General Timeline of Waynesville, Ohio History (Late 18th through 19th Century)

• Ca. 1,000 BC to 800 AD Woodland Period. The Adena and Hopewell inhabited this area during that time.
• Ca. 900 to 1500 AD Fort Ancient people lived in Ohio.
• November 26, 1787 Judge John Cleves Symmes published a pamphlet giving the terms of sale for the land he had purchased between the Miami Rivers.
• 1791 Samuel Heighway immigrated to America from his home in Shropshire, England.
• 1792 Samuel Heighway surveyed the area around Waynesville. He built the pre-settlement log cabin on Newman's Run. The cabin has now been moved to Caesar's Creek Pioneer Village.
• 1793 General Mad Anthony Wayne's troops camped on Camp Creek. Legend is that Wayne's paymaster hid the soldier's payroll during an attack by the Indians. The money has never been found!
• 1795 Samuel Heighway formed a partnership with Dr. Evan Banes, a physician living in Columbia, and John Smith who was to become the first United States Senator from Ohio.
• February 3, 1796 Articles of Agreement made between John Cleves Symmes of North Bend in Hamilton Co. and John Smith, Samuel Heighway and Evan Banes of the same county. They purchased 43 sections from John Cleves Symmes and laid out the town of Waynesville in February, 1796. Waynesville was designed with 11 squares, each consisting of 8 inlots, and with 19 outlots. Each Square contained four square acres.
• February 22, 1796 Heighway had his 3000 acres of land bounded east on the Miami two miles below the town of Waynesville lately laid off.
• November 27, 1796 Heighway left Pittsburgh on a flatboat to transport his goods to Columbia and eventually to Waynesville.
• February 27, 1797 Heighway and his party, after a harrowing winter on the Ohio River, arrive in Columbia.
• March 8, 1797 The settlement party, comprised of Heighway, Dr. Banes, and Francis Bailey reached Waynesville. They were accompanied by John and Samuel Tamset and their wives, and Culbert Watson who drove one of the wagons.
• March, 1797 The first house in Waynesville, a log cabin, was built for Samuel Heighway.
• 1799 The first Friends (Quakers), the families of Abijah O’Neall and James Mills, arrived in Waynesville from the Bush Creek Monthly Meeting Meeting in South Carolina.
• July 27, 1799 Middle Run Predestinarian Baptist Church was organized.
• 1801 Ezekiel Cleaver, a Quaker, came to Waynesville and erected a log cabin on the corner of Miami and Third Streets. He then returned to his family who had left Virginia and were living in Brownsville, Pa. and brought his family to Waynesville. See, Ezekiel Cleaver ~ One of the Earliest Quaker Pioneers.
• 1800 James Corey built a log building used as a house for public entertainment on Main Street in Wabash Square. This later became known as the Hammel House Stand. Prior to 1806 James Jennings purchased it and erected a frame building. The brick building was built in 1822. See, The Hammell House & Other Early Taverns/Inns in Waynesville.
• 1803 Samuel Heighway becomes Waynesville's Postmaster.
• 1803 The Friends' log Meetinghouse was built near were the Red Brick Meetinghouse is located today. David Brown built it. See, Miami Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends in Waynesville, Ohio.
• March 24, 1803 Warren County was established by act of the General Assembly. It was named in honor of a martyr in the cause of American Independence General Joseph Warren, who was killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill, Boston.
• May 10, 1803 Wayne Township was created as one of the four original townships in Warren County, Ohio.
• September 5, 1803 Miami Monthly Meeting of Friends (Quaker) is established.
• 1803 Samuel Heighway built the first Mill in Waynesville on Newman's Run. It was used up till 1844 as a distillery.
• 1804 Samuel Heighway opens a store and inn.
• 1806 John Haines builds his Mill on the race. See, The Waynesville Mill ~ The "Upper Mill" .
• 1807 The Waynesville Methodist Church was organized at the home of the Widow Elizabeth Smith. The Smith home was located about one mile from the mouth of Caesar's Creek on the intersection of Elbon Road and Corwin Road.
• 1808 "Diamond Hill" home was built on Clarksville Road across from Miami Cemetery by early Quaker settler, Abijah O’Neall. It was destroyed by fire in 1978.
• 1811 White Brick Quaker Meetinghouse and Friends' School built.
• 1812 John Satterthwaite builds his home, The Half-Way House, on the Accommodation Stagecoach Line.
• 1813 Samuel Heighway moves from Waynesville to Cincinnati.
• 1813 Thomas Swift, a potter, builds his brick house and shop.
• 1817 Samuel Heighway dies.
• 1817 First bridge over the Little Miami at Waynesville is built by John Satterthwaite.
