Colerain Township

By Frank Scholle and Don Linz

Colerain Township, the largest township in the state of Ohio, was founded in 1794. The first settlement in the township was in 1790, where John Dunlap and a small band of settlers built a little fort on the Great Miami River and named it Fort Coleraine. Later the settlement became known as Dunlap's Station. The township was primarily a rural farming area until the 1950s, when builders began to develop subdivisions. Businesses sprang up and shopping areas followed. From 1950 to 1960, the population almost quadrupled. Today Colerain is a bustling community with several shopping centers, major businesses, and around 63,000 residents.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439625903

Frank Scholle

Frank Scholle lived in Colerain Township for over 50 years and Don Linz has been a resident since 1942. Both are past Grand Knights of LaSalle Council and Knights of Columbus, were instrumental in starting the Taste of Colerain in 1990, and have been publishing the Colerain Township calendar since 1998. They worked closely with the Coleraine Historical Society to compile this history.

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INTRODUCTION

Colerain Township predated our state government. The size and shape of the township was determined by the congressional acts establishing the various land grants. As the Ohio territory became populated, it was only natural that the surveyed townships should become the basic unit of local government. In 1803, the elected officials of a township consisted of three trustees, a clerk, two overseers of the poor, and a sufficient number of supervisors of highways, in addition to two justices of the peace; these officials registered brands and fulfilled the needs of local government.

Colerain Township, one of the largest and oldest townships in the state, was created in 1794 by the court of general quarter sessions of the peace. In 1803, Ohio became a state, and the township boundaries were defined to include the western tier of sections in the Springfield Township, the northwestern section of the Mill Creek Township, and the three easternmost sections of the northern tier of the Green Township. To illustrate, Mount Healthy, west of Hamilton Pike, was a part of Colerain Township at this time. This boundary remained for 25 or more years.

The earliest settlement was Fort Coleraine (this is the source of the township’s name) established by John Dunlap in 1790 and was commonly known as Dunlap’s Station. Dunlap was one of John Cleves Symmes’s surveyors and a native of Coleraine, Ireland. Another station was established by John Campbell around 1795, probably opposite Miamitown on the east bank of the Great Miami River. There is not much information known on this establishment. All traces of the first Village of Coleraine have disappeared. It was situated on the bend of the Miami, several miles below the bridge to Ross.

A second Colerain was started just above the (Venice) Ross Bridge. In 1819, David Stone of New Hampshire built a cotton mill in Colerain where Toad Creek enters the Great Miami (on River Road, just east of its intersection with Colerain Avenue). In 1821, this was sold to Giles Richards and Timothy Goodman. A gristmill and a sawmill were built. A tavern and dye house were also added, and a thriving town grew here. The cotton mill later became Matson’s Woolen Mill. This village virtually vanished by 1875, and nothing remains to mark its location today.

The Village of Bevis was established by Jesse Bevis on the early Colerain Avenue around 1816. When the new turnpike was built, leaving the line of the old road, he relocated it about a quarter of a mile or so west of its original site. In 1835, Bevis was given a post office and Jesse Bevis was named postmaster; he was replaced by James A. Bevis in 1861.

Groesbeck was founded as West Union sometime later. It was named for Charles West, a Methodist lay preacher who gave land for a church named for him, and the union of the Olive Branch and Asbury Methodist congregations. The name was changed to Groesbeck in 1857 with the advent of the postal service. There was already a West Union in Ohio, making a name change necessary.

Georgetown (Dunlap) was laid out in 1829 at the junction of Colerain Avenue and Kemper Road (an early road connecting Springfield Pike and Colerain Avenue). A post office was established in 1837 with David Wallace as postmaster.

Pleasant Run was named for the nearby stream and was located on the east line of the township, about a half mile south of the Butler County line. James Huston was the postmaster in 1846, and Paul Huston took over in 1856. An early hotel, Farmer’s Rest, was located here on the Hamilton Turnpike.

Taylor’s Creek is a small community east of Miamitown and the Great Miami River. It is located on the Harrison Turnpike. John A. Davis became its first postmaster in 1857. Later the post office was moved into the Althaus store.

Barnesburg is a village that straggled along the Blue Rock turnpike. It was named for early settlers in the area—the Barnes family—who came from Kentucky in the early 1800s. The post office was located in the tavern and store of Alois Jutzi in 1874. Only its name remains today because of highway construction, which moved the old road and created a new road.

Another little village on the Blue Rock turnpike was Creedville, located in the area where Blue Rock turnpike and Cheviot Roads came together. A tollhouse for the Blue Rock turnpike was located at the point where Hanley Road joins it. The tollhouse also housed a store and post office.

It is very noticeable that all the villages were found on the turnpikes. There were three in the township. The earliest turnpike (Colerain) bisected the township from north to south. The Harrison turnpike skirted along the southern edge, while the other turnpike (Hamilton) was found on parts of the eastern line of the township.

Colerain Township has experienced phenomenal growth since World War II. In 1910, Colerain had a population of just over 3,800 residents, not enough residents to have its own post office. The township was primarily a farming community. By 1950, the population had almost doubled to 7,500. From 1960 to 1980, the population grew to almost 57,000. This growth also prompted