Wharton

How Wharton began

Wharton, originally platted as Whartonsburg in 1848 by Samuel Rathbun in Richland Township, grew up as a station on the Cincinnati, Sandusky & Cleveland Railroad. N. De Pew built the first house and James E. James, the village's first Postmaster, opened the first store. A post office opened in 1852 as 'Whartonsburgh,' and the name was shortened to Wharton in 1879. The village's population peaked at 485 in 1910 and has since declined.

Settled 1848, platted 1848, by Samuel Rathbun, who platted the town; N. De Pew built the first house.

Where the name comes from

Named in honor of an early settler surnamed Wharton (per Wikipedia); originally platted as 'Whartonsburg' by Samuel Rathbun in 1848 and shortened to Wharton in 1879. The 1884 county history, which names the platter and first settlers, does not itself explain the 'Wharton' name.

Before the town

No Wyandot village, trail, or treaty-cession site specific to the Wharton townsite is documented, but the 1884 county history records an old Indian burying ground on an island in the Potato Creek Swamp and two ancient mounds (in Sections 14 and 23) elsewhere in Richland Township, and notes that flint arrowheads had been found across the township.

Nations recorded here: Wyandot.

• Potato Creek Swamp Indian burying ground (burial) — on an island in the Potato Creek Swamp, Richland Township, undated, precontact or early historic (archive.org)
• Richland Township mounds (mound) — northwest quarter of Section 14 and northeast quarter of Section 23, Richland Township, undated (archive.org)

Timeline

1. 1835 — Richland Township, in which Wharton lies, was organized; the 1884 county history records that pioneers Conrad Wickiser and Charles Smith chose the name after a breaking log-chain tore up a spice bush on April 4, 1835 and exposed unusually rich soil.
2. 1848 — Samuel Rathbun laid out the town of Whartonsburg; N. De Pew built the first house and James E. James opened the first store and became the first Postmaster.
3. 1852 — A post office opened under the name Whartonsburgh.
4. 1852 — The first church in Richland Township, a hewn-log Methodist Episcopal building 24 by 30 feet on Section 28, is built, the nearest church to the future village.
5. 1854 — The Star Bethel Church of God holds its first meeting in the fall in the Morrison Schoolhouse in Richland Township, with eleven members; its first church building, a wooden one, is built in 1876 for $1,200.
6. 1855 — John and George Sterling built Whartonsburg's first grist mill; they added the town's first saw mill in 1858.
7. 1879 — The village's name was shortened from Whartonsburg to Wharton.
8. 1880 — Wharton has 399 residents.
9. 1884 — Whartonsburg has two brick school buildings, one of Richland Township's ten, and a station on the Cincinnati, Sandusky & Cleveland Railway, which runs through the center of the township; Richland Township, including the town, has 1,676 residents in 1880, up 405 in a decade.
10. 1900 — The census counts 439 residents in Wharton, and 485 in 1910, the peak.
11. 1910 — The village reached its peak recorded population of 485.
12. 2020 — The 2020 census counts 328 residents in Wharton.

Stories

How Richland got its name

The 1884 county history tells how Richland Township, in which Wharton lies, got its name. On April 4, 1835, two pioneers, Conrad Wickiser and Charles Smith, were logging in the northwest quarter of Section 21 when the chain they were using broke and tangled in a spice bush, tearing it up by the roots and exposing a soil that looked rich and promising. They resolved that the newly created township should be called Richland, and the name stuck. The first election was held two days later, on April 6, 1835, at James Duddleson's house with thirteen votes; the first school, taught by Charles Smith in a 16 by 20 foot round-log building on Section 17, opened that winter; and the first sermon was preached on June 28, 1835. Whartonsburg itself was laid out in 1848, and the township's first grist mill was built there in 1855 by John and George Sterling.

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

No water-system data is linked to Wharton's ZIP codes yet.

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2020: 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 2025-08-12

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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