• 1818 Moses McKay builds his brick home on New Burlington Road.
• 1820 The Stetson house is built on Main Street. Louisa Stetson Larrick, the sister of John Stetson, the inventor of the famous Stetson hat, lived there.
• 1820s-1830s The Accommodation Line carried stagecoach traffic from Springfield through Waynesville on to Cincinnati. It was owned by John Satterthwaite, of Waynesville, and William Werden of Springfield.
• 1821 Crosswick was platted. James Jennings was the proprietor. Crosswick is a small crossroads north of Waynesville.
• 1824 The Methodists move their meeting site to the home of Burwell Goode (1784-1851) and Elizabeth Goode, the daughter and son-in-law of James and Elizabeth Smith. The house was built in 1823 and is located 1½ miles east of Waynesville on Route 73.
• 1825 Henry Clay visits Waynesville and stays in the Holloway Inn. See, David Holloway ~ Early Quaker Pioneer, Merchant and Tavern Owner.
• 1826 Joshua Ward builds Miami House. This building becomes part of the Underground Railroad. It had a hidden room in the attic that could be entered by pressing on a board in the wall.
• 1828 The Hicksite Separation among the Quakers. The Orthodox Friends occupy the old log meetinghouse until they construct the Red Brick in 1836.
• 1828 The Gravel Hill School was built.
• January 1829 William Harvey founds Harveysburg, Ohio.
• 1833 Narcissa Goode, the daughter of Gaines Goode, was buried on their farm. Gaines deeded this area to the Methodist Church to be used as a burial ground. This, with additional ground, later became the Miami Cemetery.
• 1833 Mount Holly was platted by Jacob Pearson.
• 1836 The red brick Orthodox Meeting House was built.
• 1837 A Cholera epidemic hits Waynesville. John Satterthrwaite dies. Martin VanBuren stays at the Hammell House.
• 1838 The Gravel Hill School was built.
• 1839 John W. Keys is elected as Waynesville's earliest know Mayor.
• 1840 Native American children are brought to Waynesville from the Indian Territory by Quaker, Thomas Wells, an Orthodox Quaker missionary at the Shawnee Indian School and Farm in Kansas Territory. They were educated here while living in homes of Quakers. They then returned to Indian Territory.
• 1840 The brick Methodist Church is built on the corner of North and Fourth (first Methodist church building on this site).
• April 20, 1842 Charles Dickens stayed at the Holloway Inn.
• 1843 A tuberculosis epidemic took the lives of many of Noah Haines relatives including 3 sons, 5 daughters and 6 grandchildren.
• 1843 The Waynesville Academy for higher learning is built. Classes were held here until 1857 when the first Union school was built. See, The Waynesville Academy.
• 1845 The Little Miami Railroad is built through Corwin, Ohio. Corwin is settled by John Johnson & Joel W. Johnson.
• 1848 The Waynesville Masonic Temple is chartered as Lodge #163. Meetings were held on the 3rd floor of the Hammel House.
• February 2, 1850 J.W. Elliott established The Miami Visitor, after the Civil War later named the Miami Gazette. The second owner of The Miami Visitor was John Wesley Roberts.
• 1851-1852 The Waynesville~Wilmington Toll Road is constructed.
• 1855 Lytle (Raysville) is platted.
• 1855 Seth Silver Haines built his home on 4th Street. Its tower was used as a lookout in the Underground Railroad.
• 1856 Emmor Baily and Mary Satterthwaite Baily built their Federal style brick farm house. The house was designed by Emmor's brother, Ezra. Mary was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Satterthwaite. See, Emmor Baily, Jr.
• 1857 The local schools were consolidated and the first Union School building was built.
• 1861 Local son, John Evans was appointed Governor of the Colorado Territory by Abraham Lincoln.
• 1861 Dr. James Wilkins Haines built a three-story brick home on Stoneybrook Farm as a sanitarium where alcoholics could go to be cured. Seth Silver Haines had grown groves of Catalpa trees and the buds were used in Dr. Haines patent medicine. "Dr. Hanes' Golden Specific."
• April 2, 1866 The Miami Cemetery Association was formed. They purchased 44.6 acres of land north of the Methodist Cemetery and in 1877 the Methodist Cemetery became part of the Miami Cemetery.
• June 10, 1867 The Miami Cemetery grounds are dedicated "as a burial place forever". Moses Hudson is the first to be buried in Miami Cemetery after the organization on June 24, 1867.
• 1869 A covered bridge was built over the Little Miami on Corwin Avenue.
