Madison Township

Lake County, Ohio

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Madison Township administrative offices are located at 2065 Hubbard Road, Madison, OH 44057.
Phone: 440‑428‑5128.

Beginnings [1]

Madison Township is located in the eastern part of Lake County, Ohio, extending eight and one-half miles along its eastern boundary, seven and one-half miles on its western boundary and in order to complete the square, we are told that it extends one mile out into Lake Erie, thus forming the largest township in the state of Ohio.

This historic township was originally a part of the Great Western Reserve. The first settlement made in the township is recorded as of the year 1802. During the next eight years a very large emigration followed which is evidenced by the number of persons or firms engaged in various lines of business.

The first settlement in the township was called Chapintown and was settled by a man named Chapin, who built the first log cabin just east of what is now the Village. A few years later the name was changed to Centerville, which in 1840 had three stores, two churches and about eighty houses. Unionville, at the same date, is recorded as having four stores, two churches and about one hundred houses.

In the year 1811 things began to happen. The first marriage is recorded as of that year. On March 13th of this same year, the commissioners of Geauga County met in regular session and passed the following resolution: "That so much of that part of Harpersfield, as lies in the County of Geauga, and is included in township No. 12, and all that part of township No. 11 which lies north of Grand River, in the 6th range of the original surveyed township be and the same is hereby incorporated and erected into a separate township to be known by the name of Madison." The first election was held the same year with only 15 ballots being cast.

The first gristmill was erected in 1815, the first cider mill in 1824. The first iron plows were manufactured in 1828 at the Pocked Furnace located on the Dock Road. In 1830, Madison boasted of the following enterprises: a carding mill, a cloth dressing mill, the Madison Woolen Mills, a chair factory, and four tanneries. There were six distilleries, the product of which was used as a sort of legal tender as there was a scarcity of money. In 1858, a gristmill was built on the Dock Road by James Ford. Later owned by William Treat, who operated it until about 1915. This was the last gristmill in this section to be run by waterpower.

  1. Madison Public Library, A Brief History of Madison: 1935 Directory of Madison, www.madison-library.info, accessed December, 2014.

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