Silverton

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How Silverton began

Silverton grew from a crossroads store David Mosner opened at Plainfield Pike and Montgomery Road in 1809, and carried his name (a post office called "Mosner" was established there in 1861) until it was renamed for Elizabeth Silver Haines, wife of early landowner Seth Haines. Haines and Robert Cresap platted the village's first subdivision after the Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway opened through the settlement in 1883, and it incorporated as a hamlet the following year, reaching village status in 1904. Silverton was home to the John C. Meier Grape Juice Company, later Meier's Wine Cellars, Ohio's oldest and largest winery, and in 1974 elected Richard F. Hunter Sr. as its first African American mayor. It briefly held city status from 1961 to 2010 before its population dropped back under 5,000.

Settled 1809, platted 1883, incorporated 1884, by David Mosner (1809 store); Seth Haines and Robert Cresap (1883 subdivision plat).

Where the name comes from

The settlement was first known by the name of storekeeper David Mosner, formalized when a post office named "Mosner" opened in 1861. It is widely accepted locally that the village was renamed Silverton in honor of Elizabeth Silver Haines, wife of landowner Seth Haines, whose family platted the first subdivision in the 1880s.

Before the town

No source found records a Native American village, trail, mound or treaty line specific to the Silverton site itself. The village sits in the Duck Creek valley of what was Miami and Shawnee hunting territory before the 1795 Treaty of Greenville; the nearest documented Hopewell-culture site in the immediate area is the Benham Mound in neighboring Amberley village, not within Silverton.

Timeline

1. 1809 — David Mosner opens a general store at the crossroads of Plainfield Pike and Montgomery Road, the beginning of the settlement.
2. 1861 — A post office named "Mosner" is established, formalizing the name used for the settlement for decades.
3. 1883 — The Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway opens through the settlement, and Seth Haines and Robert Cresap plat Silverton's first subdivision, apparently prompting the renaming from Mosner to Silverton.
4. 1884 — The settlement incorporates as the Hamlet of Silverton.
5. 1904 — Silverton attains village status by general election.
6. 1961 — Silverton reaches city status with a population above 5,500.
7. 1974 — Richard F. Hunter Sr. is elected Silverton's first African American mayor.
8. 2010 — Silverton reverts to village designation after its population drops below 5,000.

Stories

From Mosner's store to Ohio's oldest winery

Silverton began in 1809 as nothing more than David Mosner's general store at a country crossroads, and it carried his name, formalized by an 1861 post office, for most of the nineteenth century. The arrival of the Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway in 1883 changed its fortunes: Seth Haines and Robert Cresap platted a real subdivision that year, and the community was renamed for Haines's wife, Elizabeth Silver Haines, as it incorporated as a hamlet in 1884. In the early twentieth century the John C. Meier Grape Juice Company set up in the village and grew into Meier's Wine Cellars, which by the twenty-first century was both the oldest and the largest winery in Ohio, giving a onetime crossroads store a lasting place in the state's agricultural history.

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

Ohio River intake at the plant's riverfront on Kellogg Ave in the California neighborhood, east Cincinnati The water here

• Cincinnati Public Water System97% of residentsOhio River (Miller Plant, ~88%) plus Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer wells (~12%)
• Reading City3% of residentsOhio River (Miller Plant, ~88%) plus Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer wells (~12%)

Dialysis centers (1)

Nursing homes (1)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Public schools (1)

Public EV charging (3)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

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, 2024, released 2025-06-03

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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