Springboro Timeline
1782
Jonathan Wright is born in Pipe Creek, Maryland.
1782
Christian Null fights in the Revolutionary War as a 12-year-old.
1783
The American Revolutionary War ends.
1785
John McLean is born in Morris County, New Jersey.
1788
Small Indian village is established on high ground at east end of present day Springboro City Limits and State Route 73.
1788
Joel Wright, father of Jonathan Wright, makes first surveying trip to Ohio Country according to Aron Wright Chapman, great grandson of Jonathan Wright.
1790
Earliest evidence of European settlers in the Springboro area.
1794
General “Mad” Anthony Wayne defeats last of Ohio’s hostile Indians at Battle of Fallen Timbers.
1795
Treaty of Greenville makes area safe for settlers. Howard Chandler Christy’s painting (1945) depicting treaty currently hangs in rotunda of Ohio capital building.
1796
Settlers begin to move into the area: Richardsons, Cranes, Greggs, Robinsons, Blinns, Dearths, Clevengers, Blackfords; Samuel Gregg built more than 100 log houses, brick houses, and barns in the area.
1797
Clearcreek Baptist Church near Ridgeville is first church in what will become Warren County.
1798
Christian and Charles Null build log home presently located on Heatherwoode Golf Course.
1798
Joel Wright is appointed by Baltimore meeting to visit the Wyandotte Indians in Ohio.
1799
Munger family settles in the area. Edmund Munger later rises to the rank of General during the War of 1812.
1800
Federal land sales office established.
1802
Henry Stansel, close friend of Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton, settles in present-day Springboro.
1802
Rev. Jacob Christman arrives to establish German Reformed Church.
1803
Ohio becomes the seventeenth state of the United States and Warren County is formed.
1805
Teeter Kesling settles in Clearcreek Township.
1805
Jesse Wilson begins orchard on his farm on present-day Lytle Five Points Road and is believed to be the person connected to the legend of Johnny Appleseed.
1806
Teeter Kesling and Christian Null build church in present-day city limits.
1806
Thomas Jefferson gives Martin Keever 102 acres near present day Ridgeville.
1810
Aron Wright, son of Jonathan Wright, is born in Pennsylvania.
1810
Andrew Crockett family, relatives of Davy Crockett, settle in Springboro area.
1812
Joel Wright plats Columbus, Ohio and later will be hired to survey Dayton, Ohio and 2,000 acres near the falls of the Ohio, presently Louisville, Kentucky.
1814
Jonathan Wright leads large Quaker group from Pennsylvania to settle in what is now Warren County.
1814
Fergus McLean (father of John) plats Ridgeville from his farmland.
1815
Jonathan Wright, proprietor, plats Springboro, and records 86 lots; he records it at the Court House in Lebanon on July 25; he builds his brick home now located on State Street and believed to have been built by the Kesling brothers.
1815
Clearcreek Township is formed on October 17.
1816
Francis Glass, author of The Life of Washington in Latin, opens a private school in Springboro.
1817
Abner Crane plats Westfield that is later renamed Red Lion.
1819
George Kesling is elected as a State Representative.
1819
Quakers build a Meeting House near present Quaker Cemetery on Factory Road.
1820
Local Underground Railroad activity begins in the area.
1821
Springboro postal area formed on March 3 with John Pennington as postmaster.
1823
Township native, John McLean, named United States Postmaster General by James Madison.
1825
James Stanton arrives in Springboro area from Virginia and settles on farmland a mile north of Springboro; makes four trips back to Virginia to bring slaves to Ohio and give them their freedom.
1825
Population of Springboro is 202.
1828
Local Quaker groups separate into Orthodox and Hicksite branches.
1830
Clearcreek native, John McLean, appointed to United State Supreme Court.
1830
Population of Springboro is 370.
1831
Springboro is incorporated on January 3, 1831.
1831
Jonathan Wright builds the Old White Mill (grist mill) on present-day West Central Avenue.
