SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, LUCAS COUNTY, OHIO
The following resolution, adopted by the county commissioners
on June 20, 1836, tells
the story of Springfield Township's beginning: "Resolved, by the that a
new civil .township be erected, to be comprehended within the following
boundaries, to wit: Commencing on the south line of Township No. 2, in the Mile
Square Reserve, between Sections 32 and 33; thence north, on the line, to the
north line of said sections; thence east, on said section line, to west line of
Section 27; thence north, on said west line, to the north line of Section 27;
thence east, on said north line, to the west line of Section 23; north to the
north line of said Section 23; thence east on the said north line to the west
line of Section 13; thence north to the Fulton line; thence east on said Fulton line to Port
Lawrence Township; thence bounded on the east by Port Lawrence Township, on the
north by the north line of said Township No. 2, and west by the west line of said
Township. No. 2, until it strikes the Fulton line from the north; thence by the
east line of Townships Nos. 7 and 8, in Range 9, until it strikes the south
line of Township No. 2; thence on the south t)v the
south line of Township No. 2, to the place of beginning; and the said township
shall be known under and by the name of Springfield."
Several
changes have been made in the original boundaries as thus described. On June 5, 1839, five
sections were taken from Waynesfield Township and added
to Springfield. On March 14,
1853, that portion of Waynesfield included
in the north half of river tracts Nos. 575, 578, 579, 580 and 581 was added to Springfield, and at the
same time the southern part of Springfield was cut off
to aid in forming the Township of M0nclova. When Adams Township was erected
on December 3, 1856, the north
half of the river tracts above mentioned, with some other territory, was taken
from Springfield and added
to the new township. This reduced Springfield to its
present dimensions. It is bounded on the north by Spencer, Sylvania and Adams townships;
on the east by Adams; on the south by Monclova, and on the
west by Monclova and
Spencer.
At the time
the resolution erecting the township was adopted, the commissioners issued an
order for an election to be held at the house of William Ford on the second
Tuesday in October following. Accordingly, the election Was
held on October 8, 1836, and
resulted as follows: John Birchfield, James Egnew and Thomas Wood, trustees;
Peter Holloway, clerk; John Wiltse, treasurer; John Birchfield and John
Spencer, justices of the peace; William Ford, constable.
Early
Settlers--Dennis Sage, who located in the township in 1829, is credited with
being the first settler. He afterward served five terms as township treasurer.
He married Mrs. Sarah Holloway, widow of Herbert Holloway, by whom he had four
children. One of the sons, Thomas W. Sage, was afterward in the agricultural
implement business at Holland. Dennis
Sage (tied in 1887, aged ninety-three years.
Chloe Lees
and her two sons--Edmund and Simeon P.--settled in the township in 1830.
Between that time and 1834 a number of families settled in the township. Among
them were Bingham D. and Lorenzo Abbott, Jonathan Barlow, · Willard Barnes,
William Beals, William Berry, John Birchfield, John Cummings. James Dean,
Ellison DeMott, John, Joseph, Samuel and Selah Divine, Jacob Falk, Patrick
Flynn, James R. and William Ford, Linas Frost, Jacob and John Gnagy, Peter
Holloway, Jeremiah Kimball. James S. Kitchell. Philander
Noble. David Purdon, Herrick A. Rew, Isaac Silvers. John Strayer, David
Trumbull. Abraham and John Walter.
In 1834 John Gnagy built a sawmill on Wolf Creek--the
first in the township--and about two years later John Walter built one on Swan
Creek, near the southeast corner. The Gnagy mill also had a small set of buhrs
for grinding corn.
Thomas Wood
came with his family from New York in 1835 and
entered land in the township. His son, Harrison Wood, served in Company A.
Fourteenth Ohio Infantry,
until wounded at Tullahoma. Tennessee. After the
war he engaged in business as a merchant at Holland. In 1872 he
was elect t4 township clerk. A brother, Perry Wood, served two terms as justice
of the peace.
Villages--Holland, near the
center of the township, is the only village of importance. It is a station on
the New York Central
Railroad and the Toledo & Indiana Electric Railway. That part of the
village north of the railroad was laid out by Robert Clark and the
plat was filed on March 14, 1863. South of the
railroad the village includes what are known as "Hall's first and second
subdivisions." The first mails were carried by stage and there was a post
office about three miles west of the present Village of Holland, at the
tavern of James Dean, on the old Toledo
Plank Road. After Holland was laid
out the post office was removed to that place and Thomas Dunn was appointed
postmaster. Holland has several
general stores, a post office, etc., and is connected with Toledo and the
surrounding country by telephone. Crissy is a small station on the two
railroads, about three miles west of Holland. It has a general
store, a public school and a Methodist Episcopal Church.
Soon after
the township w~/s settled a Methodist class was organized at Thomas Wood's
tavern. Lewis Rumsey was one of the early class leaders. Later meetings were
held in the "Red School House"
and a church was organized. Thomas Wood raised money by subscription and
erected the first church building, which was dedicated in 1859. The Free Methodist Church, at Holland, was built
in 1870. Rev. L. T. Fink was the first pastor. .
Springfield has three
public school buildings valued at $85,000, about twenty miles of improved
highway, and in 1920 reported a population of 1,415, a gain of 239 in ten .years.
Memoirs
of Lucas County and the City of Toledo, Ohio. Harvey Scribner,
Editor-in-chief. Western Historical Association, Madison, Wisconsin, 1910.
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