Spencer Township, Medina County

How Spencer Township, Medina County began

Spencer Township, organized in 1832 as part of Lorain County until it joined Medina County in 1839, was nearly named Marshfield or Marshtown for its first settler before proprietor Calvin Spencer, owner of the local saw and grist mills, offered $500 in lumber toward a schoolhouse if settlers named the township for him instead; they took the deal. Company B of the 124th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, formed almost entirely of Medina County's western-township men, mustered here in 1862 and fought at Pickett's Mill and Chattanooga. In 1891 the Northern Ohio Railroad's arrival killed the neighboring village of River Corners outright while building up Spencer at the crossing of two rail lines, and Jacob Firestone's Farmers Savings Bank, founded in the village in 1900, still operates today.

Incorporated 1832, by organized as part of Lorain County (1832-1839) before joining Medina County.

Where the name comes from

Originally intended to be named Marshfield or Marshtown, after the township's first settler, the name was instead chosen for Calvin Spencer, owner of Spencer's Saw & Grist Mills, who offered to donate $500 in lumber toward building a schoolhouse if the community would name the township after him. Four townships in Ohio share the Spencer name.

Before the town

No Native village, mound, trail or documented encounter site specific to Spencer Township turned up in the sources we checked; the township organized in 1832, well after the 1805 Treaty of Fort Industry opened Medina County to settlement. The county-level history file carries the fuller treaty context and the one specific, dated Native encounter located in the county -- Potawatomi hunters meeting a squatter in Liverpool Township in 1810.

Timeline

1. 1832 — Spencer Township organizes, initially as part of Lorain County, taking the name of mill owner Calvin Spencer in exchange for his $500 lumber donation toward a schoolhouse.
2. 1839 — Spencer Township transfers from Lorain County to Medina County.
3. 1849 — A post office called Spencer begins operation.
4. 1862 — Company B, 124th Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, forms in Spencer almost exclusively from men of Medina County's western townships; 40 Spencer Township men enlist in a single day, train at Camp Cleveland, and go on to fight at Pickett's Mill and Chattanooga.
5. 1891 — The Northern Ohio Railroad extends its line through Spencer, killing the neighboring village of River Corners outright while spurring growth in Spencer itself at the junction of two railroads; N.E. Fuller and J.H. Firestone build a grain elevator there.
6. 1900 — Jacob Firestone founds the Farmers Savings Bank in Spencer, a privately held bank that continues operating into the present.
7. 1960s — The State of Ohio builds a 618-acre wildlife area in Spencer Township.

Stories

A Township Named for a Schoolhouse Deal

Spencer Township very nearly became Marshfield, or perhaps Marshtown -- both names were floated to honor the township's first settler when it organized in 1832. Instead, mill owner Calvin Spencer made settlers an offer they apparently couldn't refuse: name the township after him, and he would put up $500 worth of lumber toward building a schoolhouse. The deal held, and the township that carries his name today was, for its first seven years, technically part of Lorain County rather than Medina, not joining its current county until 1839. What Spencer's mills started, a railroad finished six decades later: when the Northern Ohio Railroad extended its line through the area in 1891, it built up Spencer at the crossing of two rail lines -- prompting a grain elevator and steady growth -- while simultaneously wiping out the neighboring village of River Corners, which had no such advantage of geography.

Forty Men in a Day

When Company B of the 124th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry formed in Spencer in 1862, it drew almost exclusively from Medina County's western townships -- and the township's own response was immediate: 40 Spencer Township men enlisted in a single day. The company trained at Camp Cleveland before marching into some of the war's harder fighting, engaging at the Battle of Pickett's Mill in Georgia and in the Chattanooga campaign. For a small farm township that had only recently settled a dispute over its own name, sending 40 men off to war in one day was a remarkable mobilization, and a measure of how deeply the Union cause had taken hold even in Medina County's most rural corners.

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

Lake Erie, drawn through two separate offshore intakes serving the Lake Road filtration plant The water here

• Rural Lorain Co. Water A55% of residentsMostly Lake Erie (bought from Avon Lake); some New London Reservoir and Ashland wells
• Medina Co/northwest26% of residentsLake Erie
• Spencer, Village Of17% of residentsLake Erie
• Wellington Village2% of residentsCharlemont Creek, via Wellington Upground Reservoir
• Pheasant Run Association0% of residentsLake Erie

Bridges rated poor (1)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 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.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-09-03

Cite this page