Jackson Township History

JACKSON TOWNSHIP
FRANKLIN COUNTY, OHIO
Established 1815

EARLY TOWNSHIP HISTORY

Our Pilgrim forefathers brought the Township form of government to the Americas in 1620. This form of government spread as far west as the Rocky Mountains and today, 22 states have the town or township form of local government.

Townships in central-Ohio were established by the Virginia Military District and laid out in five (5) or six (6) square mile tracts. It was common to name townships after the revolutionary founding fathers (Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Washington, etc.), early presidents or unique environmental features.  In Ohio there are 37 Jackson Township’s across Ohio’s 88 counties named in honor of Major General and later the 7th U.S. President Andrew "Old Hickory" Jackson who was a national hero after defeating the British in the Battle of New Orleans in 1812.  The original southwestern area of Franklin County was simply called Pleasant Township which was subsequently reduced in area by the formation of Jackson Township in 1815 and the survey of Prairie Township in 1819.

Jackson Township in Franklin County was originally settled in 1805 by Hugh Grant and his wife Catherine Barr.  Hugh was a native of Maryland and moved to Ohio in 1804 and purchased 450 acres of land along the Scioto River south of Columbus.  Hugh died shortly after arriving and his widow continued to farm the land with her children until her death in 1836.  Early settlers of Jackson Township included: Jonas Orders, John Curry, Samuel Breckenridge, Percival Adams, William Duff, James Seeds, John Hoover, William Brown, Jacob Borror, Henry Baumgartner, John Neff, Hawes Barbee, Nicholas Haun, William Badger, Woolry Conrod, Valentine Shover and the Strader, Borror and Goldsmith families.  Descendants of many of these early settlers still live in Jackson Township and Grove City to this day. 

There was no village or post office until the small village of Grove City was laid out in 1852 by William Foster Breck.  W.F. Breck’s first expedition to Jackson Township occurred in 1846 where he was looking for fertile land and a possible new homestead.  In 1848, the Harrisburg Pike was built which then connected the small village of Harrisburg to the much larger city of Columbus.  William Breck and other entrepreneurs saw the opportunity to lay out a village with merchandise stores along a 15 acre section of the Harrisburg Pike that would originally become the foundation for the village of Grove City.  The village charter was petitioned by 37 early settlers and the charter was approved by the Ohio state assembly on March 13, 1866. 

In addition to farming and agriculture, there were other industries developing in the Jackson Township area such as a steam-powered sawmill built by Mr. Robert Seeds near Grant’s Run, drain tile, clay and brick factories, wagon and blacksmith shops, various general stores and a hotel. 

The first church in Jackson Township was the Scioto Chapel erected by the Christian Faith denomination which organized in 1812.  The Methodists built Jackson Chapel in 1859 and part of that building remains to this day at the corner of White Road and Jackson Pike (SR-104).    

The first physician to settle in Jackson Township was Dr. Joseph Bullen who arrived in 1852, was elected the first mayor of Grove City in 1867 and died in 1878.  By the 1880’s, Jackson Township had 10 school houses and at least 8 different churches.  See map of Jackson Township dated 1883 with a population of 2,092.

JACKSON TOWNSHIP TODAY

Ohio’s township form of government is much the same today at the Jackson Township created in 1815.  Each township is governed by three elected “Township Trustees” and one “Township Fiscal Officer.”   The elected officials serve four-year terms of office.  Jackson Township today has nearly 120 employees providing emergency medical and fire service, park, road and cemetery maintenance and administration and zoning. 

2008 Population Estimate 

(According to Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission)

TOWNSHIPS IN OHIO

There are approximately 1,392 Townships in Ohio comprising roughly one-half of the total population of the state. Although Township officials fill their offices on a part-time basis, they are always ready to meet their responsibilities face-to-face and are able to deal effectively with modern problems because of their intimate knowledge of the community, its needs and its people. Townships in Ohio generally offer more personal service, more attention to individual needs and a better understanding of local problems than any other unit of local government.

JACKSON TOWNSHIP HALL

The original Township Hall was located south of the old Concord Cemetery on Hoover Road.  Today, that original Township Hall is a seldom used storage building associated with the Concord Cemetery Association.  It was last used as a public meeting hall in the 1950s. 

The current Township Hall is located at 3756 Hoover Road.  The land was acquired from Mr. Carl and Jennie Ziner in 1964.  Soon thereafter commenced construction of the Fire Station which opened in 1964-1965. 

The building was substantially renovated into the current Administration Building and Public Meeting Rooms in 1994.   

A truss style roofing system was added in 2006 to fix the leak problems occurring from the original flat roof.

Today, the Township Hall is used by more than three-dozen local groups and civic organizations free of charge.   Anyone interested in using the building should contact the Township Offices at 875-2742.  The BUILDING RESERVATION FORM can also be downloaded.