Although no longer an official part of Madison Township, Trenton began as a small village in the township, annexing township land as it grew into a city. The history of Trenton can be found in two excellent books: "Trenton, Ohio, 1816-1966" by Edward J. Keefe and "Trenton People, Trenton Places, 175 Years" by Doris L. Page, et. al. Therefore, only a brief sketch is included here with readers being referred to the definitive histories just noted.

On Feb. 13, 1971 --Congressman Walter Powell of the 24th Congressional District at 10:45 a.m. read the official proclamation issued by Ted Brown, Secretary of the State of Ohio, which made Trenton, Butler County's newest city. After performing this official act, Powell looked up amid the glare of cameras and announced to the citizens of Trenton assembled at the Municipal Building, "You are now a city." After 155 years, Trenton had reached city status, as indicated by the final figures of the 1970 Census, which showed it to have a population of 5,278.

State Representative David Armbruster presented the new city with its first official Ohio flag, and Congressman Powell gave the new city a U.S. flag which had flown over the Capitol Building.

A congratulatory telegram from the Mayor of Trenton, New Jersey was read by congressman Powell. He noted that there are nine Trentons in the U.S.A. Trenton, New Jersey remains the largest. It is no coincidence- -the name of Trenton. The early settlers of the community, headed by Deacon Michael Pearce and Elder Stephen Gard, were from New Jersey.

The original Trenton, Congressman Powell recalled in his address, was named in honor of William Trent, who in 1714 purchased 800 acres of land, on part of which he laid out a settlement called Trent's Town, later shortened to Trenton. Trent House still stands in Trenton, N.J. During the Revolutionary War, Trenton won its place in the history books.

County Commissioner, Bill Donham was on hand to see Trenton become Butler's fifth city, joining its sisters- Hamilton, Middletown, Fairfield and Oxford. However, the village was first called Bloomfield, in honor of a Governor of New Jersey, whom the pioneers wished to honor. But when a post office was proposed for the thriving village, it was found that there was already listed a Bloomfield, Ohio. The citizens were told that they would have to pick another town name. Not wishing to sever sentimental ties to New Jersey, they decided to change the name to Trenton, after their former capital city. The Ohio General Assembly approved this change, Dec. 16, 1820.

On Feb. 27, 1816, Michael Pearce and David Enyeart filed the plat for Bloomfield, which covered sections of both their land. Enyeart had first settled in Princeton, moving to Middletown in 1815, where he continued to live. However, Pearce had settled in what would be Trenton. In 1801, Pearce had begun the erection of a 3-story house on the southeast corner of State Street, now Ohio 73, and Main Street.

The founder's home was to stand until 1957 when, after a fire, it was demolished to make way for a service station. From 1873 to 1925, it was the Bernhart Blust home, and after he had done some remodeling, was known locally as Blust's Castle. After the service station closed, the city of Trenton in 1995 made plans to purchase the land, demolish the building, and create Pioneer Park honoring the city's founder. The park was located on land where the city's founder, Michael Pearce erected the town's first house. Founder's Park planned more as a visual one than a functional one. It is adjacent to a five-way intersection, with part of the land being used as a street relocation project to improve traffic flow. The community contributed to its construction.

Although those interested in Trenton's past spearheaded the Sesquicentennial celebration in 1966, it was not until October 1971 that the Trenton Historical Society officially came into being. Since then it has established a museum, compiled the plat and record of burials in the 1802 Pioneer Cemetery of the Elk Creek Baptist Church, and installed historic signs there. It has also placed signs at the city limits marking Trenton as the home of Squire Littell, M.D., the first resident doctor in Butler County. It buried a permanent brass marker denoting the junction of four sections of land at Miami and State streets.

Another cultural advance came when a branch of the Middletown Public Library, with the aid of Trenton residents, was opened Jan. 5, 1975, at 17 E. State Street.

From another excerpt from the book, "Trenton People, Trenton Place, is the account of the city's founder, Michael Pearce:

"Sometime around 1801 or 1802, Michael Pearce brought the family group to homestead on his land. At least one child was born to the Pearces during their sojourn at Columbia now part of Cincinnati. The family consisted of ten living children: two sons and eight daughters and the married daughters' husbands. Together with several other Baptist families, the nucleus of a little settlement was formed on Pearce's acreage. On September 27, 1807, Pearce received the deeds for Sections 5, 6 and a portion of Section 4 in what would become Madison Township of Butler county, Ohio. It was estimated that Pearce owned 1500 acres of land.

A contemporary of Pearce's wrote in his diary of the primitive existence early pioneers led. He wrote of how their first homes were necessarily built of logs, often only one room. Felling of the trees supplied not only logs for construction, but made a clearing in the thickly wooded area as well.

As time went by, the Pearce daughters were much sought after. Manners and accomplishments such as theirs were rarely found among the settlers on the frontier. When compliments on her daughters reached Phebe Pearce, she was genuinely pleased. Phebe, herse!f, must have had a classic air about her as though she had experienced many things. And as the wife of Michael Pearce, she certainly had.

Michael Pearce and a man named David Enyeart began to work together to establish a village. Enyeart had come to Ohio in 1802, settling first in Princeton before moving to the village of Middletown in 1815. Although he brought a smaller portion of land into the plat than Pearce, they combined their land, and on February 27, 1816, they were successful in their efforts to plat the village which was to be called "Bloomfield". The name was chosen to honor one of the governors of their home state, New Jersey. Enyeart had apparently also come from that state, for he agreed with the name choice.

Bloomfield consisted of 33 lots, all of which were situated on the north side of the State Road that led firom Ohio's first capitol, Chillicothe, to Oxford and which eventually became known as State Street. In addition to being a large land owner, Pearce became a farmer. He began to sell not only lots in the village, but acres of land for farms south of the state road. The Pearces were lucky in that all of their children lived within visiting distance of their parents' home. In fact, of the sons-in-law, three purchased farm acreages from their father-in-law. They were: Dr. Squier Littell (married Mary Pearce); Elder Stephen Gard (married to Rachel Pearce); and Joseph Taylor (married to Rhoda Pearce and after her death to her sister Sarah). Daughter Phebe married Joseph Gard; Elizabeth married Alexander Van Pelt, Susannah (also called Anna) married James Urmstion whose mother was Mary Enyeart. Perhaps Susannah may have met her husband through association with the Enyeart family. Another daughter who is mentioned In the Butler County History of 1882 possibly died young, as did one of her brothers, John Pearce. The other son of Michael and Phebe Pearce was Squier, who died in LaPort County, Indiana.

Mary Pearce had married Dr. Squier Littell, who became the region's first resident doctor.

Dr. Littell was a tall man for his time of over 6 feet and, as his years advanced, so did his weight, finally reaching 350 pounds, making him the largest man in Butler County. Becoming too heavy to travel by horseback to make house calls, he rode in a spring wagon reported to have been the first such vehicle seen in this area. The doctor had many patients in early Middletown and was one of the charter members of the Masonic Lodge here.

Another Pearce daughter, Rachel, married Elder Stephen Gard, founder of the Elk Creek Baptist Church in 1802, serving it for 40 years. It's graveyard can still be seen along Ohio 73. Susannah married into the Enyeart family of Middletown. Other daughters, when married, all lived within visiting distance of their parents.

There is little question that the paths of Middletown's pioneer, Daniel Doty and Michael Pearce often crossed. Both had emigrated from New Jersey, resided at Columbia, come up to Morrell's Station and onto their land.
 

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Last Updated  04/17/2007
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