New Dover, Ohio

Dover
New Dover was founded as Dover.

New Dover
In 1852 the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railroad made its way through Dover township. On May 11, 1854 land was surveyed for the village of Dover near the site of the railroad. Adam Richey built the first house in the village in the fall of that same year. A harness shop was opened in the village in 1854. By the early 1880s the town boasted a population of 150 people. A sawmill was built in the village in 1881. At one time the town supported three blacksmiths, a harness shop, a grain elevator, two general stores, and two tile factories. Over time the name of this village evolved to New Dover.

The first school sessions in Dover Township were believed to have been held in long cabins on the banks of Mill Creek. At one time there eight one room school houses in the township. By 1883 Dover Township was divided into seven subdistricts. A wooden frame schoolhouse was erected in the village of New Dover in the latter part of the 19th century. This building was replaced by a two-story brick stucture in 1914 to accomodate the consolidation of all township schools at New Dover. The Dover Rural School district received its charter in 1919. The New Dover School building housed only grades 1-8 by 1948. Students were bussed to either Marysville or Ostrander. By 1957 the school district was consolidated into the Marysville Village School District. The New Dover School served as an elementary school for the Marysville School district until 1973. The New Dover building was sold to the Dover Township trustees for $1. This building was destroyed to make room for a community building in 1977. However, the Old Dover School, a smaller wood frame building, still stands in the village on US Route 36.