Founding of Granville: The Licking Company and The Granville Site - # 23-45
N 40° 04.067 W 082° 31.172
17T E 370418 N 4436386
The two-sided marker, located in the Opera House Park at the intersection of South Main Street and East Broadway, memorializes the founding of Granville, Ohio as a planned community in 1805.
Waymark Code: WM46VT
Location: Ohio, United States
Date Posted: 07/16/2008
Views: 12
Founding of Granville: The Licking Company
In 1804 a group of neighbors in Granville, Massachusetts and Granby, Connecticut formed The Licking Company for the purpose of moving to "Newlands" in Ohio. Inspired and informed by the settlement of Worthington in 1803, the Company purchased 29,040 acres in the U.S. Military District. Advance parties surveyed and mapped a site, established a mill, and planted grain. The Company planned a public square, a school, library, quarry, burying ground, and property for the support of churches. In November and December 1805, some 150 emigrants in ox-drawn wagons arrived in their new home and built temporary shelters on the designated public square. On December 9 through 12, 1805, Company members selected their Granville lots in an auction that was described as peaceable and honest.
The Granville Site: "The most eligible part"
The Partition Deed of the Licking Company reads "There shall be laid out A Town Plat in the most eligible part of said tract of land...." The town site chosen was sheltered by the hills with copious springs, but open to the south on the second terrace above a branch of the Licking River. Today's village streets reflect the original plan with its "Broad Way" and connecting roads to Lancaster, Owl Creek (Mt. Vernon), and Worthington.
Marker Number: 23-45
County: Licking
Significance of Location: Event
Website address: [Web Link]
Additional Coordinate: Not Listed
Additional Coordinate description: Not listed
Bicentenial Mark: Not Listed
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