Template:Wp-Perrysburg, Ohio-History

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Early history

Perrysburg lies near the center of the Twelve Mile Square Reservation, a tract of land ceded in 1795 to the United States of America by the Ottawa people following their defeat in the Northwest Indian Wars. They had occupied this territory since the turn of the 18th century, after having settled in the region of the French trading post at Fort Detroit. The Ottawa had controlled much of the territory along the Maumee River in present-day northwestern Ohio.

In 1810, early European-American settlers here were Major Amos Spafford (1753-1818), his wife Olive (1756-1823), and their four children. In 1796, Spafford, a native of Connecticut, was a surveyor for the Connecticut Land Company. He drew the first map laying out Cleveland and named the city. He left there in 1810 following appointment as US Customs Collector and postmaster for the new port at the Foot of the Rapids of the Miami of the Lake Maumee River. Two years later, 67 families lived in the area, but most fled at the outbreak of the War of 1812. After the war and the 1817 Treaty of Fort Meigs, which extinguished the Ottawa claim to this area, Spafford returned to the area. He settled on a 160-acre land grant, signed by President James Monroe, on River Tract #64 in Waynesfield Township. Other veterans who received land grants for their service during that war also settled in this area.

War of 1812

When the war clouds of 1812 began to edge toward Northwest Ohio, General William Henry Harrison ordered the construction of the fort, beginning in February 1813. Harrison was General Anthony Wayne's former aide-de-camp. Later he was elected as the country's ninth president. The installation was named Fort Meigs in honor of Ohio's fourth governor, Return Jonathan Meigs. Fort Meigs was constructed on a bluff above the Maumee River, and built from a design by the army engineer Captain Eleazer D. Wood, for whom the county would be named. Two critical battles with the British were fought at the fort during the War of 1812.

Early settlers in the area fled to Huron during the War of 1812. They returned to settle in the floodplain below Fort Meigs, calling the settlement Orleans. They moved to higher ground after being flooded out. Perrysburg was located by a surveying team led by Alexander Bourne, appointed to that position by Edward Tiffin, Surveyor General of the United States. Contrary to numerous Internet postings, Charles Pierre L'Enfant did not survey and plat Perrysburg, Ohio on April 27, 1816; this survey was performed in late June and early July 1816, by surveyors Joseph Wampler and William Brookfield under the auspices of Alexander Bourne and Josiah Meigs, Surveyor General of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri.

There is a myth that Perrysburg was one of only two cities to be surveyed by the Federal Government. This myth was shattered in 2018 when research into the National Archives identified many town and village surveys conducted by the Federal Government in the 19th century.

Growth of Perrysburg

The town soon became a center for shipbuilding and commerce on Lake Erie. It was named after Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, naval commander during the War of 1812 and hero of the Battle of Lake Erie.

From 1822 to 1868 Perrysburg served as the county seat.

In 1833, Perrysburg contained a courthouse, jail, schoolhouse, two stores, two taverns, two physicians, two lawyers, about 60 houses, and 250 inhabitants.

In 1854, an epidemic of cholera decimated the population. The town closed down for two months in that summer, trying to contain the epidemic at a time when people did not understand how it was transmitted. More than 100 people died. Other towns along the Maumee also suffered high losses from the epidemic, and Providence, Ohio was abandoned. It had suffered a disastrous fire less than a decade before.

Modern Perrysburg

On October 12, 1984 President Ronald Reagan made a whistle stop in Perrysburg in the Ferdinand Magellan drawing a crowd of over 20,000.