Montpelier

The Village of Montpelier has a rich heritage stretching back more than 150 years to its beginnings as a frontier mill site and county seat contender, through its rebirth as a railroad boomtown, and finally its transition to a growing 21st Century community with a more diverse economy. Little is known about Tucker and Bryner. John Bryner’s grave has a Mexican War veteran’s marker on it, indicating he left the area soon after the platting of Montpelier to serve in this late 1840s conflict. Following the war, in 1849, Bryner purchased 115.15 acres on the east side of Montpelier, which is now the location of the Williams County fairgrounds. The 1850 and 1860 Williams County censuses do not list Mr. Bryner. In 1863, his wife Lucynda died and she was buried in Montpelier’s Louden Cemetery, indicating he may have returned to the area around this time. Bryner appears in the 1870 Williams County census as a Pennsylvania native, a farmer by trade, and his age appears to be 63. John Bryner died March 6, 1871, and was buried next to his wife. Local tradition holds that the surveyor Tucker and Bryner hired to lay out their new town walked from Williams Center to Pulaski, a distance of about eight miles, where Dr. John Paul offered him a ride to the proposed town site. In return for this favor, the surveyor allowed Dr. Paul to name the fledgling village “Montpelier” after the capital of his native state, Vermont. According to the original plat filed in the Williams County recorder’s office, Thomas Ogle performed the surveying work, and the plat was certified by Seth B. Hyatt, county surveyor pro tem. Why did Tucker and Bryner select this location for their new town? Several possibilities exist. Prior to 1845, Williams County contained two additional rows of townships, making the county’s border about 12 miles further south than today. At that time, Bryan, the county seat, was near Williams County’s geographical center. On March 4, 1845, Defiance County was created, removing the two southernmost rows of townships from Williams County. This placed Bryner and Tucker’s mill near the geographical center of the new, smaller Williams County, and left Bryan about three miles from the county’s south boundary. This turn of events suddenly made their mill site a desirable location for a new town and a good candidate for the county seat. By 1846, two stores were doing business in Montpelier, and a gristmill and an ashery were constructed about the time the town was surveyed. In December 1846, the Eagle Creek post office, which had been established August 30, 1843, at Robert Ogle’s farm northwest of town, was moved into Conroy Mallory’s store in the village and renamed Montpelier. In 1850, Montpelier made its first bid to wrestle the county seat from Bryan. Being near Williams County’s geographical center, Montpelier presented a shorter distance for many local residents in the days of difficult travel by horse power or on foot over dirt roads that were impassable much of the year. The Montpelierites’ logical plea to relocate the county seat failed to convince the Ohio Legislature, however, and similar attempts in 1853 and 1857 produced similar results. The “county seat war” between Montpelier and Bryan continued to smolder until 1888 when construction of the existing Williams County courthouse in Bryan finally put the debate to rest. An 1853 newspaper account states, “Montpelier is a thriving little village with three stores, two groceries, one tavern, one fine gristmill, a (wool) carding machine and various mechanics. We have but little idea of the population, but suppose it to be about 200.” Shown on an 1864 map of Montpelier are a steam sawmill, gristmill, several stores, a hardware/tinsmith shop, the Empire House hotel, harness shop, blacksmith shop, tannery, school, post office, cabinet and chair maker, wagon wheel shop, United Brethren church, two doctors and a number of homes. Failing in its attempt to secure the county seat, Montpelier