Union Township, Warren County

How Union Township, Warren County began

Union Township, the smallest in Warren County, was organized January 3, 1815 from parts of Turtlecreek and Deerfield townships, taking its name from that merger. It holds the oldest documented settlement in the county: Deerfield, founded on the Little Miami River around 1795-97 and platted in 1802 by Maj. Benjamin Stites, his son, and John Gano, which renamed itself South Lebanon in 1854. Fortified stations along the river protected the earliest settlers during the last years of conflict before the 1795 Treaty of Greenville. By the late 19th century two large powder manufacturers, James Wilson's company and Ahimaaz King's Great Western Powder Company, faced each other across the Little Miami here, and Wilson's firm helped fund the 1907 township hall that still stands in South Lebanon.

Settled c. 1795-1797 (Deerfield), platted 1802 (Deerfield), incorporated 1815-01-03, by organized from Turtlecreek and Deerfield townships by Warren County commissioners.

Where the name comes from

The township was named Union to mark its formation from the union of parts of two existing townships, Turtlecreek and Deerfield, in 1815.

Before the town

Union Township's own early record touches Native conflict directly rather than only in general terms: the 1882 county history describes fortified settler stations — Cavolt's, Gerard's, and Clemens' — built along the Little Miami near Deerfield to defend against Native attack in the last years before the Treaty of Greenville, and notes, without elaboration, that some residents also hunted the retreating Native population for bounty during that period. No mound, earthwork, or named Native village or trail within the township's own boundaries is recorded in the sources checked. The whole township lies within the Symmes Purchase; the Miami people held this land without, so far as the sources checked show, a documented permanent town inside what became Warren County. The Treaty of Greenville (August 3, 1795), following Gen. Anthony Wayne's victory at Fallen Timbers, ended the conflict and opened the area to settlement the same period Deerfield was founded. See the county file for more of the county's Native history.

Nations recorded here: Miami, Shawnee.

Timeline

1. c. 1795-1797 — Deerfield, the future South Lebanon, was settled on the Little Miami River by Gen. David Sutton, Capt. Nathan Kelly, Andrew Lytle, and others; nearby fortified stations at Cavolt's, Gerard's, and Clemens' protected the settlement during the last years of conflict before the Treaty of Greenville.
2. 1798-08-09 — Rev. John Kobler preached the first ordained Methodist sermon in Warren County at Deerfield.
3. 1802 — Maj. Benjamin Stites, his son Benjamin Jr., and John Gano formally platted and recorded the village of Deerfield.
4. 1815-01-03 — Warren County organized Union Township from parts of Turtlecreek and Deerfield townships.
5. 1828 — A post office was established under the name Deerfield Village.
6. 1854 — The village of Deerfield changed its name to South Lebanon.
7. 1860 — Nine sections in the eastern part of Union Township, north of the Little Miami, were transferred to Salem Township.
8. 1871 — The South Lebanon post office's name was formally changed from Deerfield Village to South Lebanon, completing the switch begun in 1854.
9. c. 1907 — The Union Township Hall was built in South Lebanon on a lot sold and partly donated by the Wilson and Sons manufacturing company, which held the patent on a double-seamed powder keg.
10. 2020 — The U.S. Census recorded 6,251 residents in Union Township.

Stories

Deerfield Becomes South Lebanon

The oldest documented town in Warren County began on the Little Miami River as Deerfield, settled around 1795-97 and formally platted in 1802 by Maj. Benjamin Stites, his son Benjamin Jr., and John Gano. In its first years Deerfield served as a gathering point where settler families stayed while the men worked to establish farms in the surrounding countryside, and it was here, on August 9, 1798, that Rev. John Kobler preached the first ordained Methodist sermon recorded in the county. A post office opened in 1828 under the name Deerfield Village. In 1854 the village itself took the name South Lebanon, reflecting its position just south of the county seat, though the post office did not formally catch up to the new name until 1871. The Little Miami Railroad reached the town in the following decades, adding passenger and freight depots and side tracks by 1862 and cementing South Lebanon's role as a rail stop on the line linking the Ohio River to Lake Erie.

The Powder Men on the Little Miami

By the late nineteenth century, two of the region's largest manufacturers of their kind sat facing each other across the Little Miami River at the edge of Union Township. On the south bank stood the works of James Wilson and Sons, holders of the patent on a double-seamed powder keg; on the opposite bank, at Kings Mills in adjoining Deerfield Township, stood Ahimaaz King's Great Western Powder Company. Wilson and his son-in-law James T. McClelland served as Union Township trustees, and it was Wilson's company that sold the township the lot for its new town hall and donated part of the ground outright. The hall, built around 1907 in South Lebanon, became the center of township government and community life for decades afterward and still stands; a state historical marker recounting the two powder firms and the hall's founding was erected on the site in 2017.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · warren.ohgenweb.org · warren.ohgenweb.org · warren.ohgenweb.org · en.wikipedia.org · remarkableohio.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org

17 groundwater wells drawing from the Little Miami River buried valley (sand-and-gravel) aquifer along the river near Maineville, in southern Warren County The water here

• Warren County33% of residentsWells in the Little Miami and Great Miami river valley aquifers
• Western Water Company25% of residentsLittle Miami River valley wells (51%) plus Cincinnati Ohio River water (49%)
• Lebanon City24% of residentsOhio River + Great Miami Aquifer (via Cincinnati GCWW)
• South Lebanon City9% of residentsOhio River (Miller Plant, ~88%) plus Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer wells (~12%)
• Morrow Village7% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Warren Co. Pennyroyal Area2% of residentsGreat Miami Buried Valley Aquifer (own wells)
• Cincinnati Public Water System1% of residentsOhio River (Miller Plant, ~88%) plus Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer wells (~12%)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (4)

Money issues on the ballot since 2017: 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.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-08-26

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