South Bloomfield

How South Bloomfield began

South Bloomfield's own founding story is disputed even in its own records: the village's official history says the town was 'originally laid out in 1803,' with Gen. James Denny hired to survey 40 acres into 80 lots, while the 1906 county history instead credits David Denny as the founder in 1805, with James Denny, later of Circleville, as his hired surveyor; squatters, by the village's own account, were already in the area by 1798 or 1799, and the oldest known grave nearby is dated 1801. The founders hoped their plat, in what is now Harrison Township, would become the Pickaway County seat, but 'time and politics' worked against it. From 1819 the village spent about 27 years as a stop on the stagecoach line between Chillicothe, Circleville and Columbus, a line said to have carried some 1.2 million passengers, before being bypassed first by the Ohio Canal, built through nearby Millport instead, and then by the railroad, which ran through Ashville on its way to Circleville. South Bloomfield settled into quiet decline for a century before US 23 became a four-lane federal highway and, since 2000, has become one of the fastest-growing villages in central Ohio.

Settled as early as 1798-1799, per squatters described in the village's own history; the oldest known grave in the area, that of Sarah Holmes, is dated 1801, platted sources disagree: 1803 per the village's own history, 1805 per the 1906 Pickaway County history, by the village's own history credits the survey to Gen. James Denny alone; the 1906 county history says David Denny laid out the town and hired James Denny, later of Circleville, to survey it.

Where the name comes from

No source consulted explains why the village was named Bloomfield, or South Bloomfield specifically; Ohio has several places using the Bloomfield name (there is, for instance, a separate Bloomfield in Logan County), and none of the sources consulted compare South Bloomfield's naming to any of them.

Before the town

No source consulted names a Native American village, trail, mound, or treaty event specifically at South Bloomfield or elsewhere in Harrison Township. The village lies in the northern part of Pickaway County, north of the Pickaway Plains that were the documented core of Shawnee settlement in the 1770s (covered in the Pickaway Township file); nothing in the village's own history or the county histories consulted places any Native site this far north in the county. No county-level file yet exists for Pickaway County to point to for the wider Native history of the area.

Timeline

1. 1798-1799 — Squatters begin claiming land in the area that becomes South Bloomfield, according to the village's own history.
2. 1801 — Sarah Holmes, daughter of Jonathan and Rachel Holmes, is buried in what becomes the Harrison Township cemetery; hers is the oldest dated gravestone found in the area, evidence of settlement before the town's own founding date.
3. 1803 or 1805 — The town is platted, 40 acres divided into 80 lots, in hopes of becoming the county seat; sources disagree on both the year and who is properly credited as founder (see Founded).
4. 1819 — A stagecoach line, later the Columbus and Portsmouth Turnpike Road Company and eventually US Route 23, begins service through South Bloomfield on Monday, August 23, running twice weekly between Chillicothe, Circleville and Columbus.
5. 1837 — Dr. J. C. Thompson, one of the earliest physicians of Harrison Township, locates at South Bloomfield and practices there for over 50 years.
6. c. 1846 — After roughly 27 years and an estimated 1.2 million passengers, the stagecoach era ends as the Ohio Canal and then the railroad draw traffic away from South Bloomfield to nearby Millport, Ashville and Circleville.
7. 1950 — The village's population stands at 250, having grown little since its founding.
8. 1960 — The population reaches 424, a 69.6 percent increase.
9. 2020 — The census records 2,143 residents, and by a 2025 estimate the population has grown further to 4,164, making South Bloomfield one of the fastest-growing villages in central Ohio.

Stories

A Town Twice Founded, on Paper

South Bloomfield cannot quite settle on its own origin story. A sign at the village's municipal building gives 1804 as the founding year, which the village's own official history calls 'a bit misleading.' That same history says the town was surveyed in 1803 by Gen. James Denny, later a prominent citizen of Circleville, working alone. The 1906 Pickaway County history tells it differently: David Denny laid out the town in 1805 and hired James Denny to do the surveying for him. Neither account can be confirmed against the other, and the oldest dated grave in the area, that of a child named Sarah Holmes, is from 1801, two to four years before either proposed founding date, a reminder that squatters had already been living on the ground before anyone thought to plat a town on it.

Twenty-Seven Years of Stagecoaches

For most of its first half-century, South Bloomfield's fortunes rode on a stagecoach line. Beginning Monday, August 23, 1819, coaches of the Columbus and Portsmouth Turnpike Road Company ran twice a week between Chillicothe, Circleville and Columbus, stopping in the village to change horses, feed and house passengers, and make repairs at one of as many as three blacksmith shops in town at once. The Scioto Gazette's notice for the line specified a four-horse coach and a two-horse coach, fares of seven cents a mile in the larger and five in the smaller, a ten-pound baggage allowance per passenger, and a strict rule that mailbags always ride inside, out of the rain. Over roughly 27 years the line is estimated to have carried 1.2 million passengers, before the Ohio Canal, built a mile east through the rival village of Millport, and then the railroad, which passed through Ashville instead, quietly ended the stagecoach era and, with it, South Bloomfield's hope of becoming the county seat.

Photographs

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Ashville Village70% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• South Bloomfield Village18% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Columbus Public Water System12% of residentsScioto River (Griggs & O'Shaughnessy), Hoover Reservoir on Big Walnut Ck, plus wells
• Commercial Point Village0% of residentsGroundwater wells (6 wells)

Public schools (1)

Police stations (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

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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