Township History
Current Census: 3,395
1,260 Township Residents
2,135 Village Residents
The present boundary of the township was the result of action being taken by the Sandusky County Commissioners on April 1, 1840 when this area was divided into 12 townships forming present day Sandusky County. The area was unofficially known as “Yankee Township.” Sandusky County once stretched northward to Lake Erie including what is known today as Ottawa County.
Historians state that the first election of the township officials took place in the summer of 1840. Three trustees, one clerk, and two justice of the peace were elected. The first written records are from 1856. The trustees first official business was to build a road with a 30’ right-of-way (called Maumee & Western Reserve Road). Taxes collected included a ½ mill for the General Fund and ¼ mill for township purposes.
Woodville Township was divided into 14 districts. A supervisor for roads was appointed for each district. The location of ditches and watercourses and the development and approval for roadways was a responsibility of the trustees. If farmers differed on a suitable location and distance of their digging responsibility, the trustees settled the issue. The trustees also had the power to order the farmers along waterways to clean the creeks. By 1880, there were 17 districts, which included the Village of Woodville. After the Village of Woodville was incorporated, the Township reverted back to 14 districts.
In the 1800s, the trustees were responsible for placing children to indentured service. Minor children were placed in someone’s home for housekeeping services, in exchange for providing the child with meat, lodging, medicine, washing, clothing, and all other necessaries suitable for an apprentice, and they had to send the child to common school for at least 12 weeks in each school year. At the age of 18 or the end of the contract, the child was furnished with a new Bible and two new pairs of clothing and sent on their way.
The first lime in the area was produced in the 1840s by Fred Miller in the area of the George Hagedorn farm (Lime Road). Miller hauled a large part of his product by wagon to Toledo and Perrysburg. The first modern lime plant was erected in 1872. This plant was named the Woodville Lime Products Company, now a part of Martin Marietta. The Ohio Hydrate and Supply Company (the former Ohio Lime Company) and Standard Lime and Stone Company (now a part of Martin Marietta) were the early lime plants in the area.
The trustees held their meetings for many years in the old township hall, a historic building built in 1850, which now resides in the rear lot of 290 Water Street (right beside the railroad track). Currently the Township Trustees hold their meetings in the Township Hall which is located in the Woodville Fire Station off East Main Street.
According to Ohio Revised Code, today’s Township Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and management of the township’s cemeteries, township roads and ditches, township zoning, and governance of the fire department and rescue services. Woodville Township maintains 37.75 miles of road, which includes 20 township roads.
Currently Woodville Township has three trustees and a fiscal officer (whom are elected by the voters to four-year terms), a full-time road supervisor, and three seasonal employees, a zoning inspector, a fire chief, and 25 volunteer fire-fighters. The Township also houses six full-time Sandusky County EMS personnel who provide 24-hour paramedic service.