Poasttown was the home of the Poast family and in four generations there was a Peter P. Poast and school children intrigued by alliteration were heard to chant for 100 years: "Peter P. Poast was the first Postmaster of Poasttown."

Even before Ohio became a state, in the late 1790's the first Peter P. Poast came into the Northwest Territory searching out land for a good farm. He had come down the Ohio river by flat boat, bought a team and wagon and started up the trail to the Great Prairie. He crossed the Great Miami north of Daniel Doty's holdings. He went into what is now section 12, Madison Township, then still Lemon, finding that David Banker had laid claim to the land along the river.

Poast decided to buy the land north of Bankers, knowing its clearing would be hard labor, but realizing it was very fertile and level. After buying the land for $400 in gold, at Cincinnati, he returned by horseback to New Jersey to settle up his affairs. Once back, he began the slow process of clearing the land. Within a few years a dirt road was begun through the Banker farm and across his land northward on to Germantown, another early settlement. Then came an east-west road, Franklin -Trenton, again through Poast's land, creating a country crossroads, making it an ideal site for a village.

Seizing the opportunity, Poast laid out a plat for a town which he named West Liberty, in deference to an American ideal, recording his plat on March 31, 1818. But before this in 1815 Christian Coons had already opened a general store. Next to be opened on another corner was a tavern operated by William Brown, a Poast cousin, to be followed in turn under the managements of Richardson, Heffner, Stump, Spidel and Emrick.

Peter Poast prospered and when he died past the age of 80, he was considered wealthy. Marrying Miss Van Toil, they were the parents of 6 children --- 4 girls and 2 boys, one of whom was Peter P. Poast 11.

Young Peter was born on the family farm in the early 1800's and was educated in the little log schoolhouse that had been built. After leaving the common school at the end of 8 years, he started out on his own. He built a grist mill and a saw mill on Browns Run, using the water to run his mills. Then he bought some farmland and traded horses. He lived at West Liberty where he built 2 large cooper shops to make barrels, employing 30 workers.

Before his early death in 1847 he had fathered 7 children. His wife, Catherine Brown, was a native of Pennsylvania. One of their children, William B. carried on his father's cooper's trade and also became a broom maker. Another son, was named after his father, Peter P. Poast Ill.

This boy was to live through a golden era of Poasttown history. When he was 10 years old, his aging grandfather was honored by being appointed in August of 1848. the first postmaster of Poasttown. His salary was $57.20 a year. There being another West Liberty in Ohio, it was at this time that the U.S. Postmaster asked the name of the village be changed, and everyone agreed it should be called after its founder, Poasttown.

Through the years Poasttown had other postmasters than Poasts, among them Jabez Antrim, James Barklow, John Selby, William Wine, Harry Selby, J. E. Banker. The last Postmaster was J. Albert Temple. He held the office from 1916 until the Roosevelt
administration closed it. Then Poasttown was put on a rural route and then followed door-to-door delivery out of Middletown.

Then general Store which had opened in 1815 watched a succession of owners come and go. The first general store that opened in Poasttown in 1815 was operated by Christian Coons, and the second one by Samuel Van Cort. Other storekeepers through the years included Philip Deall, George Catrow, John Dubler, Kemp and Antrim, John Selby, William Dine, Marsh and Poast, and Willis Thomas. Oldtime tavern keepers included: William Brown, Mr. Richardson, Joshua Heffner, Enos Heffner, Daniel Stump, Conrad Spidel, and Elias Emerick.

There was also other business activity in 19th Century Poasttown. On the northwest corner of Germantown Road and the Franklin -Trenton Road was a blacksmith shop, while across the road was an old stagecoach stop. Through the years Poasttown had several blacksmiths including William Tickle, Ortho Woods, Billy Breeman and Fred Seibold, who went into Middletown to work at Shartles Machine Shop.

Poasttown also had a wagon and sleigh builder, Conrad Speidel as well as the Woods Brothers. Peter Poast and Hal Selby ran a grain elevator. When Peter Poast was postmaster of the village, he was also agent for the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad. He operated a business for the Railroad, the C.H. and D. having erected a grain elevator on April 5, 1878. Poast's store was nearby with the post office selling groceries, and some hardware.

When young Peter 111, graduated from the local grade school and began to fill the void left by his father's death, which had been followed by that of his grandfather. Remaining single, he became the leading business man of the town, he took over the general store.

Another important business opened during this era --- a blacksmith and wagon makers shop which was operated by the Woods Brothers.

In 1851 the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad was built just north of the village, making Poasttown a shipping point. Peter Poast branched out into the grain buying business. Becoming an agent for the C.H. and D. Railroad he convinced them to erect an elevator, for grain storage, which they did in 1878. At the same time, tobacco was growing in importance, and Poasttown became a shipping center for the big, wooden tobacco boxes on the way to market.

