Vinton Township, Vinton County

How Vinton Township, Vinton County began

Vinton Township, southeast of the county seat, was settled before 1825 by families including the Phitsler (or Entsler), Pierce, Mark, Mas, Althus and Read households, and drew its oldest settler, John Booth, from Harrison County, Virginia in 1811. Two water-powered mills defined its early economy: a pioneer gristmill built by miller Stephen Aiken in the early 1830s, burned and rebuilt in 1864, and Vale's Mill, built by Gabriel Bowen in 1839 and still grinding grain in the 1880s under a nephew of a later owner. The railroad-era settlements of Radcliff's Station and Eagle Furnace grew up along the Cincinnati, Washington and Baltimore line in the township's south and west. It also holds the Eakin Mill Covered Bridge, built in 1870 by the McArthur firm Gilman and Ward to carry road traffic over Big Raccoon Creek near Arbaugh, over-built with extra king posts to handle heavy traffic from a nearby gristmill, and still standing in its original location today.

Settled 1811, by John Booth, the township's oldest recorded settler, arriving from Harrison County, Virginia.

Where the name comes from

Named, like the county itself, for Samuel Finley Vinton, the Ohio congressman for whom the county was also named; not confirmed by a source specific to the township's own naming, but consistent with the pattern of Ohio townships sharing their parent county's name.

Before the town

No Native American site or village specific to Vinton Township was found in the sources checked.

Timeline

1. before 1825 — Early settlers George Phitsler (also recorded as Entsler), William Pierce, William Mark, Paul Mas, Royal B. Althus and James Read locate in the township.
2. 1811 — John Booth, later the township's longest-lived settler, arrives from Harrison County, Virginia, and eventually resides at Radcliff's Station.
3. 1826-1827 — Jonathan Radcliff, Jonathan Blair and miller Stephen Aiken settle in the township.
4. 1827 — The township's first school opens on fractional section 19, near its first cemetery.
5. early 1830s — Stephen Aiken builds the township's pioneer gristmill on Raccoon Creek; it burns and is rebuilt in 1864, and is purchased in 1879 by Henry Gear.
6. 1839 — Gabriel Bowen builds Vale's Mill on Raccoon Creek; it later passes to James Hawk, then Samuel Vale, then Samuel's nephew John Q. A. Vale, who also serves as postmaster at the mill.
7. 1870 — Gilman and Ward, a McArthur contracting firm, build the Eakin Mill Covered Bridge over Big Raccoon Creek near Arbaugh, adding extra king posts to bear heavy gristmill traffic.
8. 1880 — Radcliff's Station, built up since the railroad's arrival, gets its first store, opened by R. D. McManigal, and its post office is established about this year.
9. 1976-03-16 — The Eakin Mill Covered Bridge is added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Stories

A bridge built stronger than it needed to be

When the McArthur firm of Gilman and Ward raised a covered bridge over Big Raccoon Creek near Arbaugh in 1870, they built it heavier than an ordinary farm-road crossing required, doubling up on king posts because a working gristmill nearby sent a steady stream of loaded wagons across it. The bridge held stone abutments, a metal roof, and weatherboarded sides typical of the era, and it did its job for a century before modern trucks finally outgrew it. Closed to vehicle traffic and bypassed, the Eakin Mill Bridge nonetheless still stands in its original spot on Mound Hill Road, one of the county's surviving 19th-century covered bridges and a reminder of the mill trade that once justified over-building a small road bridge.

Two mills, two families, a century apart

Vinton Township's early economy ran on two water-powered mills on Raccoon Creek. Stephen Aiken, a miller by trade, built the older one in the early 1830s not long after he settled in the township; it burned at some point and was rebuilt in 1864, then changed hands to Henry Gear in 1879. A few miles off, Gabriel Bowen built what became known as Vale's Mill in 1839 and ran it for years before selling, not long before the Civil War, to James Hawk, who in turn sold to Samuel Vale. By the early 1880s the mill and its post office both belonged to John Q. A. Vale, Samuel's nephew, at a place that simply took the family name: Vale's Mill.

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

Every historic place in Vinton County on the full map

Groundwater wells (4 wells) The water here

• Leading Creek Conservancy District86% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
• Albany Village14% of residentsHocking River Valley aquifer (horizontal collector wells)
• Zaleski Village0% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)

Spills reported since 2021 (2)

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, 2019 to 2022, released 2025-07-10

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