Savannah

How Savannah began

Savannah was laid out on December 25, 1818, on a plateau above the Vermilion River in what is now Clear Creek Township, and was first named Vermillion; it was known locally as Haney town. The town and post office were renamed Savannah in 1837 according to the 1909 county history, while Wikipedia dates the Savannah post office to 1839. In 1846 Savannah was a prominent candidate for the seat of the new Ashland County, but Ashland was chosen and the town's business began to decline. A 19th-century county account credits its Scotch-Irish and New England settler stock with a strong temperance sentiment. The 2020 census counted 329 residents.

Platted 1818-12-25, by John Haney.

Where the name comes from

The town was platted on December 25, 1818 as Vermillion and was known locally as Haney town, for the Rev. James Haney, an early resident, according to the 1909 county history. The name Savannah came into use in 1837 (county history) or with the post office of 1839 (Wikipedia). The reason for the name Savannah is not recorded.

Before the town

No source records a Native village, camp, or named trail specifically at the Savannah town site. The 1870s county history excerpted on genealogytrails.com discusses Native presence in Ashland County generally (it recounts legends of 'the red men' along the streams near Loudonville, in the county's south) but gives nothing township-specific for Clear Creek Township. The Vermilion River valley, on whose bank Savannah sits, was within the hunting grounds ceded piecemeal by the Wyandot, Delaware (Lenape), and other nations in the Greenville (1795) and subsequent treaties that opened this part of Ohio.

Timeline

1. 1818 — John Haney lays out the town of Vermillion (Haneytown), later Savannah, on the plateau above the Vermilion River in Clear Creek Township, on Christmas Day.
2. 1822 — Thomas Ford builds the only mill in Clear Creek Township, a horse mill, and Joseph Davis erects the first sawmill on Clear Creek; John Hendricks builds a frame grist mill on the Vermilion in 1824 and John and Thomas Haney one on Mulhollen's run south of the town in 1827.
3. 1831-09 — The Associate Reform congregation of Savannah is organised by Rev. James Johnson of Mansfield; the first house of worship in Savannah is built in 1834 and a Presbyterian church is organised in 1833.
4. 1837 — The town and post office are renamed Savannah in place of Vermillion, according to the 1909 county history; Wikipedia dates the Savannah post office to 1839.
5. 1839 — A post office named Savannah is established, and the name supersedes Vermillion/Haneytown in common use.
6. 1846 — Savannah is a prominent candidate for the seat of the new Ashland County, but Ashland is chosen and the town's business begins to decline.
7. 1851 — A Free Presbyterian church is organised in Savannah with F. M. Finney as minister.
8. 1858-06 — The United Presbyterian church of Savannah is formed from the Associate and Associate Reform congregations, with J. W. Ashenhurst as pastor; the building of Savannah Academy in 1858 checks the town's decline.
9. 1860 — The population of Savannah, counted separately from the rest of Clear Creek Township for the first time, is 336 (a 19th-century county-history estimate of the village alone put contemporaneous numbers near 400).
10. 2000 — The census counts 372 residents in Savannah.
11. 2010 — The census counts 413 residents in Savannah.
12. 2020 — The village's population is recorded at 329 in the federal census.

Stories

A temperance town on the Vermilion

A 19th-century county account reprinted on genealogytrails.com says Savannah stands on a plateau along the old Vermillion road and had about four hundred inhabitants, mostly descended from Scotch-Irish settlers mixed with people of New England birth. It calls the town noted for its adherence to total abstinence from every form of intoxicating drink.

Photographs

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

Wells (14 listed as active in EPA SDWIS: Wells 1-7 and 10-15; Well 9 was deactivated 2025-11-17) in the Jerome Fork Basin sand-and-gravel aquifer, sited generally north of the treatment plant on Cleveland Road The water here

• Rural Lorain Co. Water A100% of residentsMostly Lake Erie (bought from Avon Lake); some New London Reservoir and Ashland wells

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2023: 1 of 1 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 1 of 1.

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.
• Basic Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-12-24

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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