Trimble Township, Athens County

How Trimble Township, Athens County began

Trimble Township sits at the extreme northern edge of Athens County, the only township in the county that borders Perry County, and was organized in April 1827 out of Ames Township, named for Ohio governor Allen Trimble. Its first white settlers, Solomon Tuttle Sr. and his son and brother, arrived from Vermont in 1802 along Sunday Creek, which runs the length of the township and gave its name to the coal seam that later defined the area. Three villages grew along the creek during the coal boom — Glouster (covered separately), Trimble (originally platted as Oxford), and Jacksonville, laid out in 1879 by Oliver D. Jackson — all of which peaked in population between 1910 and 1920 and have declined steadily since the mines closed. The lower reaches of Sunday Creek remain scarred by acid mine drainage from that era.

Settled 1802, by Solomon Tuttle Sr. with his son Cyrus and brother Nial, from Vermont, incorporated organized as a township in April 1827, separated from Ames Township.

Where the name comes from

Named for Allen Trimble, Governor of Ohio; it is the only Trimble Township in the state.

Before the town

No Native American sites, trails, or villages specific to Trimble Township have been found in the sources searched. The 1881-83 Athens County history records the Shawnee as occupying the broader Athens County region, and documents Adena/Hopewell-era mounds and an ancient earthwork on 'the Plains' in Athens and Dover townships — both south of Trimble Township and not evidence of a Trimble Township presence. Nothing site-specific to Trimble Township, Glouster, Trimble village, or Jacksonville was located. The county-wide record includes the Wyandot, Shawnee, Mingo, and Delaware presence and the treaty cessions covering the county.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee.

Timeline

1. 1802 — Solomon Tuttle Sr., his son Cyrus Tuttle, and his brother Nial Tuttle, all from Vermont, become the township's first white settlers, taking up land along Sunday Creek.
2. 1820 — William Bagley builds the township's first mill, a cloth-dressing factory and flour mill; his son Samuel opens the first tannery around the same time.
3. 1825 — Jonathan Watkins builds a mill at the settlement of Oxford, later renamed Trimble.
4. 1827 — Trimble Township is organized in April, separated from Ames Township, and named for Governor Allen Trimble.
5. 1839 — A post office begins continuous operation at the village of Trimble (formerly Oxford).
6. 1879 — Jacksonville is laid out by Oliver D. Jackson, for whom it is named, and grows around coal mining and small business on Sunday Creek.
7. 1882 — Coal shipping begins from mines near Glouster; a 60-acre village is platted there under the name Sedalia (renamed Glouster in 1886).
8. 1884 — A post office is established at Jacksonville; it continues operating in the present day.
9. 1910 — Jacksonville records its peak population, 1,285, at the height of the Sunday Creek coal boom.
10. 1920 — The village of Trimble records its peak population, 806.
11. 1997 — An Ohio EPA study finds the lowermost thirteen miles of Sunday Creek 'irretrievably damaged to the extent that no appreciable aquatic life can be supported,' a result of acid mine drainage from the valley's abandoned coal mines.

Stories

Three villages, one creek, one coal seam

Trimble Township's three villages all grew directly out of Sunday Creek's coal. Trimble itself began as Oxford, platted in the early 1800s and renamed for Governor Allen Trimble; its post office has run continuously since 1839. Jacksonville, to the south, was laid out in 1879 by Oliver D. Jackson and grew around the coal mines that lined the creek, its population climbing to 1,285 by 1910 as families walked or rode the rails to nearby shafts. Glouster, to the north, came together fastest of all: platted in 1882 the same month coal shipping began, renamed from Sedalia within four years, and swollen by 1920 to over 3,000 residents. All three peaked between 1910 and 1920 and have been losing population ever since, the common arc of the Hocking Valley coalfield.

What the mines left in the creek

Sunday Creek runs the length of Trimble Township and gave its name to the coal seam that built Glouster, Trimble, and Jacksonville. When the deep mines and strip pits shut down, they left behind exposed sulfide minerals that react with air and water to produce sulfuric acid, and that acid mine drainage has never stopped draining into the creek. By 1997 the Ohio EPA judged the lowest thirteen miles of Sunday Creek 'irretrievably damaged,' too acidic to support fish or the insects fish feed on; the orange-stained creek bed below Glouster is the visible residue of iron oxide precipitating out of the drainage. The nonprofit Rural Action and the Sunday Creek Watershed Group have worked on abatement projects in the watershed since at least 2012, but the lower creek remains one of the most heavily mine-damaged streams in the state.

Photographs

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

Every historic place in Athens County on the full map

Mostly private wells The water here

• Glouster Public Water System84% of residentsHocking River Buried Valley Aquifer (wells)
• Sunday Creek Valley Water14% of residentsHocking River Buried Valley Aquifer (wells)
• Jacksonville Village1% of residentsHocking River Buried Valley Aquifer (wells)
• Trimble Village1% of residentsHocking River Buried Valley Aquifer (wells)
• Southern Perry Co-irish Ridge0% of residentsHocking River Buried Valley Aquifer (wells)

High-hazard dams (1)

Public schools (2)

Bridges rated poor (3)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2020: 3 of 3 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, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-07-10

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