York Township, Athens County

How York Township, Athens County began

York Township, in the northwestern corner of Athens County, was part of Ames and then Dover Township until it was separately organized in June 1818. Nelsonville, laid out that same month and named for landowner Daniel Nelson, occupies the township's northern end (and is covered as its own unit); the village of Buchtel sits in the northeast corner, with the unincorporated community of Doanville nearby. The Hocking Canal, completed in 1843 from Carroll to Athens, crossed the township and gave Nelsonville's coal an outlet to Columbus and the wider Ohio and Erie Canal system before the railroad supplanted it in the 1870s. Like Nelsonville, the township's modern development was shaped by nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century coal mining in the Hocking Valley.

Incorporated 1818-06, by separately organized from Dover Township in June 1818; first election for township officers held at the house of Ebenezer Blackstone.

Where the name comes from

No source consulted documents the origin of the township's name.

Before the town

No source consulted documents a Native American village, mound, trail or treaty boundary specific to York Township. It lies in the Hocking Valley coal country of northwestern Athens County, in the same broader region where Adena/Hopewell mound-building activity and later Shawnee presence are documented at a county level (see Athens Township's Plains mounds); nothing site-specific to York Township itself was found.

Timeline

1. 1811 — The land that becomes York Township is organized as part of Dover Township, itself newly set off from Ames.
2. 1818-06 — York Township is separately organized; the first election for township officers is held at the house of Ebenezer Blackstone. Nelsonville is laid out the same month and named for Daniel Nelson, who owns the land it sits on.
3. 1820 — York Township has 341 inhabitants, 871 in 1830, 1,601 in 1840 and 1,391 in 1850.
4. 1821-03 — Solomon Roberts, a blacksmith, settles in Nelsonville, then fewer than half a dozen cabins and one frame house; local coal is not yet known to exist, so he hauls his own coal in from Minker's Run and Monday Creek.
5. 1821 — James Knight, born in Pulborough, England, settles in July and becomes Nelsonville's most active citizen and a longtime innkeeper; he dies on August 26, 1836, aged 47.
6. 1827 — The first bridge over the Hockhocking at Nelsonville is built, largely by James Knight and others on subscription paid partly in grain and labor; a second follows in 1832, with a bridge over Monday Creek three miles below.
7. 1832 — A group of English emigrants, including Captain Hale, Samuel Older, William Thaire, William Saunders and George Hook, arrives at Nelsonville on July 30; Knight's circular urging a canal down the valley goes out the same year.
8. 1838 — Nelsonville is incorporated by act of the legislature.
9. 1839 — The Hocking Canal is chartered, following a campaign that Nelsonville innkeeper James Knight helped launch with an 1832 circular; it is completed by 1843, giving York Township's coal and salt a route to Columbus.
10. 1839 — The first election of Nelsonville town officers is held April 27, with Charles Cable chosen mayor.
11. 1852 — L. D. Poston, who had come to Athens County in 1830, begins extensive coal operations at Nelsonville and eventually owns some of the township's most valuable coal lands.
12. 1869 — The county history describes Nelsonville as a thrifty town of 1,700 people, with the Hocking Valley Railroad about to open and the canal carrying the township's coal to market.
13. 1870s — The Hocking Valley Railway reaches the township, undercutting the Hocking Canal, which is abandoned by 1890.

Stories

Before the coal was known

When Solomon Roberts, a blacksmith from New York, settled in Nelsonville in March 1821, the future coal town had fewer than half a dozen cabins and a single frame house — and no one yet knew coal existed there in workable quantity. Roberts, needing fuel for his forge, hauled his coal in from Minker's Run and Monday Creek for years before Nelsonville's own seams were discovered. Once they were, samples were sent by wagon to Lancaster and Circleville for blacksmiths to test, and the quality won approval well before the Hocking Canal, completed in 1843, gave York Township's coal a cheap way to reach Columbus and the wider canal network — the beginning of the trade that would make York Township, and Nelsonville within it, a center of the Hocking Valley coalfield for the rest of the century.

James Knight and the Hocking Valley canal

James Knight came from Pulborough, England, at thirty-two and settled at Nelsonville in July 1821. He kept public house for years and was known for sharing information about the Hockhocking valley with travelers. He helped build the first bridge over the river in 1827, a second in 1832 and a bridge over Monday Creek, mostly on subscription paid in grain and labor, and after his death in 1836 the original subscription papers, plans and contracts were found in perfect order among his papers. In 1832 he wrote at others' request a circular urging an immediate canal from Lancaster to the Ohio, which went to leading men across southern Ohio and contributed to the chartering of the Hocking Valley canal in spring 1839.

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

Groundwater wells (3 wells) The water here

• Nelsonville99% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
• Carbon Hill Water Association1% of residentsHocking River Buried Valley Aquifer (wells)

Community health centers (1)

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Museums, historical societies, gardens and zoos (1)

Facilities reporting toxic releases (1)

Stations and terminals (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (3)

Money issues on the ballot since 2020: 5 of 5 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.
• Agreed Upon Procedures, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-07-15

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