Washington Township, Darke County

How Washington Township, Darke County began

Washington Township was organized in March 1819 in western Darke County, on the Indiana border, originally covering the ground now split between it and German Township, which was set off in 1834. Brothers Martin and Jacob Cox, from Pennsylvania, settled on Greenville Creek on October 16, 1816, becoming the township's first residents; their era's Native inhabitants were, by the 1880 county history's account, still present and friendly, calling at settlers' cabins for food. The unincorporated hamlet of Hill Grove, laid out in 1818, remains its only village.

Settled 1816-10-16 (Martin and Jacob Cox), incorporated 1819-03, by Darke County's organizing government; originally included the territory later split off as German Township (1834).

Where the name comes from

Named for George Washington, following a naming pattern repeated in forty-three townships across Ohio.

Before the town

The 1880 county history states directly that Washington Township's first white settlers did not find the land vacated: 'it would not be true to say that these first settlers found the country just as the red man left it, for he had not gone. He was friendly, molesting neither man nor beast, and frequently called at the cabin door for food.' No named village, trail, or site specific to the township is otherwise documented in the sources checked. The township sits on Darke County's western edge along the Indiana border, part of the broader homeland ceded under the 1795 Treaty of Greenville.

Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Miami.

Timeline

1. 1816-10-16 — Martin and Jacob Cox, brothers from Pennsylvania, settle on the right bank of Greenville Creek, on Sections 13 and 14, becoming the township's first residents.
2. 1817-04-20 — Jane Cole, daughter of settler Samuel Cole, is born on Section 27, the first white child born within the township.
3. 1818 — W. McKee lays out the village of Hill Grove at the northwest corner of Section 4; the same year, families from New Jersey form the 'Jersey settlement' in the township's west.
4. 1819 — The Hiller Church, a Methodist Episcopal congregation on Section 36, is built by volunteer labor and free to all worshippers -- traditionally remembered as the first church built anywhere in Darke County; the same year, Washington Township is formally organized.
5. 1823 — John Clapp builds the township's first gristmill on the second branch of Greenville Creek, constructed largely by volunteer labor.
6. 1832 — David Clapp begins building a flouring mill on the second branch; that winter's severe cold freezes the mill, and a day's grinding by three men yields only half a bushel of cornmeal, shared among their families.
7. 1834 — The township's southern portion is split off and organized as German Township.

Stories

Two mill towns that never were

Not every 19th-century plat in Washington Township took hold. The 1880 county history recalls an early rivalry for 'village notoriety' between a place called Nashville and the settlement that became Hill Grove -- Nashville lost, and by 1880 not a single building remained to mark where it had stood. A third attempt, a village called Colona laid out on the old State road, bloomed and vanished so completely that, the historian notes, 'few, if any, of the citizens of the township in 1880 remember or ever knew that the village of Colona ever had existence.' Both failed plats had offered travelers on the State road a halting place for food and rest -- a business model that could not survive once real village life took root a few miles away at Hill Grove instead.

A country not yet vacated

The 1880 county history is unusually direct about what Washington Township's first settlers actually found in 1816: not empty land, but a country where Native people were still present. 'It would not be true to say that these first settlers found the country just as the red man left it, for he had not gone,' the account states, describing Native visitors as friendly, harming neither people nor livestock, and coming to cabin doors to ask for food. The passage offers no names, villages, or further detail, but it is a rare acknowledgment, in a county history otherwise focused on settlement, that the frontier period was one of overlap rather than a clean handoff of empty ground.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Greenville City71% of residentsGreenville Creek (primary, ~78%) blended with 8 wells
• Union City Village27% of residentsLocal groundwater wells (Randolph County, IN)
• A and R Union City Park MHP1% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)
• Sherwood Forest MHP1% of residentsGroundwater wells (1 wells)
• Northtowne Communities Llc0% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Money issues on the ballot since 2023: 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, 2023 to 2024, released 2026-01-27

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