South
Bloomingville History
The
small Town of South
Bloomingville, which was once a bustling village, is located at the
corners
of State Route's 56 and 664, in Benton Township
of Hocking County, Ohio. The Town of Bloomingville was
platted out in 1836 by, and on land owned
by John
Chilcote who was born in Baltimore County, Maryland in 1787 and came to
Ohio in the 1820's with wife Hester A.. John And Hester came into
Hocking County in the
mid 1830's.
Early Land and Tax records of the
community
list some of the early pioneers of 1838, among which were:
Aaron
& Benjamin Allen; Thomas Burns; John & Samuel Chilcote;
John,
Elias & Robert Coldwell; Henry, Frederick & Isaac
Corrick; Hezikiah Crownover; Moses and David Dawson; John &
Lenae Dorman;
J. & David Dresbach; Christian, Joseph & George Eby;
Peter
Edwards; Isaac & Thomas Elder; Benjamin Featherolf; William
Francisco; Robert Glen; Andrew, Frederick, Jacob & Jonathan
Huffman; James Justice; Jacob Karshner; William Large; John D. Loomis;
Hester Long; Thomas & David Loyd; Henry May, John Mullat; Jacob
Myers; Peter Pence; James & Harrison Shaw; Andrew Reed; Aaron,
George, Enoch & Lewis Starkey; David Strouser; George Teets;
Peter
Tharp; James & William Wine and Frederick Wolfe.
The First Election was held in
the home of
Christian Eby.
In 1839 Tax Records lists
newly arrivals into
the community being: Rueben Ashton; James Burgoon; Isaac Cooper; Jacob
Keller; James Mock; James Reynolds; George & George Jr.
Springer;
John Tracy
and Jaden D.
Williams. In 1840 Census records show new
additions to the community which included: William Agler; Nathaniel
Barton; David Beck; Eli Bennett; Elijah Brown; James Ellis; William J.
Ford; John
Hamilton; William Henry; George
Horley; Thomas Johnson; Joshua Lemon; Robert & William Lindsay;
Aaron Mattox; Allen Mills;Linden Newman; Archibold Nunemaker; Joseph
Oldfield; Peter Rauch; William Robinson; James & Joseph
Stoughton;
Simeon Tilton; John & Samuel Wilson;George Wolford and Phillip
Young.
In 1876,
the thriving village of
Bloomingville had expanded and a section beyond Queer Creek
was
known as " East Town" . In later years East Town
disappeared, was torn down or moved. Relocation of some of the
buildings, such as the Town church, was moved into the
northern
section of the town due
to the
flooding waters of Queer Creek.
The first mill was
erected by Christian
Eby, one of the first settlers. The mill was located over Queer Creek
near the bridge on Route 56, east of now South Bloomingville.
The first church ,
the Methodist
Episcopal Church ,was also located in the area nearby. The first sermon
was preached by Reverend David Dutcher who became their first pastor.
By the year of 1884 the
village included two
doctors, a millinery store, two general stores, a flour
mill, sawmill, and a blacksmith shop.
Samuel and Christian Eby were
the pioneer
merchants of the town.
The two general stores of the village,
one was
managed by John Goddard and the other by John Quellin.
Emery Fisk Redfern was one of the
doctors in the
village and the other doctor was P.J. Green.
Miss Redfern owned a millinery store
and
George Gill owned the drug store.
A flour mill and a saw mill were owned
by Harry O.
Haynes , and a blacksmith shop was owned by John
A.
Smith.
In 1883 the Township officers were:
Trustees,
Jonathan Shaw, Isaac Hill, and Andrew Devon. J. M. Buchanan was the
Treasurer. The Clerk was George Gill. Hiles Chilcote was the
Assessor. Nathaniel Laicht and John Buckingham were the constables,
with William Fleming and N.R. Petit as Justices of the Peace.
Some of the villages residents
included,
Benjamin H. Allen. John Allen Jr. who had twelve children,
one of which was a Mrs. E. Huffman.
George Amerine who had bought
the Adam Brown
farm.
