History of Monroeville, (Huron County) Ohio United States of America

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On United States auto route 20, five miles west of Norwalk is Monroeville (population 1,080) on the Huron River where the east and west branches unite. Its railroads are the B and O, the New York Central, the Wheeling and Lake Erie and the Lake Shore Electric line. It is in Ridgefield Township, which was organized in December, 1815, four years after William Frink made the first contract for land in the township. He built a log cabin which in the spring of 1812 he sold to Seth Brown, and departed. Frink seems to have been more of a hunter than a farmer. The first postmaster of Ridgefield Township was Schuyler Van Rensselaer and the first schoolhouse in the township was in Monroeville village, which was laid out Sept 29, 1817, and was called Monroe until the postoffice was established, when it received its present name. In 1836 there was an addition of 141 lots and in 1868 the town was incorporated. Richard Burt erected a grist mill about 1816.

Ninety-seven years ago, in the upper story of an old carding factory in Monroeville, Charles W and George W Mannahan built what is said to have been the first threshing machine ever made in Ohio. The castings were made at Hamilton and Standard's foundry in Milan from patterns made under the direction of an old millwright, Hosea Jacobs, of the old Jacobs' mills, north of Norwalk. All the work was by hand and only a few machines were made. One of them was sold to Samuel Clock and another to Henry Froman, farmers of Ridgefield Township.

In stage coach days Monroeville was an important place as the town was the terminus of various lines of travel. Two coaches were operated between Monroeville and Cleveland, one route being by way of Norwak and Elyria and the other by Milan and Berlin Heights. There was also a coach to Sandusky. The routes west were by way of Weaver's Corners to Tiffin and by way of Bellevue to Perrysburg. These coaches accommodated about eight passengers and were drawn by four horses, usually. The baggage was carried on top of the coach and the mail under the driver's seat. The mail was sorted at Monroeville and distributed to the several outgoing coaches. The horses were changed here. The arrival of the coaches was the big event of the day in the village. The stage drivers carried trumpets and when they reached the hill above the river they would blow them and the villagers would rush to the tavern to see the passengers. The meal would be ready awaiting the arrival of the coaches and the landlord would stand out in front and ring the bell. At one time Monroeville was larger than Toledo.

While Monroeville did not grow so rapidly as Toledo, the building of the railroads increased its importance and aided in the development of the surrounding country. A newspaper item a few years ago mentioned that before the '70s Monroeville was a decidedly wet town, that it had twenty-three saloons, a large brewery which was burned about 1875, three distilleries and a rectifier.

FROM: History of North Central Ohio, by William Duff. Historical Publishing Co, Topeka-Indianapolis, 1931.

History of Monroeville, (Huron County) Ohio

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