During this period, one of Peter's brothers, William carried on a correspondence with his mother's family which reveals intimate details of personal as well as that of life in the Poasttown area. These letters were discovered by author John Baskin and are reported in his book on New Burlington.

On Jan. 10, 1874 Poast wrote his cousin, Ed Brown that the snow was 10 inches deep in Poasttown and that a fox hunt was being planned in which around 500 men would be involved. On Nov. 19, 1877 Poast advised Cousin John that there was some available work for repairing shoes and harness in the Poasttown region, but little harness and few shoes were being made by hand any longer, being shipped here from the East, and thus ruining the business.

In Feb. 1882 Poast complained that the roads were a sea of mud, and that the rains continued to fall. He noted that some of the young men of Poasttown had gone to Dayton to find work. The writer also tells of family gossip, of the courting days of a cousin who seemed to
be making headway, having been invited to his girlfriend's house "to drink sugar maple beer."

Poasttown had held its own among the Madison Township towns. in 1875 Madison (West Middletown) reported 158 population, Miltonville, 179, Poasttown, 200 and Trenton 340. Middletown had 3,046. Although a toll bridge, the Poasttown Bridge and the improved Middletown Germantown, turnpike made travel to the city easy.

Peter Poast III lived on until 1908 dying at the age of 72.

He also had another brother, Michael, who enlisted in the Civil War, in April 186 1, joining the Middletown recruited Company B, Second Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He spent the next four years in a blue uniform. Upon his return to Poasttown, he joined his brother Peter in his various business ventures, particularly in the tobacco business. He also purchased his own farm where he lived until his retirement.

Michael married Mabel Thompson of Germantown and they had two sons --- Martin and Peter Poast IV. This Peter enlisted in the Spanish-American War, spent 5 years in the Philippine Islands, first as a soldier, then as a member of the Manila Police Department. Next he went to China where he helped build a railroad. When lie returned to Ohio, he continued to work in the railroad industry, never returning to Poasttown, but living in Cincinnati.

Meanwhile his aging fattier, Michael continued to reside in Poasttown on the southwest corner of the old crossroads where the town had begun. Here he died at age 95. Knowing that death was imminent, Poast prevailed upon his friend, Bill Hollenbaugh to build him a pine coffin, advising him to buy the best timber possible. This Bill did, but when Poast died a niece decided her uncle would have a proper burial in a fine steel casket. He was laid to rest in 1938 at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Cemetery atop the hill overlooking Poasttown. thus ended the Poasts of Poasttown and the postmark disappeared in 1957. However some descendants of the family still live in the area. Even the Poast home was demolished to make way for the new Route 4 and an enlarged intersection with the Franklin -Trenton Road. The highway at that point was also raised to prevent the frequent flooding of the years gone by.

Through the years attempts were made at Poasttown to develop businesses. Peter Poast ran the freight office of the railroad and operated a tobacco and coal business. He operated the business for 34 years. Then Hal Selby bought it, selling out to Sol Thomas, who closed down the business.

In 1918 Mr. and Mrs. Ira Rains and Joseph Ritter of Middletown began a canning factory. At one time they employed 20 people in the summer canning tomatoes and sauerkraut grown by farmers of the region.

Then the canning factory moved out, and the vacant building was used for other businesses, all of which were of short duration. The loss of all the small businesses once housed in the Poasttown landmark was due to changing times.

During the Depression years and those following, according to Alice Hollenbaugh, historian of the area, Poasttown had two general stores, one on each side of the road, competing for business. On the west side was Sigel's store, next to the old schoolhouse. Carl Sigel, a longtime Madison Township trustee, also ran a coal business in a small building north of the store with coal yards along the railroad tracks. Albert Temple, across the road, was a short, jolly man, who had the post office in his store along with ice cream cans from which he dipped out cones. That post office merged with Middletown in 1957.
According to the historian, the Depression hit Poasttown hard. But the people never lost their resolve or sense of humor. She recalls a depression party held at the home of her aunt, Martha Crout, where tablecloths and napkins were made from newspaper and the light was from kerosene lamps. Neighbors came dressed in worn-out clothing, and some like Alice, in dresses cut from feed sacks.

The historian notes that a federal program of the Depression era gave the community a badly needed new school, which opened in 1937. The next big improvement was the construction of the railroad underpass on the Baltimore and Ohio line, which was in the early 1940's. The highway was widened at the time, the front yards of the old homes were thus cut down and the stately trees cut. Poasttown was never to look the same again. The old oneroom school became the Grange Hall, and later the Madison Fire Department.

