THE 1800s

1801
Peter and Benjamin Sells, sons of Ludwick Sells, traveled up the Scioto River to Franklinton (now Columbus), in the Ohio Territory. Numerous scouting trips to the area had given Ludwick Sells a positive impression of the land. In 1801, he sent his sons Peter and Benjamin to purchase 400 acres where Dublin now stands. The land was a part of the Virginia Military District, owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia. It was land set aside as payment to Virginia soldiers for their service in the War of Independence. Lieutenant James Holt owned the grant purchased by the Sells.

With the purchase, the Sells brothers traveled to the site now known as Dublin. They called their settlement Sells Town.

1803
Ohio became the 17th state of the Union.

1804
Augustus Miller arrived and settled south of Ludwick Sells settlement.

1806
George Ebey III came to Dublin (might have been 1804) with wife Mary (Ellenberger) Ebey. Like the Sells, he also is from Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. 

1808
John Sells, the oldest son of Ludwick Sells, came to Dublin and claimed 400 acres; his brothers received 300 acres north and their father, Ludwig, 100 acres south of the settlement.

The first church, the Methodist Episcopal, was organized in the home of George Ebey. (The History of Dublin Churches notes this as occurring in 1807.)

1809
Washington Township was organized.

Fletcher Sells, son of John Sells, was the first white child born in the settlement.

John Sells opened the first tavern, the Black Horse Tavern.

1810
John Sells asked John Shields, a surveyor, from Franklinton to survey his tract into 200 lots. The story is told Sells asked Shields to name the new settlement. Shields called it Dublin for his home in Ireland.

Just two miles north of town, on the east bank of the Scioto River, Wyandot Chief Shateyoranyah, known as Leatherlips, was tried by Wyandot warriors and executed for witchcraft. The warriors were sent by The Prophet, brother of Tecumseh. John Sells rode from Dublin and attempted to save the life of the Indian by offering the Wyandots his prized stallion.

Edward Eberly was the first blacksmith in Dublin.

1811
Christian Church organized by surveyor John Shields, who also was a minister.

1812
Dublin was in contention as a site for state capital, but the opportunity was lost in a poker game.

John Sells started a distillery and a hat factory in his house, located in the vicinity of the current Scioto River Bridge.

George Ebey and John Sells built a flour mill on the river; the first in Washington Township. Until this was built, the closest mill was in Old Town, a village that became Frankfort, in Ross County, near Chillicothe. The Ebey and Sells mill operated until 1898; the last owner was Joseph Corbin.

1813
John Ashbaugh set up a pottery shop along the Scioto River. 

1815
Charles Mitchell and his family came to Dublin. Their journey from Robstown, Pennsylvania, was by flatboat on the Youghiogheny River to Pittsburgh, on to the Ohio River and to the Scioto River north to Columbus where the family transferred to wagon and horseback for the final journey to Dublin.

James Hoey settled on Indian Run.

Joseph Hayden settled in the southern part of the township on the waterway that bears his name today, Hayden Run.

First deaths in the settlement; Mrs. Polly King and Mrs. George Ebey.

1817
Presbyterian Church meetings were held in the George Mitchell home, conducted by Reverend James Hoag, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Worthington.

1818
John Sells offered to sell land for 66.66 cents per acre before the town’s boundaries are established. Sells advertised in the "Columbus Gazette" that he had two hundred lots for sale in Dublin. Sells offered the purchasers three years credit.

Henry Shout built sawmill on Indian Run.

1820
First Post Office established. Daniel Wright was appointed Postmaster.

Population of Washington Township (present area plus Perry, Norwich and part of Brown townships) recorded in census is 137.

Oil well erected by Daniel Wright; operated for 10 years.

William Kilbourne introduced carding machine located in the oil mill.

Henry Coffman moved from Ripley, Ohio, where he had a hat-making business. He brought his business to Dublin; his wife was Margaret Sells, whom he married on a previous visit to Washington Township.

First schoolhouse in Washington Township on South Riverview in Dublin; first teacher on record was F. Henry. Support for schools came from fines for infractions of laws, not from taxes.

1821
John Sells and five others floated the first boat (15 feet by 60 feet) from Dublin down the Scioto River in the spring, carrying a load of 500 barrels of flour and a quantity of bacon, which he intended to take to New Orleans. The flat-bottomed boat cleared the low mill dams on the river with the advantage of the Spring floodwater. Sells sold his load at Maysville, Kentucky and returned to Dublin.

