Rossburg

How Rossburg began

Rossburg, first called Rossville, was laid out in 1868 by John G. Ross from part of an eighty-acre farm in Allen Township, at the corner of sections 26, 27, 34 and 35, with lots added by Robert Ross. A blacksmith shop, a store kept by Solomon Frank and a post office formed the beginning, and the village grew little until the Cincinnati, Jackson and Mackinaw railway came about 1883. By 1914 it had a bank, hotel, town hall, mill and elevator, and United Brethren and Methodist churches; its population was 295 in 1960 and 159 in 2020.

Platted 1868, by John G. Ross.

Where the name comes from

Named for its founder John G. Ross, who laid out the village in 1868 as Rossville (the 1880 county history already calls it Rossville); the 1914 history says 'Rossburg (formerly Rossville)'. Wikipedia says the post office was named Hagerman from 1883 to 1905.

Before the town

No Native American village or site specific to present-day Rossburg is documented in the sources checked. The village sits in Allen Township in northern Darke County, part of the broader Miami and Shawnee homeland ceded under the 1795 Treaty of Greenville.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Miami.

Timeline

1. 1866 — John Clapper, a blacksmith, builds a shop where Rossville will be, two years before it is platted.
2. 1868 — John G. Ross plats the village.
3. 1868 — Solomon Frank opens a village store and a post office is established; Robert Ross lays off a few lots next to the plat.
4. 1881 — Rossville, as the village is called in the 1880 county history, is the name Wikipedia dates to 1881-1890 before it became Rossburg.
5. 1883-12-19 — A post office named Hagerman opens serving the village.
6. 1883 — A predecessor of the Cincinnati, Jackson and Mackinaw Railroad builds a line through Rossburg and New Weston, spurring growth.
7. 1890 — Rossburg has 254 residents, its first census count.
8. 1905-11-04 — The Hagerman post office closes.
9. 1910 — Population peaks at 261 residents.
10. 1914 — The village has a town hall, council chamber, bank, hotel, post office, railway station, United Brethren and Methodist churches, a lodge, elevator, mill and several stores.
11. 1930 — Population drops to 176 from 246 in 1920.
12. 1960 — Population reaches 295, the highest of any census.
13. 2020 — Rossburg has 159 residents.

Stories

A village with more than one name

John G. Ross laid out the village in 1868 as Rossville, from part of an eighty-acre farm at the corner of four sections in Allen Township, and the 1880 county history uses that name. Two years earlier a blacksmith named John Clapper had built a shop on the spot, where farmers could mend tools and have their horses shod; a store and a post office followed in the year of the plat. When the Cincinnati, Jackson and Mackinaw railway came through about 1883 the 'Mackinaw' brought a bank, hotel, mill and elevator, and the 1914 county history calls the place Rossburg, 'formerly Rossville'. Wikipedia adds that the village post office opened in December 1883 under a third name, Hagerman, and closed in November 1905.

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

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

Fire and EMS stations (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, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-09-19

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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