Eli J. Dennis who married Mary Poling,
and had
twelve children, Mary C., Allie A., David, Barary,
Vance. Cynthia,
George, Jacob, Denona, Effie, Henry and
James H..
Fredrick Wolfe who married Rebecca, in
1835, the
daughter of John and Hester Chilcote. They had eight
children, John, Hester A., Daniel, Joshua, William, Mary, Eby, and
Columbus who married Jane Turner.
Other residents included, W.B. Flemming,
P.J. Green,
Samuel H. Iler, Solomon Parrish, and Emery Fisk
Redfern,M.D.
It is hard to believe that this small
village was
once a bustling community with two country hotels, the
" Ohio House " and the " American House". The Ohio House was built
between 1860 and 1876, and
was located at the corner of
State Routes 56 and 664.
In 1884 it was operated by J.W. Iles,
who renamed it
the "Iles House". The original building , at one
time,
had been owned by Ray Harper, who tore the structure down and built a
new hotel. George Dennis
operated a barber shop
in the new building. A fire destroyed the hotel in the early 1950's.
Apartments are now located on the site that once occupied the hotel.
The other hotel the " American House",
was operated
for a time by William Evarts and was located across the street from
Purcell Road, at the edge of the town.
Around the turn of the century and in
the early
1900's the town had a railroad, and there was drilling for
oil
and natural gas. This created the need for housing for those men who
came to work on the
railroad and drilling
teams.
There have been four post
office locations in
the village since it was platted by John Chilcote in 1836. The first
postmaster was George Gill. In August of 1893 H. G. Meyers was
appointed Postmaster. The last post office was located in the former
Red Man's Hall, which was built around 1907, with
the help
of Charles Shaw. The Red Man's charter dates back to June 29, 1906. The
Hall has now been replaced with a new building. Herman Brown was
Postmaster for many of the
early years. Other
postmasters included Myrtle M. Shaw Justice whom was
postmaster
from 1953 until she retired in 1974; Jeneve "Jenny" Taylor Shaw from
1974 until about 1980, Virginia Reynolds, and Lona Brown Stevens. The
Post Office was closed down in November of 1983 ,with Lona Brown
Stevens as the last Postmaster. One of the earlier Mail Carriers was
Miles Brown. Guy Shaw was the Rural Carrier for the local area for many
years. Michael Weaver was the last Mail Carrier from the South
Bloomingville Post Office before it closed in 1983.
It is believed that the railroad came to
the area in
the 1870's. An engine house, operated by the Columbus &
Southern
Railroad Company,was located by the old South Bloomingville cemetery on
Goose Creek Road. The original plans called for a track to be laid
through the area and join the railroad in Vinton
County, but it was never completed. Instead the tracks stopped
at
Bloomingville. The railroad
bed extended to Ash Cave and
stopped in Bone Hollow. When the train arrived at Bloomingville, it had
to back almost to
Circleville in order to turn around.
Local residents dubbed the train " Old Push and Pull" or " Old Pokey".
The train was involved in a wreck near Salt Creek bridge on January 12,
1907, due to
flood waters and the
decaying state of the railroad
bridge. A poem was written about the incident by C.C.
Edwards.
The tracks were removed around 1914.
After the railroad left, the oil and
natural gas
drilling boon began. The Bloomingville Pumping Station was built in
South Bloomingville in 1927 - 1928. The gas was pumped out of
Bloomingville to Sugar Grove, at the time the largest pumping station
in the world, with the gas pumping station at Bloomingville being the
second largest.
By 1912 other changes came to the
village with
different business owners. There was Pleukharp's General Store,
Chilcote's Grocery, Sam Mattox blacksmith shop, Elmer App's
Confectionery, four or five saw mills, and an ice house. Ice was cut
from Cooper Hole and Queer Creek during the winter and stored
in
the ice house.
Walter Pleukharp's General Store was
torn down in
1960 and replaced with a General Store and Gas Station that occupies
the site today.
Through the years the town has seen many
changes ,
and many generations of families, and though smaller, strives to
continue on through tourism and being located
in the
center of the Hocking State Park's.
All
Names are Spelled as they appeared on Documentations
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