Springfield Township, Williams County

How Springfield Township, Williams County began

Springfield Township, in the southeast corner of Williams County, holds what the county histories call the county's earliest settlement: James Guthrie is said to have settled on the Tiffin River (Bean Creek) about 1827, and Peter Knipe arrived in 1831. The township was organized on March 30, 1835. In 1832 John Stubbs of Tompkins County, New York, entered nearly 1,000 acres, and his family, his sons-in-law Jonathan B. Taylor and Harmon Doolittle, and the preacher Thomas J. Prettyman settled here the following spring. Until roads came, settlers brought supplies up the Tiffin by canoe and barge. The Air Line railroad produced the village of Stryker in 1853, and by 1920 the township was known for its farms, a boat-oar factory and Stryker's mineral water. It is one of eleven Springfield Townships in Ohio.

Settled c. 1827 (James Guthrie on Bean Creek, as claimed in the county histories); Peter Knipe 1831; Stubbs, Prettyman and Colgan families 1833, incorporated Organized as a township March 30, 1835; first election May 16, 1835, at the house of Sarah Luther.

Where the name comes from

Named Springfield, one of eleven Ohio townships sharing the name. None of the sources checked gives the reason for the choice. The 1905 county history notes that John H. Stubbs, son of the leading pioneer family, was born in Springfield, Tompkins County, New York, but it does not connect this to the township's name.

Before the town

No Native village, trail or mound in Springfield Township is recorded in the sources checked. The township's settlers depended on the Tiffin River (Bean Creek) as their route to Defiance. The 1882 county history tells of several canoe parties coming up Bean Creek in the summer of 1835 and stopping at Thomas J. Prettyman's cabin, but it does not say who they were. The land was opened by the 1817 Treaty of the Maumee Rapids cession.

Timeline

1. 1817 — The Treaty of the Maumee Rapids carries Indian title to this part of northwestern Ohio, including the future Springfield Township, to the United States.
2. c. 1827 — James Guthrie is said to settle on Bean Creek. If so, the county histories say, he was the first settler in the township and probably in the present county.
3. 1831 — In the spring, Peter Knipe settles on the southeast corner of Section 33 after four years near Brunersburg.
4. 1832 — John Stubbs sells his farm in Tompkins County, New York, and enters nearly 1,000 acres here. The Stubbs, Taylor and Doolittle families settle the next spring.
5. 1833 — In October, Rev. James B. Austin preaches in Daniel Colgan's cabin on Section 20, where a Methodist society of five members forms. The 1905 history calls it the first religious meeting in the present county.
6. 1833-1835 — Thomas J. Prettyman, a War of 1812 veteran and Methodist local preacher, preaches what the 1905 history calls probably the first sermon in the present county, at the funeral of a Miss Knipe, the first recorded death in the township.
7. 1834 — Short of food, settlers send Louis Clark and another young man to Cleveland for flour. They ship fifteen barrels by steamboat to Toledo, then by ox team and barge up the Maumee and Tiffin rivers, a trip of 120 miles.
8. 1835 — On March 30, Springfield is organized as a separate township, taken from Tiffin Township, with its jurisdiction first reaching to the Michigan line.
9. 1835 — At the first election, on May 16 at Sarah Luther's house, Jonathan B. Taylor is chosen clerk, and Bruce Packard, John Stubbs and Harmon Doolittle trustees. The treasurer, Thomas J. Prettyman, dies on July 28.
10. 1836 — Brady Township is set off on the north, and Springfield takes its present limits. Twelve electors vote in the April 4 election.
11. 1853 — In the fall, John A. Sargeant and E. L. Barber lay out Stryker along the Air Line railroad and name it for John Stryker, an officer of the railroad.
12. 1857 — Kingsland and Chase build a gristmill in the west part of Stryker, the first gristmill within the township's present limits.
13. 1865 — The Stryker Oil Well Company of Boston begins drilling at Stryker. By 1867 it reaches 860 feet without finding oil, but at 230 feet it strikes a flow of strongly mineralized water.
14. 1878 — County Ditch No. 17, which turns Owl Creek into a drain, is completed in the fall after a dispute between its supporters and opponents.
15. 1894 — Springfield Township (Town 6 North, Range 4 East), with Stryker and the Tiffin River, appears on sheet 10 of the Atlas of Williams County.
16. 1920 — The county history reports the Stryker Boat Oar Lumber Company has operated for fifty years using local ash timber, and says the largest sugar camp in the county is on the Coy farm along the Tiffin River.
17. 1989-08-07 — The Stryker Depot, in the village of Stryker within the township, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Stories

Flour by way of Cleveland

In the summer of 1834, settlers along the Tiffin River ran out of provisions and found none at Brunersburg. According to the 1905 county history, they held a council and sent Louis Clark, a young Massachusetts man who had just entered 160 acres, with one companion to Cleveland for flour. The two bought fifteen barrels at $10 to $12 a barrel and shipped them by steamboat to Toledo. From there the flour went by ox team to the river and then by barge up the Maumee and Tiffin to the settlement, 120 miles in all. At that time the nearest mill and market were seventy miles away by water, and corn was the only grain to be had. Clark later built up a farm of nearly 400 acres and served as the township's second trustee.

The bear in Prettyman's hog pen

Rev. Thomas J. Prettyman, a Methodist local preacher, settled on the north part of Section 29 in the spring of 1833. In the summer of 1835 several canoe parties coming up the creek stopped overnight at his cabin. After everyone had gone to bed, Prettyman heard his hogs in their pen on the creek bank and saw a large bear climb out. Sick and half delirious, he ran out barefoot and kicked the bear on the nose, and it growled and woke him fully. The visitors grabbed their guns and caught the bear climbing out with a young pig. It dropped the pig and escaped into the dark woods despite several shots. Prettyman died that July 28, while serving as the township's first treasurer.

An oil well that struck mineral water

In the spring of 1865 the Stryker Oil Well Company, organized in Boston, began drilling at Stryker under William Sheridan Jr., the village's first postmaster. They worked until 1867 and reached 860 feet without finding oil. At 230 feet, however, the drill had struck water heavily charged with minerals, which for years flowed from the well at regular intervals. In 1870 Silas H. Douglass of the University of Michigan analyzed it and found it rich in salt, magnesium and potash salts. Several attempts to interest investors in a large bathing hotel came to nothing, but by 1920 the county history listed mineral baths among Stryker's resources and noted a hospital there that drew invalids.

Photographs

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

Groundwater wells (2 wells) The water here

• Stryker Village61% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Brunersburg Wd - Evansport29% of residentsTiffin River (plus Brush Creek), stored in two reservoirs
• Bryan City7% of residentsMichindoh (Maumee) Glacial Aquifer, groundwater wells
• Archbold Village3% of residentsTiffin River (plus Brush Creek), stored in two reservoirs
• Aqua Ohio - Norlick0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Williams Co/hillside Country Living0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Oakwood MHP0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Spills reported since 2021 (4)

Who holds office

Roster as of 2026-07-06: county board of elections.

Money issues on the ballot since 2025: 1 of 1 passed.

Ballot issues

Auditor of State record

• No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-05-26
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-07-18

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