Hopewell Township

 

Around 1803, Samuel Bonnifield of Virginia became the first white settler in the area that would eventually become Hopewell Township. On February 3, 1812, the Muskingum County Commissioners received a petition asking that they create a new township from parts of Falls and Madison Townships, to be called Hopewell. Despite some opposition, the commissioners granted the petition and directed that elections for township officials be held. Surnames of early township officials include Colvin, Rolles, Simons, and Higginbotham. 

Hopewell Township has several population centers, but all are unincorporated except for the village of Gratiot. Gratiot straddles the county line of Licking and Muskingum Counties, and was platted in 1829. It is one of several places nationwide named for Charles Gratiot (1786-1855), a graduate of West Point, and a high-ranking officer in the Army Corps of Engineers. Although not a native of Ohio, Charles Gratiot would have been known to Ohioans: He served as Gen. William Henry Harrison's chief engineer during the War of 1812, and built Ft. Meigs near Perrysburgh, Ohio. 

Gratiot's IOOF Hall

Unincorporated communities in the township include Mount Sterling (not to be confused with the village of the same name in Madison County), Hopewell, Cottage Hill, and Darlington. The history of these places is limited. Not even Biographical and Historical Memoirs has much to say about the area. 

• Potteries grew up in and around the communityof Mount Sterling in the early 1820's. A local pottery business, Allen & Son, "invented and for a time manufactured earthenware coffins." Apparently the idea never caught on. 

• The community of Hopewell developed when the National Road was extended to that part of Muskingum County.  A post office was established there in 1830. It was moved to Mount Sterling, but retained the name, Hopewell P.O. until it was closed in 2015.

• Other population centers in Hopewell include Cottage Hill and Darlington. Post offices were established in both communities: Cottage Hill (Cottagehill P.O.),1855-1902: Darlington (Newton P.O.), 1834-1897.

  

  Charles Gratiot