South Solon

How South Solon began

South Solon sits in Stokes Township in the southwest corner of Madison County, on land that belonged to John K. Hudson, son of Stokes Township's first white settler, Isaac Hudson. Hudson and Andrew Douglass laid out the village on Hudson's land in the late 1830s, and it grew very slowly for its first four decades because it lay far from any railroad and had to ship goods and produce through distant towns. That changed in 1878 when the narrow-gauge Springfield Southern Railroad reached the village, connecting it to Springfield and the coalfields of southeastern Ohio; a grain elevator and warehouse followed immediately, and the town's population and trade grew steadily afterward. In 1938 the Public Works Administration built the village's community building. South Solon remains a small farm-service village today.

Settled 1802, platted 1838 (an earlier passage of the 1883 county history gives 1833), by John K. Hudson and Andrew Douglass; area first settled by Isaac Hudson.

Where the name comes from

The origin of the name South Solon is not recorded.

Before the town

No Native village, mound or treaty site specific to South Solon itself is recorded, but the surrounding Stokes Township was regular hunting and camping ground: a favorite Native camping ground was recorded on Paint Creek in Stokes Township, valued for its fine pasturage, at the site where the Grassy Point Christian Church later stood, and the family of Skinner Hudson, whose son Isaac was Stokes Township's first white settler, lived for years beside "a regular camping-ground of the Indians."

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Wyandot, Mingo (Seneca-Cayuga).

• Paint Creek camping ground (Grassy Point) (camp) — on Paint Creek in Stokes Township, at the later site of Grassy Point Christian Church, pre-1820 (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1802 — Isaac Hudson, believed to be the first white settler of Stokes Township, located on land that later included part of South Solon; his father Skinner Hudson followed in 1804.
2. 1832 — Grassy Point Christian Church in Stokes Township is organized by Rev. Joseph Thomas, 'the White Pilgrim', with thirty charter members; nearly six hundred members are enrolled by 1883.
3. 1838 — John K. Hudson (Isaac's nephew, described as owning 266 acres including part of the future village site) and Andrew Douglass laid out South Solon; the 1883 county history gives this date in its "Towns" section, though an earlier passage in the same book gives 1833 for Hudson's platting of the same ground -- the two figures conflict and neither is resolved by the source.
4. 1860-1861 — South Solon's frame People's Church, open to all Christian denominations, is erected and dedicated.
5. 1875 — The village held a post office, one grocery store and one blacksmith shop.
6. 1878 — The narrow-gauge Springfield Southern Railroad was built through South Solon, connecting it to Springfield and the coalfields of southeastern Ohio; John Hudson erected a grain warehouse and elevator the same year.
7. 1880 — The Springfield Southern Railroad through South Solon was converted from narrow gauge to standard gauge.
8. 1880 — South Solon has 262 residents in the census.
9. 1882 — The village has two general stores, a grocery and post office, harness, blacksmith and carriage shops, three saloons, a livery, a sawmill, a grain dealer and three physicians, and the railroad station ships 600 to 800 carloads of stock, grain and lumber.
10. 1920 — Population reaches 442, the highest census count to date, after 420 in 1910.
11. 1938 — The village's community building was constructed by the Public Works Administration at an estimated cost of $25,454.
12. 2020 — South Solon has 329 residents.

Stories

A town that waited forty years for a railroad

South Solon grew so slowly for its first four decades that the 1883 county history calls its early years a story of stalled ambition: with no railroad and no other draw for business, farmers hauled their grain, stock and produce to distant towns for market, and while there did their shopping too, leaving little reason for merchants to set up shop in South Solon itself. That changed abruptly in 1878, when the narrow-gauge Springfield Southern Railroad reached the village and connected it to Springfield and the coalfields of southeastern Ohio. John Hudson put up a grain warehouse and elevator the same year the line opened, farmers began hauling their grain to sell locally instead of carting it elsewhere, and the town's businesses multiplied to meet the new demand. By 1882 the line, upgraded to standard gauge in 1880, was shipping an estimated 600 to 800 carloads of stock, grain and lumber a year from the little town, a volume the county historian called surprising for so small a place.

A root-and-herb doctor with Indian blood

When South Solon was laid out, John Nolan opened its first store and Andrew Douglass built its first house and worked as its first blacksmith. Its first doctor, remembered in the 1883 county history only as "Dr. Simmerman," practiced as a root-and-herb doctor and was said to carry some Native American ancestry; local memory held that he was quite skillful treating disease by his own methods, though the historian recorded no further detail about his training, background or the outcome of his practice.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• South Solon Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (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.
• Financial Audit, 2020 to 2021, released 2026-05-07

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.

Cite this page