Union County is a county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2000 census, the population was 40,909. Increasingly becoming more of a suburban county, the population was estimated at 47,234 in 2007 by the U.S. Census Bureau. Its county seat is Marysville and its name is reflective of its origins, it being the union of pieces of Franklin, Delaware, Madison, and Logan Counties.
This county is part of the Columbus Metropolitan Area in Central Ohio.
History
Early history
Union County has been under the rule of three countries in its history: France, England, and the present-day United States. It was discovered by the French explorer La Salle, along with traders and missionaries who accompanied. After the French and Indian War, the Treaty of Paris of 1763 placed the area under British rule. Following the American Revolution, in 1783, the area would eventually become known as the Northwest Territory and part of the United States.
After the American Revolution, revolutionary soldiers from New England poured into Ohio after being granted land by the government. They surveyed the land, and sought to develop a state between Lake Erie and the Ohio River. Their proposals for the governance of the territory led to the passage of the Ordinance of 1787, which would guide the Northwest Territory until the establishment of states that it called for. Bitter struggles with American Indians over the next decades would follow, culminating with the battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, which saw the final defeat of the American Indian tribes in Ohio led by Tecumseh. A notable victim of the warring between the settlers and Indians was Jonathan Alder, who resided in and around the Union County area throughout his life.
Original settlements
The first town laid out in the county was North Liberty, established by Lucas Sullivant in 1797, but the first settlement in the county was made in present-day Jerome township by Joshua and James Ewing in 1798. An important settlement made in the county would be by Abraham Amrine, of Swiss descent and a revolutionary soldier, in 1817, two miles northwest of Marysville.
Formation
As part of negotiations with Virginia, who had claimed land in Ohio, to sign the Articles of Confederation, the United States granted them claims to land in Ohio which would be known as the Virginia Military District. Union County would be in this district. In 1803 Ohio would become a state.
After lobbying by Col. James Curry, who represented the area in legislature at the time and a resident of what would become Jerome township, Union County was established by the Ohio legislature, and became official in 1820 with the appointment of the original commissioners: Stephen Bell, Reuben Wallace, and John Huston. The county commissioners eventually established the townships, including Union (1820), Darby (1820), Mill Creek (1820), Jerome (1821), Paris (1821), Liberty (1822), Leesburg (1825), Allen (1827), Jackson (1829), York (1834), Washington (1836), Dover (1839), Claibourne (1834), and Taylor (1849), while they designated Marysville as the county seat.
The town of Milford was established in 1816 by George Reed, Marysville in 1819 by Samuel Culbertson, Richwood in 1832 by Philip Plumber, Kingsville in 1834, Somerville in 1835, Watkins and Arbelia in 1838, Newton in 1838 by David Paul, York Center in 1841, Frankfort in 1846, Unionville in 1847, Pharisburg in 1847, New California in 1853, Dover in 1854, Union Center in 1863, Broadway in 1865, Pottersburg in 1869, Peoria in 1870, Magnetic Springs in 1879, and Claibourne in 1881.
County seat
After the organization of the county by the Ohio Legislature, Marysville was designated as the seat of Union County. The first recorded meeting of the commissioners was in 1820. Between 1835 and 1840, a courthouse was constructed. Eventually a new courthouse would be built in Marysville, dedicated on January 27, 1883. This is the present courthouse today.
In 1849, a county infirmary was authorized. The first county jail was a log structure that sat on the southside of East Center street, in the rear of the courthouse. Eventually a new jail was authorized by the commissioners and built in the 1870s. In 1878 the county purchased a 10-ton safe for the treasury, that eventually was moved into courthouse.
The first county fair was held in 1847 in Marysville, in the public square. In 1852, the Agriculture Society moved the fair to the current location, on the northside of town. The Bible Society was organized in 1830. On December 4, 1875, a group met at the courthouse in Marysville to organize the Union County Pioneer society. The original members were: Eliphas Burnham, George Snodgrass, John F. Sabine, William Porter, Tobias Beightler, Abraham Amrine, Samuel Reed, Ray G. Morse, Josiah Westlake, Josiah Reed, William. M. Robinson, Hiram Kent, Edward Powers, George Reed, Robert Graham, Samuel Gamble, A. A. Woodworth, George Mitchell, Taber Randall, Joseph Dodds, William Phillips, Thomas Snodgrass, Robert Snodgrass, A. P. Robinson, R. L. Partridge, and Hylas Sabine.
In 1866, the Union County Teachers' Institute was organized in Marysville, with Franklin Wood serving at the first President. In 1882, the Normal School was organized by J.S. Wharton, which specialized in instructing future teachers.
Early growth
Infrastructure
The county lacked transportation infrastructure until 1812 when the first known highway named Post Road was constructed across the southern portion of the county. In 1844 the legislature by act created a free turnpike that ran from Columbus to Bellefontaine, passing through Marysville, originally costing $230,000. This road eventually became what is known as U.S. Rt. 33 today. In 1853, the Marysville and Essex Plank Road Company was organized and constructed a road from Marysville north, through Pharisburg. The company sold capital stock for $30,000, and this road today is known as State Rt. 4. By 1915 the county had built 705 miles of roadways, the most of any county in the state for its size.
By the late 19th century and into the 20th century, the county began developing its electricity infrastructure. By 1915, electricity lines ran from Magnetic Springs to Richwood.
The county's first railroad was constructed between 1850-1854, a line that ran from Springfield to Delaware and crossed through the county in Milford, Marysville, Irwin, and Dover. A railroad called the New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio line was chartered in 1851 and would eventually run through Union County with station points at Richwood, Woodland, Claibourne, Pottersburg, Broadway, and Peoria. The Columbus and Bellefontaine railroad was incorporated in 1878 and had station points in the county at Marysville. The Toledo and Central railroad ran from Columbus north through the county, with station points at Marysville, Peoria, and Raymond.
The first telegraph line was completed in 1859, which connected Marysville with the world via Springfield.
Agriculture
Because of the fertile soil in Union County, the county's farmers required minimal fertilizer. There were hundreds of farms in the county in its early stages. The crops grown in Union County's early history included wheat, oats, corn, Irish potatoes, clover and alfalfa. The county was a large producer of milk, butter, sugar, syrup, apples, and pears.
In 1911, 270,000 acres were owned in Union County, with 85,000 cultivated for farming. The farms had a total of 9,355 horses, 8,110 milk cows with 14,000 total cattle, 43,727 sheep, and 32,000 hogs. 312,000 pounds of wool was produced that year.
Commerce and industry
Union County was home to many industries in its original days from hotels, tanneries, distilleries, breweries, mills, asheries, manufacturers, energy production, banks, grocers, and retailers, among others. Marysville's industrial roots can be traced back to many early companies. Among those were the Marysville Pearlash Factory, an ashery founded in 1848, which by 1874 was the largest in the United States. The first steam-grist mill was erected in 1856 by Saxton and Casil. In 1867, Miller & Snodgrass constructed a flour mill. In 1874, Marysville Butter Tub and Spoke Company was incorporated with $50,000.
A wool company, Woodbury & Welsh, constructed a brick factory on the northeast part of town in 1864, and a brewery was built in 1866 on the eastside. In 1868, O.M. Scotts and Company was organized. In 1871, the Marysville Cheese Manufacturing Company was built on the eastside. Many carriage manufacturing companies were placed in Marysville, including Bauer, Schepper & Devine in 1882, City Carriage Works in 1871, and L. E. Helium in 1874.
In 1875 Rice, Fleck & Co. opened a lumberyard. The Marysville Gas
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