Spencer Township, Hamilton County, Ohio

{{Short description|Former township in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States}}

File:Spencer Township Hall in Columbia-Tusculum.jpg in 2010]]

Spencer Township was a civil township in southeastern Hamilton County, Ohio. It was established in the early 1840s and annexed to Cincinnati in stages from 1855 to 1909.

Name

File:OliverSpencer.jpg

Spencer Township was named after Colonel Oliver Spencer, an early resident of Columbia Township.{{sfn|Ford|Ford|1881|p=347}} Statewide, other townships named Spencer are located in Allen, Guernsey, Lucas, and Medina counties.

History

The land that would become Spencer Township was included in the 1794 Symmes Purchase. It included Columbia, the first white settlement in the historical Miami Valley, in the present-day Columbia-Tusculum neighborhood of Cincinnati. In 1791, the area became part of Columbia Township.{{sfn|Ford|Ford|1881|p=347}}{{sfn|Nelson|Runk|1894|p=387}}

In the early 1840s, Spencer Township was carved out of the suburban southwestern portion of Columbia Township, which was otherwise largely rural.{{sfn|Ford|Ford|1881|p=347}}

On January 1, 1855, the shipbuilding village of Fulton, which had already withdrawn from Spencer Township as Fulton Township, was annexed to Cincinnati following a vote by residents of the village.{{cite news|title=Fulton|work=The Cincinnati Pictorial Enquirer|date=February 18, 1968|pages=8, 13–14|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81604984/|via=Newspapers.com}} [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81604896/][https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81604918/]{{cite book|title=Centennial History of Cincinnati and Representative Citizens|first=Charles Theodore|last=Greve|publisher=Biographical Publishing Company|location=Chicago|volume=1|date=1904|page=19|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eJxABLtxX60C&pg=PA19|via=Google Books}}

Spencer Township Hall was built in 1860 to serve as the seat of government as well as the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.{{cite news|title=City's oldest neighborhood sees renewal|first=Steve|last=Kemme|work=The Cincinnati Enquirer|date=September 5, 2010|page=B5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81604143/|via=Newspapers.com}}

In 1870, Cincinnati annexed East Walnut Hills, O'Bryonville and Mount Lookout.{{cite book|title=The suburbs of Cincinnati: sketches, historical and descriptive|first=Sidney D.|last=Maxwell|publisher=G.E. Stevens & Co.|location=Cincinnati|date=1870|at=Preface|url={{fullurle:File:The suburbs of Cincinnati - sketches, historical and descriptive (IA suburbsofcincinn00maxw).pdf|page=11}}|via=Wikimedia Commons}}{{cite news|title='A Bit Of Heaven' Right Here In Town|first=Jim|last=Sluzewski|work=The Cincinnati Enquirer|date=November 27, 1978|page=D2|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81604591/|via=Newspapers.com}} Cincinnati annexed Columbia and Pendleton (not to be confused with the Cincinnati neighborhood of that name) in 1871{{cite book|title=Cincinnati, the Queen City, 1788–1912|volume=2|first=Charles Frederic|last=Goss|publisher=S. J. Clarke Publishing Company|location=Cincinnati|date=1912|page=528|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-hB6AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA528|via=Google Books}} and Tusculum in 1875.{{cite news|title=Tusculum Once Known For Wealth Of Residents|first=Harry L.|last=Hale|work=The Cincinnati Enquirer|date=February 5, 1961|page=7D|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81605337/|via=Newspapers.com}}

As late as 1881, Linwood, East Linwood, Russell's, Turkey Bottom, and part of Red Bank remained within the township.{{sfn|Ford|Ford|1881|p=347}} In 1893, Cincinnati annexed Linwood. In August 1909, Cincinnati annexed the southern part of Spencer Township, including Turkey Bottom, on the way to California, which desired the city's police and fire protection after Coney Island opened there.{{cite news|title=Increased: The Boundary of the Municipality By Taking in Part of the Lower River Road Territory|work=The Cincinnati Enquirer|date=May 15, 1909|page=8|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81612816/|via=Newspapers.com}} The rest of Spencer Township became part of the city in September 1909{{cite news|title=An Ordinance No. 1,383|first=Edwin O.|last=Bathgate|work=The Cincinnati Enquirer|date=September 16, 1909|page=13|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81605653/|via=Newspapers.com}} and was attached to Cincinnati Township in October 1909.{{cite news|title=An Ordinance No. 1,468|first=Edwin O.|last=Bathgate|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/81613498/|via=Newspapers.com}}

Geography

File:Map of Hamilton County, Ohio - exhibiting the various divisions and sub divisions of land with the name of the owners & number of acres in each tract together with the roads, canals, streams, towns LOC 2012591124.jpg

At its inception, Spencer Township was bounded by the Ohio River to the south, Cincinnati and Millcreek Township to the west, Columbia Township to the north, and Anderson Township to the east across the Little Miami River.{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2012591124/|title=Map of Hamilton County, Ohio : exhibiting the various divisions and sub divisions of land with the name of the owners & number of acres in each tract together with the roads, canals, streams, towns &c. throughout the county|publisher=}}{{cite web|url=http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/20647/Outline+Map/Cincinnati+and+Hamilton+County+1869/Ohio/|title=Outline Map, Atlas: Cincinnati and Hamilton County 1869, Ohio Historical Map|first=Historic Map Works|last=LLC.|website=www.historicmapworks.com}} This area today is wholly located within the Cincinnati city limits, corresponding to parts of Evanston, Hyde Park, Mount Lookout, Columbia-Tusculum, Linwood, and the East End.

Demographics

In June 1880, there were 2,543 residents in Spencer Township, of whom 995 resided in areas annexed to Cincinnati.{{sfn|Ford|Ford|1881|p=358}}

References

External links

[https://recordersoffice.hamilton-co.org/helpful_information/townshipmaps.html Hamilton County Recorder's Office – Township Maps]

Category:History of Cincinnati

Category:Populated places established in the 1840s

Category:Populated places disestablished in 1909

Category:Defunct townships in Ohio