Clarksville - Milford Township
A Ghost Town of Defiance County
Also called Panama at first, Clarksville began at the intersection of the Williams-Defiance County Line Road and the Hicksville-Edgerton Road (Hwy 109) along the St. Joseph River. All sources agreed that the town was founded by Elisha Clark and Jacob Meiden around 1836. In those days, Williams County and Defiance County had not yet separated, so technically, the town was in Williams County until 1845 when the division happened. Clarksville was then a part of Milford Township.
According to Mrs. Darla Fusselman, who was interviewed in 1976 by staff writer, Karen Geitgey for the Defiance Crescent-News, fur trappers came first to the Clarksville area as the first white men, "but the first settler, Samuel Slater, didn't arrive until 1834. Later that year, Thomas Green and six employees arrived. Both men had sons born the next year - Luther Slater and Anthony Green, making them the first white children born in the township."
The area was also populated with Indians even earlier, who remained in the Clarksville area for many years. The banks of the St. Joseph River were their campgrounds until about 1839 when they were removed by the federal government to Kansas.
It was in 1836 that Elisha Clark bought 160 acres of land from Ohio, costing him $200.88. He sold some of the land to the Town of Clarksville and officially filed a plat in September, 1836, with 36 lots and a public square. Samuel Slater's name was on the original plat as Justice of the Peace; Elisha Clark also served in that capacity later.
North -South streets were numbered from 1st to 7th, and East-West streets were given the names: Jackson, Pleasant, Monroe, Water, and Cherry.
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| From the Defiance County 1866 Plat Map Jacob Weldon built the first house in the village in 1837, probably a log cabin, because the prize for first frame house went to Solomon Palmer. A saw mill and a grist mill were built and a Lutheran Church in 1843. The first schoolroom was constructed of slabs in 1840 on Lot 10, and taught by Solista Hayes, according to Mrs. Fusselman. Later the school was replaced by Milford Township #2 (Clarksville School) located about 3/4 of a mile south at the intersection of Hicksville-Edgerton Road and Kramer Road on a 39 acre farm owned by the Green family. The first store was opened in 1839, followed by a blacksmith shop. grocery store, barber shop, saloon, and others. Ladd's Lake nearby was named after Clarksville's doctor, Dr. Ladd, who was assisted by Dr Albert Kraeer. Jeradet Ball, the first white man married in the township to his wife, Melinda Slater, built the Clarksville Bridge, which was then replaced in 1888. The bridge area was the sight of many a bootlegging deal. See the booze boat story here. Reuben Sisco brought a tread powered threshing machine to the area in 1845, followed by a horse powered thresher in 1847. This was a booming town, with one big problem. The railroads did not choose Clarksville for any of their routes. Edgerton and Hicksville won out, so in a relatively short time, the town began to empty and the buildings deteriorated, and by the time the Defiance County History was written in 1883, only twenty-five inhabitants were left. The now defunct Clarksville Cemetery was across the river from the town, so some residents are there, but others just left for a brighter future Clarksville made it into the 1931 atlas, but the plat had mostly reverted back to farmland by then." Sources with this and more information on Clarksville: - Defiance County History, 1883 - "Yes, Virginia, There Was a Clarksville" by Karen Geitgey, Defiance Crescent-News, July 9, 1976 Interview with Darla Fusselman - "Clarksville" by Don Allison, Bryan Press, September 15, 1982. |