1832
Springboro Library Association is formed, and Dr. Joseph Stanton is the first librarian.
1832
Joseph Lownes and Samuel Heston arrive in Springboro. Samuel’s son, Edward and his wife, later help organize and maintain Miami Valley College.
1836
After his printing presses are destroyed by a mob for the second time, Achilles Pugh temporarily moves his national abolitionist newspaper, The Philanthropist, from Cincinnati to Springboro.
1837
Springboro has 59 businesses within the village limits.
1837
After forming Springboro School Association in 1835, the first school building under a Special School District is built on East Street.
1840
Population of Clearcreek Township is 2,821.
1840
Seventeen local men arrested for helping slaves escape.
1841
William Ballard opens a friction match factory in Red Lion.
1841
First Universalist Church is built at north end of Village.
1844
Mordecai Millard invents the super water wheel.
1844
Railroad skips Springboro and growth slows.
1844
Typhoid fever epidemic strikes in Springboro area.
1848
Springboro Cemetery is formed.
1849
Springboro poet, Coates Kinney, writes Rain on the Roof.
1850
Freed in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, former slave, Napoleon Johnson, settles in Springboro. He leaves to fight in the Civil War and then returns to Springboro make it his home.
1850
Springboro Lodge 148 of IOOF is formed.
1853
Granville Stokes of Clearcreek Township is elected to the Ohio Senate.
1855
Jonathan Wright passes away.
1855
Typhoid fever kills 75 area residents.
1856
Temperature reaches 32 degrees below zero on February 4.
1857
Aron Wright returns to Springboro to help brother, Josiah, with operation of mills and family farm; builds large Victorian home to convince his wife to move from New York City to Ohio.
1857
John McLean, as a Justice of the Supreme Court, casts one of two dissenting votes in the Dred Scott decision.
1860
John McLean loses Republican Presidential nomination to Abraham Lincoln.
1861
Civil War begins and Edwin M. Stanton, cousin of James Stanton, is Secretary of War for President Lincoln.
1862
Civil War forces closure of friction match factory in Red Lion.
1863
Universalist Church moves from location north of town to Old Stone Church on Main Street at the corner of Main and State Streets.
1864
Colonel Perry Gregg of the Union Army leads men to victory capturing over 250 rebels.
1865
Civil War ends with 19 local men losing their lives in the war.
1865
Springboro Cemetery Association is formed on August 25 with William H Newport as it first president.
1867
Local Masonic Lodge is formed.
1867
Marmaduke Crockett dies. Lebanon paper says it is, “the largest attended funeral in the history of Warren County.
1870
Thomas Miller, Quaker minister, is named Indian agent for Kansas by President Grant.
1871
Thomas Miller moves 700 Sac and Fox Indians to the Oklahoma Territory (over a 300-mile distance.)
1871
Miami Valley College opens with Aron Wright as President; charter is granted in 1874.
1872
Edward Orton, visiting faculty member at Miami Valley College, returns to Columbus to become President of Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College (later named Ohio State University).
1872
Thomas Miller returns to Springboro frustrated with government treatment of the Indians.
1872
Seth Ellis organizes Springboro Grange #2333 On October 1.
1874
Local WCTU (Women’s Christian Temperance Union) formed with Catherine Stanton as one of the first organizers.
1874
Tornado destroys many buildings on Main Street on May 9.
1874
First United Methodist Church in Springboro is built on East Street.
1876
Springboro’s Rebecca Ellis wins voting privileges for female members of the National Grange.
1879
Aron Wright resigns as President of Miami Valley College and returns to New York to continue his medical practice there.
1880
Springboro’s population is 553.
1881
Coates Kinney is elected to State Legislature.
1883
Miami Valley College closes due to lack of funds.
1887
School for black youths opens on North Street.
1887
Coates Kinney writes and delivers Ohio’s Centennial Ode.
1890
Jack Decker begins “hack” service from Springboro to Franklin.