The Christian Church built a log structure on Daniel Brunk's property (History of Dublin Churches says this is a stone structure) at Bridge and High streets.

1824
Eliud Sells, John Sells' cousin, built a house at what is now 83 Riverview Street. It became the second location of the Black Horse Tavern that originally was in John Sells' home. This is the oldest stone house still standing in Dublin.

1826
Basil Brown, originally from Maryland, came to Dublin via Delaware County and Perry Township. Brown was a shoemaker and set up his trade in Dublin.

1827
A Presbyterian congregation was formally organized as a church body. A church building would not be finished until about 1857.

1830
Dr. Albert Chapman, Dublin's first physician, began practice. He later married Lucy Sells, daughter of John Sells.

Presbyterian Church built a frame structure in the north end of Dublin.

Washington Township schools came under supervision of township trustees.

Methodist Episcopal was the first church edifice built in Dublin and became Christie Methodist Episcopal, built on land donated by Mr. Christie.

1840
Dublin's first bridge over the Scioto River was built, a covered wood bridge.

Holcomb Tuller built and operated an ashery, where he made black salts (potash; crude potassium from wood ashes) and saleratus (potassium bicarbonate and sodium bicarbonate [baking soda]), which he sent to Cincinnati for sale.

1842
Dr. Eli Pinney, Dublin's second doctor, began practice. He married Marilla Sells, granddaughter of John Sells, in 1843.

1843
The last of the Wyandot Indians, native to Ohio, were moved from Ohio by the U.S. government, leaving the Upper Sandusky area, their traditional tribal home, and relocated to Kansas and Oklahoma. Only one Wyandot family remained in Ohio, the family of Bill Moose.

1848
Evening Star Lodge, IOOF (Independent Order of Odd Fellows), instituted in Dublin.

1855
The village was incorporated and Zenas Hutchinson elected Mayor.

1856
Control was given back to Washington Township which also included what are now Perry and Norwich Townships and part of Brown Township.

St. John’s Lutheran Church organized on Avery Road.

1858
IOOF Cemetery opened.

1862
Fletcher Coffman house construction began, finished in 1867. Today this is the home of the Dublin Historical Society.

1868
Christie Methodist Episcopal Church replaced by larger brick building.

1871
Brick school building erected on North High Street on site of the present Dublin Library. With this larger building, there was an opportunity for a high school education for the first time in the community.

1878
A major fire consumed Tuller’s General Store and several other buildings.

Dublin Coronet Band was organized.

1881
The village was incorporated again; this required a population of 400 and signatures of 82 registered voters. T.J. Steinbower was elected Mayor, John Wing was marshal.

(1880’s; exact date unknown)
Jefferson Fulton, born 1863, came from Cincinnati. He is believed to be the first black man in the Dublin area. He secured work on the E.W. Tuller Sawmill Road farm taking care of Tullers’ thoroughbreds and Belgian show horses.

1883
A calaboose or jail was built at a cost of $34.17, to hold those who became overly intoxicated in one of Dublin's saloons. There were as many as 13 saloons at one point.

1884
Milton Smiley was Mayor.

1885
A steel bridge replaced the wood covered bridge spanning the Scioto River.

1886
Augustine Thomas was Mayor.

1888
Gas lampposts were installed in the village. The lamps were purchased from the Sun Vapor Street Lamp Company.

Dublin School District formed.

Theodore Steinbower was Mayor for second time.

1890
F.D. Pinney was Mayor.

1891
Dr. Llewellyn McKitrick began practice in Dublin.

1892
Dublin’s first commencement, with three in graduating class.

1895
School District returned to Washington Township control, due in part to lack of funds.

Ordinance passed to close saloons on Sundays.

The Aurora Cadets, girl’s drill team, organized by Eber Tuller.

1897
First Washington Township Schools graduation, with three female graduates.

1899
Village Council gave Franklin Telephone Company permission to erect telephone poles within corporate limits of the village. Fred Wing had the first exchange and carried messages to people receiving the calls. (Dublin Chamber of Commerce information says the date for phones should be 1889.)

E. W. Tuller, Dublin businessman, was elected to the Ohio General Assembly for one term.