Wren

How Wren began

Wren was established in 1883 in the northwest corner of Willshire Township, when a store was built there and a post office opened the same year. Grain merchant J. L. Moser, who ran the local elevator business and helped organize the Bank of Wren in 1904, was remembered by the county's 1906 historian as being, 'in a way, the father' of the village. Wren grew steadily into the early 20th century, peaked at 314 residents in 1920, and has declined gradually since, standing at 165 in the 2020 census.

Settled 1883.

Where the name comes from

The origin of the name Wren is not recorded.

Before the town

No Native village, mound or treaty site specific to Wren is recorded. The village's own documented history begins with its 1883 founding, six decades after the 1818 land cession and more than four decades after the last documented Native residents left the county's area.

Timeline

1. 1864 — James Dudley arrives at the site of Wren and settles on a farm in Harrison Township three miles north of the later village, according to the biography of his son Jasper in the 1906 county history.
2. 1883 — A post office opens at Wren under the village's name.
3. 1883 — J. L. Moser comes to Wren and erects the first building in the village, a combined dwelling and store, trading as J. L. Moser & Company for about eight years.
4. 1887 — Moser builds his house in Wren, remodelled in 1902; the county historian called him in a way the father of the village.
5. 1897 — Jasper Dudley moves to Wren and for about four years runs a grocery with Peter Herl as Herl & Dudley; he later serves as mayor and village clerk.
6. 1901 — Dudley & Company, an elevator business formed by Jasper Dudley with J. L. and Nelson Moser, W. B. Frysinger and Fred Gehres, is organised in Wren.
7. 1904 — The Bank of Wren begins business in a purpose-built bank building; grain merchant J. L. Moser, one of the bank's main organizers, becomes its president.
8. 1905 — J. L. Moser erects a cement-block business building in the village, part of a wave of early-20th-century construction the county's 1906 historian credited largely to Moser's initiative.
9. 1906 — The county history records a United Brethren church and a Wren Telephone Company at Wren, and John K. Wagers, who came to Wren in 1899, is serving a second term as mayor.
10. 1920 — Wren records its historical peak population of 314.
11. 2000 — The census counts 199 residents in Wren.
12. 2010 — The census counts 194 residents in Wren.
13. 2020 — The U.S. Census records 165 residents in Wren.

Stories

The man they called, in a way, the father of the village

J. L. Moser came to Wren already an experienced merchant, having run a general mercantile business under his own name for eight years before turning to the grain trade. By the time the county's 1906 history was compiled, his hand was in nearly everything that made Wren function: he held an interest in the Dudley & Company grain elevator in the village itself, plus two more elevators at nearby Glenmore under a different partnership, and a produce company across the state line in Decatur, Indiana, run by his own son. He helped organize the Bank of Wren, which opened for business in 1904 in a building put up for the purpose, and served as its president; he built a cement-block business block of his own the following year; and he held interests in the local telephone company he had also helped organize. The county historian, cataloging all this, landed on a single description that captured it better than any list of business interests could: Moser was, 'in a way, the father' of Wren -- not its founder in the formal sense, since the village predates his arrival, but the man whose money and organizing energy had built most of what made it a functioning town rather than just a rail stop with a store.

The first building in Wren

In 1883 J. L. Moser, a former teacher who had schooled in Van Wert County and Indiana, came to the crossroads that became Wren and put up the first building in the village, a house and store combined. For about eight years he kept a general store as J. L. Moser & Company, then went into the produce trade, and by 1906 he was president of the Bank of Wren, which began business in 1904 in a bank building put up for the purpose. He also owned interests in grain elevators at Wren and Glenmore, helped organise the local telephone company, and in 1905 put up a cement-block business building. The county historian wrote that Moser was in a way the father of the village.

Photographs

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

Groundwater wells (2 wells) The water here

• Willshire Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Public libraries (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2020: 2 of 2 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.
• Basic Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-09-30

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