1892
Wilbur H. Siebert spends two months in area doing research on area’s involvement in the Underground Railroad. Letters from participants stored in library at Ohio State University are dated 1892 – 1895.
1892
Knights of Pythias Lodge is formed.
1893
First ceremony for Springboro High School graduation held, and there are 12 graduates.
1896
Orthodox Quakers abandon Meeting House in Springboro, and Quaker influence in Springboro wanes.
1898
Wilbur H. Siebert, professor at Ohio State University, publishes, The Underground Railroad: From Slavery to Freedom, citing several conductors who lived in Springboro.
1898
William Venable publishes national poem William Baird of Ridgeville.
1898
William Crane is elected County Commissioner.
1899
Seth Ellis loses in election for governor of Ohio.
1900
Springboro population is 433.
1903
“Old Red School” is built to house all grades--on site of present Jonathan Wright School.
1908
Junior Order of Mechanics is formed.
1910
Springboro Press begins publishing--located on East Street
1915
Springboro celebrates its Centennial; Jesse Wright and Governor Cox are honored speakers at the event held August 4, 5, and 6. M. J. Farr is the mayor and chairperson of the Centennial Committee.
1915
Protective and Detective Association of Springboro formed to arrest horse thieves and other felons.
1917
Record snow storm hits Springboro leaving more than 42 inches of snow.
1917
World War I begins, and Russell McElfresh is first area soldier to be killed.
1917
Black church is rented by Springboro Board of Education for first four grades.
1920
Old Orthodox Quaker Church become a school for Springboro district.
1920
Fire guts village jail.
1921
Springboro PTO is formed.
1924
4-H Clubs are formed in the area.
1929
Springboro opens new high school that now houses Springboro sixth graders.
1931
Springboro Mothers' Club is formed.
1936
Springboro Garden Club is formed.
1942
Jimmy Wilson killed in fighting in World War II which began in 1941.
1945
World War II ends.
1950
Korean War begins.
1950
Clearcreek Garden Club is formed.
1953
Korean War ends.
1953
Lions Club is formed.
1953
Although active as early as 1952 under the direction of Bill Betz, band director, the Springboro Band Boosters is organized on January 29 primarily to obtain new band uniforms.
1955
Office of Police Chief is created. Last village marshall was John Paul Rogers.
1955
First Springboro yearbook was published. Ken Parker won a contest for naming the yearbook, “S” Capades.
1956
Official formation of Clearcreek Township Fire Department on February 13.
1957
State Street and Factory Street exchange names.
1957
Fire Department numbers all houses.
1958
New gymnasium is added to Springboro High School building. Class of 1958 is first to graduate in the building.
1958
Ulrich Lorenz-Meyer from Germany is Springboro’s first exchange student.
1958
Royal Oaks housing subdivision begins.
1962
First major annexation to village of 600 acres west of the village to I-75 along State Route 73.
1963
Athletic Boosters formed September 24 to raise money for football stadium.
1963
Jonathan Wright School replaces the “Old Red School House” and is named for the founder of Springboro.
1964
Springboro High School begins football with junior varsity schedule and fields a varsity team the following year.
1965
Springboro celebrates Sesqui-centennial and publishes its first history of Springboro. Celebration was a week-long event from Saturday, June 9 to Saturday, June 16.
1965
Springboro High School boys’ basketball team reaches State Finals with Gerald Saunders as coach.
1965
Springboro’s population is 1,725.
1968
Clearcreek Elementary School on South Main Street opens.
1969
Village grows as Tamarack Hills subdivision begins building new homes.
1970
Springboro population is 2,799.
1972
Olde Springboro Architectural District is formed.
1974
Fred Mayne Memorial Park on the southeast corner of 73 and South Main Street is completed.
1975
Springboro Chamber of Commerce is formed.
1976
First Village Manager is hired.
1977
January winter storm forces most Ohio schools to close for two weeks.