• 1869 St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Waynesville began with two communicants in 1869 when the Rev. W. T. Helms of Nashville, Tennessee, came to the area to hold services for J. Drew Sweet and Mrs. Thomas J. Brown, two local members of the Church of England. Services were held for several months in the town hall (McKay Hall), after which a public-spirited Quaker, Achilles Pugh, fitted up a room on Main Street, which was shared by the new Episcopal group and a tiny Roman Catholic congregation. See, St. Mary's Episcopal Church.
• September 25, 1869 Dr. Mary Leah Cook, beloved physician and founder of the library named after her, was born in a log cabin in Spring Valley to parents Seth Cook and Hannah Redfern Cook. See, Dr. Mary Leah Cook 1869-1964.
• November 28, 1869 The Black School in Corwin begins.
• 1870 The white brick Friends Meetinghouse is remodeled.
• January 1870 The Masons purchase part of lot number 3 for the location of their first Masonic Temple.
• January 1870 Miami Valley Institute, later known as Miami Valley College opens in Springboro. Many Quaker Waynesvillians are involved in the establishment and support of this school. Many send their children there for their education.
• 1872 William Raper is convinced by the Crusader's Temperance Union to dump his stock of barrels of whiskey onto the dirt streets in front of his barroom. His barroom now houses Baker's Antiques.
• 1872 Seth Hocket Ellis helps to organize the State Grange and the Waynesville Farmers Grange No. 13 begins.
• 1872 Waynesville High School's first graduation class consists of two members: Horace Allen and J. Edwin Janney.
• Ca. 1875 The Village of Waynesville constructs the "Lock-Up" on Chapman Street. It will serve the village as a jail and firehouse. The exact date of construction is unknown. See, The Old Lock Up.
• 1875 The Waynesville National Bank is founded. Seth Silver Haines is president from 1875 until his death in 1896.
• 1875 St. Mary's Episcopal Church conducts its first Sunday School.
• March 28, 1877 The Waynesville National Bank opens a branch in Lebanon.
• 1877 William and Sarah Rogers deed a part of Lot #5 on Wabash Square to be the site of the Catholic Church, St. Augustine's.
• 1878 In Septemeber of 1878, the "Harris Guards", Co. F., Infantry Division #13, Ohio National Guard is establsihed in Waynesville. See, "The Harris Guards" ~ Ohio National Guard in Waynesville and THE "HARRIS GUARD", Co. F, 13th INFANTRY DIVISION, OHIO NATIONAL GUARD, WAYNESVILLE, OHIO, MUSTER LISTS.
• 1879 A terrible year for Waynesville, rocked by murder and scandal. See, Triple Murder in Waynesville ~ Willie Anderson, Another Murder in Waynesville? ~ Captain William Rion Hoel and Seth Silver Haines ~ A Waynesville Notable ~ February 1, 1824 ~ February 11th, 1895.
• January 1, 1880 The Wayne Novelty Works began operation.
• May 24, 1880 John and Clara Funkey begin construction of their Italianate Victorian brick home on North Main Street. Judge John W. Keys places a sealed half-gallon canning jar containing Waynesville and Warren County papers and mementos in the cornerstone. See, Funkey & Missildine ~ Merchants in Waynesville
• April 21, 1881 St. Mary's Episcopal Church is finally consecreated by the Bishop almost eleven years after the laying of the cornerstone.
• 1882 Beers History of Warren Co. is published. John W. Keys wrote the Wayne Township portion.
• 1882 Father Augustine and his Catholic parishioners build their church on High Street.
• 1891 The second Union School building on the corner of Miami and Fourth is constucted. It replaced the old Union School that had been located on the same spot.
• January 16, 1892 Dr. James W. Haines, whose cure for drunkenness is advertised in every American, English, and Irish newspaper and is shipped to all civilized countries, develops a cure for the grip.
• March 5, 1895 Mount Evans is named for John Evans.
• July 2, 1897 John Evans dies in Denver, Colorado.
• December 1899 "The Current Topic Club" is formed. It is soon renamed the "New Century Club" in 1905.
• 1900 The Creamery was built on Wilkerson Lane by the French Brothers. Virgil Wilkerson bought it in 1940 for his residence.
• 1900 Martin and Ann Elizabeth Goode Gons purchase the McKay home.
• April 7, 1900~The Great Fire of April 7th, 1900. There is a destructive fire on Main Street. E.L. Printz grocery store, the Miami Gazette offices, and the Waynesville Government offices are destroyed. The other two buildings on the block that survive are the residences of A. Maffit and Henry King.
• November 3, 1900 The new Waynesville National Bank building is dedicated.
• 1901 The Charles Cornell House is built. After Cornell's death in 1918, the home was sold to Samuel Meredith. It was purchased by Dr. Witham in the 1920s. It is now The Angel in the Garden Tea Room.