The state of Ohio has about 44,000 square miles of land, making it number 34 in actual size in the United States. It does have a higher density of people, however, with the 11,500,000 residents making it number 7 in population. It is nearly square, being 220 miles by 220 miles in each direction although the borders are roughly designated and not straight lines. It’s not considered a very mountainous state since the highest elevation is only 1,500 feet and the lowest 455 ft, so there is only a 1,000 ft variance throughout the entire state. When it comes to history, Ohio has a long history of Native American inhabitants dating back to at least 13,000 BC.
History Of The Dublin Area
For some unknown reason, the mostly nomadic Native American tribes of the Ohio Valley mostly dissipated between 13,000 BC and 1,000 BC. After that, a second wave of Indians with a more sophisticated culture moved into the area. They were considered more sedentary, less nomadic, and had permanent villages that were later excavated in the early 1900s.
Dublin, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio and home to about 47,000 residents at this time. The early settlers to the area came together as a group called the Sells family from nearby Huntington, Pennsylvania. The two brothers, Benjamin and Peter were the original purchasers of the 400 acres that made up the start of the city near the Scioto river. Their brother John brought his family to the area in late 1808 to 1810 and began dividing up the land into plots to sell to settlers. The original number of lots was set at 200 which were surveyed and sold. He had an original partner named John Shields that was from Dublin, Ireland and he was responsible for naming the city after his home town there.
1800’s in Dublin Ohio
The town of Dublin grew very slowly, being a little off the beaten path, and only had a few flour mills by the early 1800s. This remained the case for nearly 140 years with the town only growing to about 680 residents by the year 1970. However, the construction of the new freeway, with its onramp and offramp to the city, made the town a perfect bedroom community for Columbus. There was then a large increase in population as several big companies moved into the city to take advantage of the new freeway and small town feel.
Formation of the City of Dublin
The city grew quite fast from 1970 to 1987 as its population went from 680 to around 5,000+ residents. At that time, Dublin was declared a city and incorporated as such. The population continued to grow exponentially and ended up annexing the neighboring townships of Concord, Jerome, Perry, and Washington in the process. The addition of the Muirfield Village Golf Club brought a huge influx of expensive residential construction and affluent residents, many of them retired, that live around the golf course. Famous golfer Jack Nicklaus chose the site that was to eventually become the golf course.
Wendy’s International of the restaurant chain made Dublin its main headquarters and brought quite a bit of new employees with it. Wendy’s continued to grow and add people for several decades. Also, the company of Ashland Inc. which manufacturers 100s of specialty chemicals made the town it’s home as well. Ashland has outlets and sales in nearly 100 countries around the world and used the close river transportation and freeway to facilitate easy shipping worldwide.
A book about Dublin
Due to the varied history of Dublin, Ohio, the city decided to write a small history book entitled “Dublin’s Journey” which details the many different paths that the various people took to finally arrive at Dublin. Also detailed are the many regulations that have helped to make Dublin a unique city in all of Ohio. For instance, the landscaping regulations that require all the homes in the incorporated city to meet certain requirements and maintenance. This has made the city one of the most beautiful in the Midwest. It’s a book well worth the read if you have an interest in the city.
For now, Dublin is still growing, although slower than in the past. It’s still very nicely landscaped throughout and many people can be seen just driving around viewing people’s yards on sunny days. It’s a great city to raise a family with a low crime rate, good schools, and close access to Columbus.
