Weston

How Weston began

Weston grew up around a sawmill Thomas Taylor built in 1854, though his original 1853 town plat, surveyed by Sylvanus Jefferson, was recorded under the name Westfield rather than Weston itself. The settlement picked up nicknames as fast as buildings -- Westfield, New Westfield after an 1860 replat, and Taylortown after neighbors literally nailed that name to the mill in 1854 -- before settling on Weston, taken from the surrounding township, when the post office changed its name in 1863. The village incorporated in 1873.

Settled 1850 (first buildings on the future townsite), platted October 5, 1853, by Thomas Taylor, surveyed by Sylvanus Jefferson, as a 31-lot plat named Westfield; replatted with 32 more lots by railroad surveyor Eli Bruner in 1860 as New Westfield, incorporated village, 1873, by Thomas Taylor.

Where the name comes from

The village went through several names before settling on Weston. Thomas Taylor's original 1853 plat was recorded as Westfield; an 1860 replat renamed it New Westfield; and in between, neighbors nailed a board reading 'Taylortown' to Taylor's sawmill in May 1854, giving the growing settlement yet another informal name. The post office adopted the name Weston, taken from Weston Township, in 1863, and the village followed suit.

Before the town

No mound, earthwork or named Native village specific to Weston was found in any source consulted; the county's own 1897 history states that no such evidence exists anywhere in Wood County.

Nations recorded here: Ottawa.

Timeline

1. 1853-10-05 — Thomas Taylor lays out a 31-lot town plat, surveyed by Sylvanus Jefferson, recorded under the name Westfield.
2. 1854-05 — Jonathan Crom, holding the railroad construction contract for the first mile of track in Weston township, buys a lot from Taylor and builds and moves into a house the same day; that evening neighbors nail a board reading 'Taylortown' to the sawmill.
3. 1854 — Taylor's sawmill begins operating, which the county's own historian treats as the true start of the village; Levi Taylor opens a general store and Dr. W. M. Bell reportedly builds the first frame house the same year.
4. 1856 — A post office named New Westfield is established.
5. 1860 — Railroad surveyor Eli Bruner replats the town, adding 32 more lots to Taylor's original 31 and recording the plat as New Westfield.
6. 1863 — The post office is renamed Weston, after Weston Township, and the village later takes the same name.
7. 1873 — Weston is incorporated as a village.

Stories

A town nailed to its own sawmill

Weston did not settle on its name so much as accumulate one. Thomas Taylor's 1853 survey put thirty-one lots on paper under the name Westfield, but almost nothing was built there until May 1854, when Jonathan Crom -- who held the contract to grade the first mile of a new railroad through the township -- walked into Taylor's sawmill wanting lumber to build a house that same day. Taylor stepped off a lot across from Baldwin's hotel, sold it to Crom, and by evening Crom had a sawed frame, a finished house, and his family moved in. That night, two other settlers, Covert and William Taylor, painted the word 'Taylortown' on a board and nailed it to the sawmill, giving the barely-built village another name on top of the one already recorded at the courthouse. An 1860 railroad survey added more lots and rebranded the place New Westfield; only in 1863, when the post office took the name of the surrounding township instead, did the settlement finally become simply Weston.

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

Mostly private wells The water here

• Northwestern W and SD - Weston100% of residentsMaumee River (via Bowling Green Reservoir)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Public libraries (1)

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, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-09-17

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

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