Holmes County, Ohio

History

Holmes County was formed by an act of the General Assembly of Ohio in 1824 and the actual organization was completed by the same body on January 4,1825. Its neighboring counties, Wayne to the north, Tuscarawas to the southeast, and Coshocton to the south, were all formed at an earlier date and the territory of Holmes County was taken from that of these three adjacent counties. The County was named for Major Holmes, a young officer of the War of 1812 who was killed in the unsuccessful attack on Fort Mackinack in 1814.

The first white settlers in the area which is now known as Holmes County came in 1809-1810 and, on February 4,1810, Hannah Butler became the first white child born in the County near Big Spring, a short distance north of present-day Holmesville. 

At about the same time, a group of Amish Mennonites from eastern Pennsylvania crossed the Alleghenies and made the first settlement of people of their faith in Ohio near the present Village of Sugarcreek in Tuscarawas County near the Holmes County line.  A young Amishman named Jonas Stutzman settled on lands near today's Walnut Creek. The deeds for these lands were signed by President Thomas Jefferson. Thus began the settlement of the Amish people in the area, a settlement which has grown into the largest in the world and which has contributed greatly to the picturesque quality of Holmes County rural life.

The Village of Millersburg was originally platted in 1815 and became the County seat in 1824 actually prior to its incorporation as a village by an act of the legislature dated February 17,1835.

Holmes County always was, and still remains, an Anglo-Saxon community with its ancestry almost entirely originating in central and northern Europe, primarily Germany and Switzerland with a smaller group from France. Among those coming from Switzerland were cheese makers who established their profession in the early days of the County. Today, their descendants produce large quantities of Swiss cheese known throughout Ohio and the neighboring states for its fine quality.

Holmes County is proud of its history, its fine farms, its good people, and its natural beauty. In a busy world, Holmes County still maintains a certain pastoral quality where those weary of the noise and pressures of life in larger industrial communities can literally "get away from it all."

The Holmes County Historical Society preserves the history of the County and maintains the Victorian House, a 28-room Queen Anne styled home at 484 Wooster Rd. in the Village of Millersburg. The Victorian House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is open to the public from June through October.

The Holmes County Commissioners, Emergency Management Agency, Environmental Management District, Buildings and Grounds, and Planning Commission have offices that reside in the "Old Jail Building" on Court Street.  To find out more about the history of this building, click here.