Salem Township, Auglaize County

How Salem Township, Auglaize County began

Salem Township was organized in 1836 as part of Mercer County; when Auglaize County was created in 1848, what remained of it was joined with the northern part of Mercer County's Wayne Township, while the southern part of Wayne became Noble Township, named for early settler Elisha Noble, because the new county already had a Wayne Township in its east end. Salem's only village, Kossuth, was platted along the Miami and Erie Canal in 1845 as Deep Cut and renamed in 1859 for the Hungarian revolutionary Lajos Kossuth; it was incorporated in 1897 and surrendered its village charter in 1910. The Miami and Erie Canal Deep Cut itself, a National Historic Landmark, runs through the township near Kossuth and Spencerville.

Platted 1845, incorporated 1848.

Where the name comes from

'Salem' dates to the township's organization in Mercer County in 1836; in 1848 what remained of it was joined with the north part of a Mercer County township called Wayne; no source specific to why 'Salem' itself was chosen was found, though it was a common Ohio township name, often chosen for its Biblical association with peace. Its village, Kossuth, was named for Lajos Kossuth, the Hungarian revolutionary who led the 1848 Hungarian Revolution against Habsburg rule.

Before the town

No Native villages, mounds or treaty sites specific to Salem Township were found in the sources checked. The township lies in the far northwestern part of Auglaize County, outside the immediate area of the Wapakoneta and Lewistown Shawnee reservations documented elsewhere in the county. The wider county record includes the Miami and Shawnee presence, the Greenville treaty line and later cessions across the county.

Nations recorded here: Miami, Shawnee.

Timeline

1. 1836 — Salem Township is organized as part of Mercer County, taking in parts of what are now Jennings Township in Van Wert County and Spencer Township in Allen County.
2. 1845 — Kossuth is platted and organized along the Miami and Erie Canal under the name Deep Cut.
3. 1848 — Auglaize County is created; what remains of Salem Township is joined with the northern part of Mercer County's Wayne Township, and the southern part of Wayne is organized as Noble Township, since the new county already has a Wayne Township.
4. 1859 — Deep Cut village adopts the name Kossuth, honoring Hungarian revolutionary Lajos Kossuth.
5. 1897 — Kossuth is incorporated as a village.
6. 1910 — Kossuth surrenders its village charter.
7. 1966-10-15 — The Miami and Erie Canal Deep Cut, running through Salem Township near Kossuth and Spencerville, is designated a National Historic Landmark.

Stories

Deep Cut becomes Kossuth

The canal-side settlement that grew up in Salem Township in the 1840s took its first name from the ground itself: Deep Cut, for the trench the Miami and Erie Canal's builders had to blast and dig through the ridge along the township's north side. By the 1850s, news of the failed Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and its exiled leader, Lajos Kossuth, had reached even rural Ohio, and in 1859 the villagers renamed their canal-side town in his honor. Kossuth incorporated as a village in 1897, but with the canal era already fading, it surrendered its charter again in 1910; the Deep Cut itself, the engineering feature that had given the place its first name, was later designated a National Historic Landmark, one of only a handful in the county.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• St. Marys City48% of residentsTeays River Buried Valley Aquifer (wells)
• Spencerville Village45% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Mendon Village6% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

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