| SCIOTO COMPANY PURCHASE |
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50 West New England Avenue
Worthington, Ohio
43085-3536 |
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(614) 885-1247
Fax: (614) 885-1040
Worthhsoc@aol.com |
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When land in the Worthington area is selling for as much as $75,000 per acre or more, it seems remarkable to look back to December 1802 and imagine James Kilbourne negotiating the purchase of 16,000 acres for the Scioto Company at $1.25 per acre. But there was already a land boom in the Northwest Territory. Speculators were buying land warrants from Revolutionary soldiers who had no desire to migrate west, and purchasing land for resale. Kilbourne agreed to buy from Jonathan Dayton and Jonas Stanbery who had owned this land less than two months and made a twenty per-cent profit on its sale.
However, the thirty-eight Scioto Company proprietors drove a good bargain for land neither sellers or buyers had seen in person. This land in the proximity of the Whetstone (now Olentangy) River was accessible by canoe or Indian trail, an important consideration before roads were cut through the wilderness. It offered excellent sites for grist and lumber mills, and fertile soil for agricultural production.
Land in this U.S. Military Survey was offered in 4000 acre blocks. The four sections selected by the Scioto Company were not contiguous, but included land as far north as Hyatts Road in Delaware County and as far south as Weber Road in Columbus. The 8000 acres which formed the western half of what became Sharon Township in Franklin County was a prime location because it was bisected by the river.
When Kilbourne first saw the land in the spring of 1803 he wrote his wife Lucy, "I am fully persuaded that the half township lying on the River is worth all the money we have given for the whole." The town site was placed in this area with the specific location determined by high ground east of the river, which offered healthy building sites free of the fevers associated with low swampy locations. Nearby was a bend in the river which was an excellent site for grist and saw mills.
Contrary to popular mythology, the village of Worthington was not platted in the center of the Scioto Company purchase. As maps clearly show, this purchase had no obvious center. It was not a single block of land, but separate parcels ranging some seven miles from northwest to southeast corners.
The present Worthington school district encompassing approximately twenty square miles does not share the same boundaries, but it is helpful to compare its size which is only three-fourths the area the original proprietors divided. These men agreed in New England that each would be entitled to 3/4 acre town lots and 100 acre farm lots according to the number of company shares each purchased. One hundred and sixty shares were available and the subscribers bought from one to twelve shares per person.
To discourage speculation, proprietors agreed to settle in person or be represented by their sons within two years, or pay $20 forfeit for each share subscribed. Twenty members were present, and the others represented by relatives or friends, when the land was partitioned in August of 1804. The division was made by auction, with the highest bidder getting first choice, next highest second choice and so on.
The pioneers initially settled in the area which became Worthington. Some gradually moved to outlying farms, but many of these New Englanders were businessmen who preferred to remain in the village and sell their land in Clinton Township and Delaware County as values increased. Current homeowners in the Clintonville area of Columbus or the Lewis Center area of Delaware County may be surprised to find they have property abstracts which go back to the Scioto Company purchase in March 1803. It was the same month Ohio became a state and this 16,000 acre purchase was an important factor in opening its central area to settlement.
SOURCES:
The $75,000 per acre figure is taken from autumn 1988 news reports
of negotiations by the Worthington Board of Education for property in the northwest part of the school district. John Butterfield, Assistant Superintendent for Information Services, described the current Worthington School District as "approximately 20 square miles." At 640 acres per square mile, this is 12,800 acres.
Because many of the early Franklin County land records burned and were only partially re-recorded, it was convenient to obtain much of the Scioto Company data from the abstract of property currently located at 677 High Street, which is part of original town lot 93 selected by James Kilbourne at the August 1804 auction. The Stanbery and Dayton purchase 30 October 1802 was recorded in Ross County Deed Book 2, p. 336. The Scioto Company purchase, negotiated in December, was officially signed 7 March 1803 and recorded in Ross County Deed Book 3, p. 7. The Scioto Company Articles of Agreement signed 14 December 1802 were recorded in Ross County Deed Book 3, p. 1. The record of the Scioto Company partition on 11 August 1804 was recorded in Franklin County Deed Book A, p. 20.
The James Kilbourn letter to Lucy Kilbourn dated 13 May 1803 is in Ohio Historical Society MSS 332, Kilbourne Family Papers, Box 1, Folder 1.
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Making Worthington a Special Place! |
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