History of Porter Township

The former Sunbury Township, formed in 1808, contained the present townships of Harlem, Trenton, Porter, half of Berkshire and half of Genoa as well as Morrow County’s Peru, Bennington, Lincoln and Harmony Townships. Slowly the different townships were set off with Genoa being the last to pull off from Sunbury.

Porter Township was established during the March 5th, 1827, Delaware County Commissioners meeting. The Township received its namesake from Judge Robert Porter of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He received a patent for 4,000 acres of land in Porter Township, Ohio, from President John Adams, granting him the land to satisfy warrants for military service during the Revolutionary war.  Please see below a copy of the Delaware County Commissioners meeting minutes and a map of Porter/Kingston Townships in 1833.  Porter Township is the area marked with “XVI”.  The 16 comes from the military survey that originally laid out the land.  Porter Township is Range 16, Township 5, Quadrants 1-4 on the map.

The first village or town in this township was Olive Green, and was laid out in 1835, followed by East Liberty. The village of Peerless, in northeastern Porter Township has mostly disappeared.

The first settlement in this township was made by squatters, known as “Taways” as early as 1807. A number of families settled on this section before the war of 1812 and were from English, Dutch and Irish nationalities.