Ohio Town Patterns

T HE patterns of the Ohio towns betray their origin. Whether the towns are on the Allegheny Plateau, the Till Plain, or the Lake Plain,1 and whatever the changes incident to the economies through which the regions have passed, the persistence of original orientation and pattern is striking. The Northwest Territory, as the first considerable area of public land in the United States, and Ohio, as the first state created from this territory, were the scenes of much pioneering in matters of survey, grants, and formation of minor civil subdivisions. Some settlements were made because land could be obtained cheaply, some to satisfy military warrants, some to recover money lent to the colonies, some to satisfy colonial claims, and some to induce the opening of roads, canals, and schools. Until the rectangular plan was adopted in 1785, all tracts of land in the United States were subdivided and described on the so-called indiscriminate locations plan. Consequently all lands in the states southeast of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi, except parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida, have been subdivided and described in that manner.2 Elsewhere in the United States, except for the Virginia Military District in Ohio and certain small special grants in other states, the rectangular plan has been used

Archaeology · Genealogy · Geography · American Environmental and Regional History · Architecture, Design, and Social History · Financial Crisis of the 21st Century · History