Hollenbaugh had lived from one end of Poasttown to the other, making four moves within the village. During the years she made many friends among the old Poasttown families, among whom she recalls the Bowlus, Ballards. Poasts, Paullins, Dickeys, Bankers, Crouts, Bakers, Temples, Graves, Sharitts, Whites, Selbys, Michaels and Thompsons.

Poasttown itself remained small, with its suburb Poasttown Heights being many times the size of the original village. The historian noted the changes, remembering when the Catalina Mobile Home Park was farmland. She had seen the change from a retirement Community to a suburban one. The old Baptist Church is gone, but the one on the hill survives next to Mt. Pleasant Cemetery. Across the road still stands the old Sorg house used by Arthur Sorg. The Poasttown signs disappeared with the building of the new road, but Hollenbaugh persisted, and finally the Ohio Highway Department responded and put up new signs marking the ancient village.

Another major event in Poasttown history was the building of the underpass, which became necessary as traffic increased. It would change the appearance of the whole village. By the end of January 1941 work was progressing on the underpass for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad at Poasttown on Rt. 4, between Middletown and Germantown. Motor traffic was detoured by way of Thomas Road and the Franklin -Trenton Road. Time for construction was I I months. The project was planned by the Ohio Department of Highways as part of the 1941 safety improvement program. This grade crossing was one of the greatest hazards in the area.

A Poasttown landmark disappeared due to construction. It was a building erected by the old Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad, as a grain elevator. It stood near the crossing and had to make way for the new underpass.

After operating the elevator a few years, the railroad had sold it to Jost-Durst Milling Co., which bought and sold grain.

All have admired one of Poasttown landmarks, and shivered at this folk tale about it. North of Poasttown, on a hill above the village known as Mount Pleasant, sits a beautiful home across from an ancient cemetery. The great mansion was built by multi- millionaire Paul. J. Sorg as a wedding gift for his new daughter-in-law, Grayce Aull Sorg. It was rumored to have been inhabited by what was known as the Ghost of Grayce's Mansion. the ghost had once been a lovely young maid who served the Sorg family during their summer retreat to the country. One evening the maid tripped, falling down the narrow, steep back staircase, used by the servants. Those who rushed to her aid found her dead. Her earthly body was carried away,

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but her spirit refused to leave the Mansion, for she was so entranced by its great halls, its luxurious furnishings, the rich, imported draperies, and the shining brass, gold plated fixtures.

During the day, the friendly ghost hid in the cavernous basement with its many partitioned sections, where she amused herself by dropping pebbles into the cisterns in the cellar that supplied the house with water. They were so deep that a stone dropped took a second to splash, resounding with a hollow, eerie sound, sometimes heard by those upstairs. Only at night could the ghost be seen, peering from behind closed blinds and draperies. The long winter nights belonged to the ghost, for the owners were in the city. Passers-by would, from time to time, report seeing the young ghost in the shadow of a candle in the window.

Although only a small village itself, Poasttown was to have its suburbs. The original Poasttown consisted of 25 lots, 12 along the east side of Germantown Road (Route 4) and 13 along Franklin-Trenton Road. Just before World War I the first addition was laid out off the Oscar Michael farm along the west side of Germantown Road across from the original plat. This consisted of I I lots known as Miami Moor. Lots were sold but it wasn't until 1929 the first house was built by Charles Mears and then a second one by Michael. Paul G. Bowlus recalled as a boy playing ball in that open field waiting development. Bob Wise bought the remainder of the Michael Farm from which his trucking firm operates.

Next to be developed was what was called Poasttown Heights Baby Farms. The original plan was for 30 lots along old Germantown Road. Wes Zimmerman built the first house in this plat in 1924 to be followed by one built by Bert Billet. Several more were built by the time of the Depression which halted the building boom. However, in August 1933 a most unusual home was constructed in Poasttown Heights, when the George Creech family erected the area's first Armco Steel House, from steel sheets manufactured at Middletown.

Another section of Poasttown Heights lay along Meyer's Road with 14 large lots in the original plat being sold off the Warren Meyers farm. Poasttown Heights is generally considered to be the land from Germantown Road west to Browns Run. In this area are still many acres awaiting development into home sites.

Two industrial sites have been planned in the area. One is just west of old Poasttown and south of the CSX railroad tracks. It is a 12 acre site. A much larger industrial site of 261 acres lay north of the CSX tracks, bound on the north by Thomas Road and Route 4. It is noted as having abundant ground water. These two sites have awaited development largely because of lack of being served by a sanitary treatment plant or city water, but railroad access is a plus, with the 1-75 interchange only 7 miles southeast.
 

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Last Updated  04/17/2007
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