Troy Township, Morrow County

How Troy Township, Morrow County began

Troy Township sits in the northeastern corner of Morrow County, on the Richland County line, and is one of seven townships named Troy in Ohio. It is a small township (14.7 square miles) with no incorporated village of its own; its best-known landmark today is the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, built on the site of the former Steam Corners/Jugs Corners crossroads community.

Where the name comes from

No township-specific naming account was found; the article notes it is one of seven Troy Townships in Ohio, a common name statewide.

Before the town

The 1911 county history records that when the first settlers came to Troy Township, Indians were in possession of the region: a number of lodges or camps, identified as belonging to the Wyandot and Mohawk, stood along the Mohican, with six or eight camps in sight of pioneer Noah Cook's cabin alone and about the same number on the southeast quarter of section 13. On the banks of Isaac's Run there was an Indian village; the people there did not cultivate the soil but lived by hunting, their chief articles of trade being venison, cranberries and wooden wares, and the encampment lay on a travel route running from Sandusky southward. They finally left the locality about 1826. The same source records a circular mound about twenty-five to thirty feet in diameter on section 7, its contents never investigated. The township lies in the extreme northeast of the county, well north of the Greenville Treaty line of 1795 (which crosses the county at Cardington), so the 1795 treaty did not itself cede this ground; the later cession that opened it for sale before the 1811 first land entry is not identified in the sources checked.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot, Mohawk.

• Isaac's Run village (village) — banks of Isaac's Run, Troy Township, until about 1826 (archive.org)
• Section 7 mound (mound) — section 7, Troy Township, unknown (Mound Builder era) (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 20th c. — The unincorporated community of Steam Corners, in the central-western part of the township, becomes the site of the township hall.
2. 1811 — William Gass, a native of Pennsylvania, enters the first piece of land in Troy Township (the west half of section 12), when government land sold at two dollars an acre.
3. 1812 — Amariah Watson and Elisha Robins bring their families to Troy Township in the spring and occupy log cabins, the first families to settle permanently; William Gass follows with his two eldest sons, building a cabin within a week before returning to Knox County for the rest of his family. Calvin Culler, Wesley Spratt and Francis Mitchell also settle that year -- the only families in the township before 1814.
4. 1814 — A wave of immigration reaches the township, including Noah 'Uncle Noah' Cook, a Presbyterian who organizes the township's first prayer meeting -- worshiping alone the first time, to a growing congregation within weeks.
5. 1814 — Perrin's 1880 history names Aaron Young, from New Jersey, as the first white man to build a cabin in the township, on the North Fork of the Mohican, 'as early as 1814-15'; Baughman gives William Gass's land entry of 1811 and the families of Watson and Robins in 1812, and the two accounts disagree.
6. 1815 — George Mitchell, a bachelor who died at twenty-eight, builds the township's first water-powered saw mill and grist mill, in a cabin with no floor or chimney.
7. 1832 — A post office named McEwen's Cross Roads opens in the township; it closes in 1864.
8. 1848 — Morrow County is organized from parts of Delaware, Marion, Knox and Richland counties; Troy Township becomes part of the new county, with a 'jog' in its east line restored to Richland County after an 1848-49 petition by dissatisfied residents.
9. 1855 — The United Brethren congregation, organized earlier at member Jacob Haldeman's house, builds its second house of worship, Emanuel church, a substantial frame building.
10. 1865-67 — The Steam Corners post office opens, named for the steam-powered sawmill there; Baughman gives 1867 with Mr. Rowalt as first postmaster, replacing an earlier office known as 'John McEwen's Cross Roads' near the Buckhorn school house, while Perrin and the postal listing give 1865.
11. 1870 — The census counts 696 residents in the township.
12. 1962 — The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course opens on Steam Corners Road.

Stories

A crossroads community becomes a racetrack

Where a rural crossroads called Jugs Corners once stood, in the northeastern corner of Morrow County near the Richland County line, a road-racing circuit now draws visitors from across the country. The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course sits on Steam Corners Road, and it remains Troy Township's most recognizable landmark by far, though the township itself is otherwise a small, sparsely populated area with no incorporated village.

Uncle Noah prays alone, and the settlement follows

Among the settlers who arrived in the spring of 1814, Noah Cook -- 'Uncle Noah' to his many descendants -- stood out for his piety. A Presbyterian, he set out to hold the township's first prayer meeting, announcing a time and place to whoever would listen. When the hour came, Cook was the only one present. Rather than give up, he worshiped alone: singing, praying, and reading a sermon to an empty room, while curious neighbors peered through the window and went on their way without joining him. Word spread regardless, and at his next appointed meeting a few days later, a large company gathered. From that single stubborn service, the county history records, the township's religious life grew steadily until Troy Township became known for its morality and good order.

Wyandot and Mohawk camps along the Mohican

When the first permanent settlers reached Troy Township in 1811-12, the valley of the North Fork of the Mohican was still Indian country. Six or eight camps, identified in the county history as Wyandot and Mohawk, stood within sight of Noah Cook's cabin, and about as many more on the southeast quarter of section 13. On the banks of Isaac's Run stood an actual village, its people living by hunting rather than farming, trading venison, cranberries and wooden wares along a route that ran south from Sandusky. The encampments held on for over a decade after the first cabins went up, finally disappearing from the township around 1826 -- a reminder of how gradually, not suddenly, the frontier here actually closed.

The worst boys in Troy who became a bishop

Perrin's 1880 township chapter has a tale about the sons of James Harris, a New Yorker related to the Youngs. The county historian says both boys, Biram and the younger 'Logue,' were remembered as very bad boys; they were birched at school nearly every day, and as young men made a practice of going to church to raise a disturbance. A lady related to the family told how Logan, a large boy kept waiting for the second table at dinner, anxiously asked his mother, 'Mam, have they eat all the beans?' It was at a camp meeting, where he is said to have gone with the declared intention of breaking it up, that Logan was converted. From then on he changed, and by 1880 he was, in Perrin's words, 'one of the big guns' of the Methodist Church and one of its ablest bishops. Perrin suggests that Edward Eggleston may have found some of his characters in The Circuit Rider among the Harrises.

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

Groundwater wells (3 wells) The water here

• Mansfield City51% of residentsClear Fork Reservoir (Clear Fork of the Mohican River), plus 9 city wells
• Lexington Village36% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Ontario City4% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Walnut Hills Water Association3% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Cedar Creek MHP1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Aqua Ohio - Mansfield System #021% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Lakeview Estates MHP1% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Eastview Community Water Association1% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Aqua Ohio - Mansfield System #031% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)
• Madison Water District0% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Hanley Village Water Association0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Aqua Ohio - Mansfield System #080% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)
• M & H MHP, Llc0% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)
• Hanley Acres Water Association0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Willow Park Water Association0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
• Hillside MHP0% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2015: 1 of 1 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.
• Financial Audit, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-09-03
• Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2025-05-27

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