Salem Township, Columbiana County

How Salem Township, Columbiana County began

Salem Township, among the first organized in Columbiana County in 1803, sits in the northern part of the county and holds the eastern portion of Salem city, the village of Leetonia and the village of Washingtonville -- each with its own separate, better-documented history. The township's own standout landmark is the Teegarden-Centennial Covered Bridge, a 66-foot multiple-kingpost span built in 1876, deliberately timed to the centennial of the Declaration of Independence, that carried traffic over Little Beaver Creek for well over a century before closing to vehicles in 1992 and being restored for pedestrian use in 2003.

Settled early 1800s, incorporated 1803 (township organized, among the county's first), by Columbiana County commissioners.

Where the name comes from

The township takes its name from Salem, the city within it, itself named by founder Zadok Street for his hometown of Salem, New Jersey (see the Salem (city) unit for that naming history); Ohio has fourteen townships named Salem.

Before the town

No specific Native American village, camp or burial site within Salem Township's present boundaries is recorded, beyond the unconfirmed claim, discussed in the Salem (city) unit, of a Wyandot encampment at the site of Salem itself. The township lies within the region ceded under the 1785 Treaty of Fort McIntosh and confirmed by the 1795 Treaty of Greenville.

Timeline

1. 1803 — Salem Township is organized, among the first in Columbiana County.
2. 1803 — Peter Miller of Virginia enters section 1 for $300, borrowing $100 from his brother-in-law Andrew Allerton; David Hardman enters section 12 for his father, and Jonathan Taylor of Belmont County and Abram Snyder enter sections 19 and 20; some mill-sites on the township's streams date from this year.
3. 1804 — John Betz of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, enters section 11 for his father Urban Betz, who arrives with his wife and five sons the next year, builds a large log house and a distillery; Martin Hoke enters a section at Steubenville but dies before bringing his family out, and Rudolph Bair, Jesse Dickinson and Ephraim Holloway and Jacob Sweitzer also take land.
4. 1805 — William Shearer, a tanner from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, enters the whole of section 9.
5. 1807 — Jesse Holloway comes from Crooked Run, Virginia, and buys the northwest quarter of section 4.
6. 1808 — Henry Dixson, a Quaker from Brownsville, Pennsylvania, enters a quarter section on section 14, and in 1809 and 1810 two more.
7. 1810 — Jacob Bossart, who had entered sections 3 and 10 in 1809 after keeping a store in New Lisbon, moves to section 3, builds a cabin on the middle fork of Little Beaver Creek and then the first of three sawmills; a mill has been in constant operation on the site from about 1812.
8. 1818 — Jonathan Fawcett builds a saw and grist mill on section 17 on land given him by his grandfather Thomas Temley; he builds the stone mill on a branch of the middle fork in 1841.
9. 1832 — Four sections of the township's northwest corner are taken off to form part of the new Perry Township, leaving thirty-two full sections.
10. 1875-1876 — Jeremiah C. Mountz and David Reese design and build the Teegarden-Centennial Covered Bridge over Little Beaver Creek on Eagleton Road, timed to the centennial of the Declaration of Independence and named for local landowner U. Teegarden.
11. 1992 — The covered bridge closes to vehicular traffic after more than a century of use.
12. 2000-08-10 — The Teegarden-Centennial Covered Bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
13. 2003 — The bridge is restored, reopening for pedestrian use only.
14. 2020 — The census counts 5,142 people in Salem Township.

Stories

A bridge built for the country's hundredth birthday

When builders Jeremiah C. Mountz and David Reese raised a 66-foot multiple-kingpost covered bridge over Little Beaver Creek in 1876, they were marking more than just a stream crossing: the year was chosen deliberately to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, giving the span its lasting name, the Teegarden-Centennial Covered Bridge, after local landowner U. Teegarden. It carried wagon and then automobile traffic on Eagleton Road for 116 years before finally closing to vehicles in 1992, a remarkable working life for a wooden bridge. Rather than let it fall apart, the township restored it in 2003 and reopened it to foot traffic only, preserving a small piece of centennial-era engineering that had already been listed on the National Register of Historic Places three years earlier.

Martin Hoke's widow

Martin Hoke of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, came out to Salem Township in 1804, picked a section, and entered it at the land office at Steubenville, then went back east intending to bring his family out the next spring. Before the spring arrived he was dead. His widow, with her three children, John, Henry and Elizabeth, came out anyway and settled on the land he had entered. The section was afterward divided into three parts, with John the northwest, Henry the northeast and Elizabeth the south half; Elizabeth married Solomon Sitler and her sons were living on the half section in 1879. A cemetery on the section holds the remains of many of the pioneers, and one of the township's early schools was kept on section 25, entered about the same time by Hoke's brothers-in-law Ephraim Holloway and Jacob Sweitzer.

Urban Betz and the first coal

Urban Betz came to Salem Township in 1805 with his wife and five sons, John, George, Christian, William and Frederick, to the section his son John had entered for him the year before. The axe in the hands of these pioneers, the county historians say, soon made the opening in the forest where the town of Leetonia now stands, and the family built a large log house and a distillery. When Urban died the section was divided among the sons, with Christian, a blacksmith, receiving only 21 acres. It is Christian who is said to have been the first to discover coal in Columbiana County, and the first to use it, a claim the 1879 county history reports only as 'said'.

Photographs

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

Every historic place in Columbiana County on the full map

Mostly private wells The water here

• Salem City57% of residentsEast Cold Run Reservoir & Spring Valley Reservoir (Cold Run Creek)
• Leetonia Village38% of residentsEast Cold Run Reservoir & Spring Valley Reservoir (Cold Run Creek)
• Lisbon Village3% of residentsGroundwater wells (6 wells)
• Washingtonville Village2% of residentsEast Cold Run Reservoir & Spring Valley Reservoir (Cold Run Creek)
• Deer Run Mc0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Columbiana County-county Home Rd0% of residentsEast Cold Run Reservoir & Spring Valley Reservoir (Cold Run Creek)

Colleges (1)

Shale and injection wells (6)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

Money issues on the ballot since 2021: 2 of 2 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.
• Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2026-05-12

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