Spencer Township Hall in Columbia-Tusculum

Spencer Township was a

civil township A civil township is a widely used unit of local government in the United States that is subordinate to a county, most often in the northern and midwestern parts of the country. The term town is used in New England, New York, and Wisconsin to ref ...

in southeastern Hamilton County, Ohio. It was established in the early 1840s and annexed to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

in stages from 1855 to 1909.

Name

Spencer Township was named after Colonel Oliver Spencer, an early resident of Columbia Township. Statewide, other townships named Spencer are located in

Allen Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Unive ...

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, Lucas, and

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counties.

History

The land that would become Spencer Township was included in the 1794 Symmes Purchase. It included Columbia, the first white settlement in the historical

Miami Valley The Miami Valley is the land area surrounding the Great Miami River in southwest Ohio, USA, and includes the Little Miami, Mad, and Stillwater rivers as well. Geographically, it includes Dayton, Springfield, Middletown, Hamilton, and other ...

, in the present-day

Columbia-Tusculum Columbia-Tusculum is the oldest neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is located on the East Side of the city. The population was 1,523 at the 2020 census. Demographics Source - City of Cincinnati Statistical Database. Note - boundaries of neig ...

neighborhood of

. In 1791, the area became part of Columbia Township. In the early 1840s, Spencer Township was carved out of the suburban southwestern portion of Columbia Township, which was otherwise largely rural. On January 1, 1855, the shipbuilding village of Fulton, which had already withdrawn from Spencer Township as Fulton Township, was annexed to Cincinnati following a vote by residents of the village. Spencer Township Hall was built in 1860 to serve as the seat of government as well as the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1870,

annexed

East Walnut Hills East Walnut Hills is a neighborhood on the Southeast side of Cincinnati, Ohio. The population was 4,103 at the 2020 census. Demographics Source - City of Cincinnati Statistical Database History Founded in 1867 as the incorporated Village of Wo ...

, O'Bryonville and Mount Lookout. Cincinnati annexed Columbia and Pendleton (not to be confused with the Cincinnati neighborhood of that name) in 1871 and Tusculum in 1875. As late as 1881,

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, East Linwood, Russell's, Turkey Bottom, and part of Red Bank remained within the township. In 1893, Cincinnati annexed Linwood. In August 1909, Cincinnati annexed the southern part of Spencer Township, including Turkey Bottom, on the way to

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, which desired the city's police and fire protection after Coney Island opened there. The rest of Spencer Township became part of the city in September 1909 and was attached to Cincinnati Township in October 1909.

Geography

At its inception, Spencer Township was bounded by the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

to the south,

and Millcreek Township to the west, Columbia Township to the north, and Anderson Township to the east across the

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. This area today is wholly located within the Cincinnati city limits, corresponding to parts of Evanston,

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, Mount Lookout,

, and the

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Demographics

In June 1880, there were 2,543 residents in Spencer Township, of whom 995 resided in areas annexed to Cincinnati.

References

External links