissioned the first postmaster of Rising Sun.
11. 1874-07-04 — On a motion by David Earl, the settlement formally adopts the name 'Rising Sun' in place of 'Stony Battery.'
12. 1876-06 — The village is formally platted by W. H. Wood.
13. 1877-04 — By the end of the month the village has Frankfother Bros.' general store, Gregg, Wyman and Co.'s lime kilns, a hotel, two drug stores, a school of about fifty pupils and a brick church under construction; ground is broken for over twenty dwellings.
14. 1878-12-16 — A petition for incorporation, signed by 41 residents, is presented to the county commissioners.
15. 1879-03-13 — The commissioners sign the order creating the village; E. F. Day becomes the first mayor.
16. 1880 — The census counts 344 residents; the school board builds two brick schoolhouses and adopts the graded system.
17. 1886 — The village has three hotels, two dry-goods and two hardware houses, a flour and feed store, a grocery, a saloon, two schools, two physicians, four preachers and the lime works.
18. 1891-06-05 — Voters approve a new school house 64 to 20; bonds of $10,025 are sold and the $12,000 building opens in 1892.
19. 1894 — The post office spelling changes from the two-word 'Rising Sun' to the single word 'Risingsun.'
20. 1894-10-30 — A fire destroys the Arcade and a few small buildings; a greater fire in February 1895 burns the Phillips-Shefler building and Miller's blacksmith shop.
21. 1960 — The census counts 815 residents, the highest figure shown, and 541 in 2020.

Stories

St. Elms, Coon Town, Stony Battery, Rising Sun

Few Wood County villages changed their names as many times as this one before settling on its final identity. The site was first called 'St. Elms' -- a name residents apparently found too fancy for a rough wilderness settlement, so in reaction they swung to the opposite extreme and called it 'Coon Town.' When a local outcrop of limestone became a more prominent feature of the place, the name shifted again to 'Stony Battery,' and that name held for years, through the arrival of William Shoup's store in 1866 and the growth of a genuine hamlet around the Prentiss sawmill. Then, on the Fourth of July, 1874, a resident named David Earl made a motion at a public gathering to rename the place 'Rising Sun' -- a fitting choice for an Independence Day vote -- and it carried. The post office had already adopted the two-word spelling the year before; the village itself caught up formally when it was surveyed and platted in June 1876, two years after the new name was chosen.

Two fires in four months, 1894-95

On October 30, 1894, fire destroyed the Arcade and a few small buildings in Risingsun. It was only the introduction, the 1897 county history says, to a greater fire in February 1895 that reduced to ashes the Phillips-Shefler building, which held C. E. White's drug store and J. D. Goodman's grocery, and Miller's blacksmith shop. By then the place had grown from a pole shanty in 1834 to a village with three hotels and a lime works in 1886. The post office had just been re-commissioned in the new one-word spelling in September 1894, when the postmaster, G. H. Baker, was issued a fresh commission.

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

No water-system data is linked to Rising Sun's ZIP codes yet.

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Police stations (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

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