Hocking County History
- Highlights of Hocking County History
- Our County Name and the Hocking River
- Logan
- Streams
- The First Settlers
- Bloomingville
- Laurel Township
- Gibisonville
- Benton Township
Our County Name and the Hocking River
Hocking County was named from a shortened version of the Hockhocking River. Hockhocking, in the Delaware tongue, signifies a bottle. In Shawnee, Wea-tha-Kagh-Qua-sepe, meant bottle river. The Hockhocking River had a waterfall of nearly 20 feet located about 6 or 7 miles northwest of Lancaster. Above the falls, the creek was very narrow and straight, forming the "bottle" neck. At the falls the riverbed spreads out into some of the best hiking in Ohio.
The Hocking enters the county from Good Hope Township in the northwest and then flows southwest, touches Marion Township, continues through Falls and Green Townships, and exits the county through northwestern Starr Township. The river is then in Athens County.
County Formation
Hocking County formed March 1, 1818 from Ross, Athens, and Fairfield. Logan was made the county seat at that time. The county's boundaries, townships, etc. have not changed since 1851, and continue to attract numerous tourists
every year looking for great
Logan, Ohio
Logan was established one mile below the "great falls" of the Hockhocking River, around the river and a branch of the Ohio Canal. When the town was platted, the river was used to furnish power for a sawmill and two corn-burrs. A burr is a pair of grinding stones.
The town was named as a monument to Chief Logan of the Mingo Indians. An Indian village was located at the Logan City site, within the sound of the falls. Logan was platted by Ohio Governor Thomas Worthington.
On March 5, 1839 Logan was incorporated. The town then had 50 houses. The 1840 census showed a population of 436. In 1877, Logan’s schools had 748 pupils; 374 boys and 374 girls.
An average of 7,500 tons of coal per day passed through Logan in 1883. This would have included most of the coal mined in this part of Ohio.
Logan’s railroad was named the C H V & T Railroad.
Streams
The Hockhocking or Hocking River flows from the northeast to the southwestern areas of Hocking County. Streams in the northeast include Monday and Sunday Creeks, and Snow Fork. In the Southeast are Raccoon Creek and its branches. Salt Creek and its branches, Big Pine Creek and its branches, and Queer Creek and its branches are in the central, southern and southwestern areas of Hocking County. In the western part of the county are Laurel Creek and its tributaries. There are also many springs. Some of the streams in southwestern Hocking County have pitches where the water descends 30, 40 or 50 feet. There are waterfalls of 80 to 100 feet, and have become a favorite spot for hiking in Ohio.
The First Settlers
The first settler, Christian Eby, settled where South Bloomingville is located on Queer Creek. Other early settlers were George Starkey and Moses Dolson. The first election was at Eby’s. The first mill, erected by Eby, was on Queer Creek. The home of Herschel Badford (1-2 miles east of South Bloomingville) served as the first post office. This home was called "Rockhouse". When thinking about
Bloomingville
John Chilcote owned the land and laid out the town of Bloomingville. Samuel and Christian Eby were pioneer merchants. In 1883 the town had two general stores, one run by John Goddard and one run by John Quellin, who also owned a drugstore. The town had two hotels, The Ohio House, which J. W. Iles ran, and the American, run by William Evarts. Henry O. Haynes owned a flouring and saw mill, and John A. Smith, a blacksmith shop. Mrs. Redfern ran the only millinery shop. There were two doctors, Dr. Green and Dr. Redfern.
Laurel Township, Ohio in Hocking County
Rockhouse is located within Laurel Township. The township is named for the abundance of the laurel bush.
The first settlement was made in 1812 by three men: Mr. Smith and two brothers named Koons. They moved here to avoid the draft of the War of 1812 and located on Laurel Creek. Other early settlers were George Kinser, Robert McBroom, Josiah Cantwell, John White, John Fox, Daniel Shesler and Mr. Grim and their families. John White had a mill to produce gunpowder located west of present Gibisonville. One of the first settler deaths was John White's son, killed by the explosion of the powder mill. The first school house was built in 1829 on Laurel Creek, with Robert McBroom being the first teacher. This log school house also served as the polling place for the first election. The first mill, a water run sawmill, was built in 1828 by Levi McCullon on Laurel Creek. The first store was operated by Kennedy Linn.
Gibisonville
Gibisonville was laid out by Samuel and William Gibison in 1840. In 1883 there were about 60 inhabitants and W. O. Dawson was the doctor. Businesses included a general store, kept by T.D. Wood, one blacksmith, a wagon shop, nursery, shoe shop and a post office. There were also two churches and a village school.
Benton Township
Ash Cave, Cedar Falls, Old Man’s Cave and Conkle’s Hollow are all in this township. Choosing just one of these many Ohio vacation spots can be a daunting task. The amazing natural areas in Benton Township can help make that vacation choice easy. Each area is easily accessible and offers a variety of lodging, dining, and shopping options as well as outdoor adventures and some of the best hiking in Ohio.
Benton Township was originally part of Salt Creek Township, which was formed at the first meeting of the board of commissioners, April 25, 1818. Benton Township was formed December 5, 1836, as township number 12.