1978
Work begins on Charter form of government on November 22. Springboro transitions from mayor/council form of government to a manager/council form of government.
1978
Springboro hosts Homearama in the Woodridge Subdivision.
1978
Springboro first Master Land Use Plan is adopted.
1978
Springboro High schools girls’ basketball team reaches State Finals with Don Ross and coach.
1979
New Springboro High School opens; currently Springboro Junior High. Class of 1980 is the first class to graduate (ceremony at UD area).
1979
Ward System consisting of four wards is established for voting purposes.
1979
Aron Wright House is placed on the National Register of Historic Homes on August 10. Mrs. Anna Mary Null Doyle is still living in the home at the time.
1980
Clearcreekers Senior Citizens’ Club begins with Helen Gilpin as the president.
1980
Stanton House, known as Green Hill, is placed on National Register of Historic Homes on May 24.
1980
Springboro experiences significant growth as population reaches 4,962, a 77.3% increase since 1970.
1980
North Park land is purchased.
1982
Cable TV comes to Springboro.
1987
The first Christmas in Springboro Festival is celebrated; organized by merchants on Main Street.
1987
Golf Course feasibility study is proposed.
1987
North Park construction is completed.
1987
Springboro officially becomes a city on July 1.
1989
Olde Springboro Village on South Main Street becomes a reality with the assistance of a grant written in 1988 to establish an architectural historic district.
1989
Springboro Library opens.
1990
Springboro’s population grows to 6,590.
1990
Springboro Park Board is formed.
1990
Springboro celebrates Censeptua-centennial and publishes second edition of Springboro history. Celebration took place the weekend of Friday, September 14 through Sunday, September 16.
1991
Heatherwoode Golf Course opens.
1992
Springboro Area Historical Society is formed in an effort to save the Null Log House located on Heatherwoode Golf Course.
1993
The city numbers houses in subdivisions; includes 25 subdivisions since 1941.
1993
Springboro selected to host Nike PGA Tour at Heatherwoode Golf Course and it continues through 1998.
1993
Heatherwoode selected as site of the 1993 Homearama.
1994
The Springboro Historic Commission is established to promote history of Springboro.
1994
Ohio Century Farm Award is granted to Easton family. Nominated by Springboro Area Historical Society and awarded by Ohio Department of Agriculture. Farm has been in family since 1857.
1995
Strategic planning sessions begin to develop comprehensive vision for Springboro.
1995
Springboro Tree Authority established for preservation, maintenance, and proliferation of trees. Springboro was named Tree City USA for the first of many times.
1995
Concerts in the Park begin in North Park every Tuesday evening in July.
1996
Null Log House restoration is complete and dedication takes place on August 18. Gil Morris and Charlie Logan lead this project joined by Springboro Historic Commission and City officials.
1997
Architectural Review Board (ARB) is created to protect Springboro’s historic properties.
1997
City Memorial Tree Program initiated.
1998
Springboro Museum reopens.
1998
First Freedom Festival is held in May and continues for the next seven years.
1998
Springboro Council adopts new Master Use Plan that reflects the vision of the citizens based on Strategic Planning Forum.
1998
Aron Wright House designated as local historic landmark.
1999
Springboro hosts Dayton Homearama in the Settler’s Walk Subdivision.
1999
Historic District located on South Main Street is placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 10, 1999.
1999
City Charter Commission is created to review and recommend changes to the Springboro Charter.
1999
City computer system becomes Y2 compliant.
1999
Springboro Class of 1999 is the first class to graduate from the newest Springboro High School.
2000
Springboro grows by 87.9% as population reaches 12,380 with 4,261 households.
2000
Resolution is passed by Council to adopt the Historic Design Standards “Celebrating our Past Through Preservation.”
2001
Chamber of Commerce holds first “Spring Thing” Hometown Expo.
2001
North Park Amphitheater receives the AIA Design Award from the Dayton Chapter of American Institute of Architects.
2001
Null Log Home, Samuel McCray House, Jacob Null Homestead, and United Brethren Cemetery are designated as local landmarks on September 6.
2003
Ohio celebrates 200 years as a state and Springboro Historical Society/Springboro Historic Commission publishes its first hard copy of a pictorial history of Springboro.
2003
Springboro population tops 15,000.
2003
Springboro Community Schools posts enrollment of 3,000 students.
2003
Springboro High School Auditorium is named Vincent Ross Auditorium in honor of his long-term service to Springboro Schools as a teacher and administrator.
2003
National Gold Award earned by Springboro High School for successful implementation of “High Schools That Work.”
2003
An Ohio Historical Marker, recognizing the home of the founder of Springboro and its involvement as a safehouse in the Underground Railroad, is dedicated at the Jonathan Wright House, 80 State Street, on June 7, with several descendants of Jonathan Wright in attendance. Plaque is presented by Springboro Historic Commission and Ohio Historical Society.
2005
Two new elementary schools are built that are reported to be the two largest in Ohio – Dennis Elementary and Five Points Elementary both have populations of 1,200 students respectively.
2005
Historical Commission is dissolved and duties are merged with Architectural Review Board.
2007
Care Flight Field opens to begin the fall football season.
2007
City Administration moves to temporary headquarters while new city building is constructed.
2007
Springboro launches website.
2007
City breaks ground for new administration building.
2007
E. Milo Beck Park construction begins Phase 1.
2007
City and community pull together to clean up after major storm.
2009
Construction begins on Austin Road Interchange.
2009
First year for “Heart of the Panthers” Reunion now held annually in September.
2009
Springboro named one of America’s 100 “Best Places to Live” by CNN Money Magazine – “41st Best Place to Live.”
2009
New City Administration Building opens.
2009
Bicycle Advisory Board is formed.
2010
Springboro’s growth continues as the population reaches 17,442 with 5,996 households.
2010
Springboro committee, promoted and supported by the Architectural Review Board, is formed to organize the celebration of Springboro’s 200th birthday in 2015.
2010
Austin Road Interchange opens.
2011
Springboro is once again named one of America’s to 100 “Best Places to Live” by CNN Money Magazine.
2011
City enters the social media medium as it introduces its Facebook page.
2011
Springboro receives National Blue Ribbon School Award, one of four in Ohio.
2012
Clearcreek Park grows by 150 acres as the city plans for future additional sports fields and passive park areas.
2012
Design work on northbound ramp at State Route 73 to I-75 begins.
2013
City constructs first of several SPARC & GO Centers (Springboro Area Recharging Centers) at Rotary Park on South Main Street. Centers include public restrooms, recharging areas for cell phones, police bike patrol substations, and possible meeting rooms.
2013
Wade Field receives upgrade of artificial turf as a cooperative effort of city, township, school, and local sports efforts. Dedication was August 18.
2013
Springboro named “Purple Heart City” on August 2.
2013
Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan is completed by Bicycle Advisory Committee.
2013
Springboro’s first “Oktober Fest” held at the United Church of Christ to celebrate the church’s German history.
2014
Springboro committee, formed in 2010 to celebrate Springboro’s 200th birthday, officially organizes as a non-profit entity, Springboro 200, Inc. A board of directors is named, and six subcommittees are formed to begin setting up the year-long activities.
2014
Northbound ramp at State Route 73 and I-75 completed.
2014
City purchases land at intersection of Tamarack Trail and State Route 741 for another SPARC & GO Center.
2014
Springboro hosts first annual “Big Event” that includes Boro Bogey Run, Bike the Boro and Festival at North Park.
2014
Cherry Trees planted at Gardner Park as part of cooperative venture between Dayton area and Japan.
2014
SafeWise Report ranks Springboro “8th Safest Place to Live in Ohio.”
2014
Springboro Community Schools posts enrollment of just under 6,000 students.
2014
Sandra K. Wray Library and Learning Center at Springboro Intermediate School is dedicated on September 23, 2014.