History of West Jefferson, Ohio

West Jefferson rose out of the dust of a failed town and once was the most important business in Madison County, Ohio. Samuel Jones and Samuel Sexton moved to the area from New Jersey and platted New Hampton on July 5, 1822, along Little Darby Creek and Ludlow Road, the first state road in Ohio. The town was laid out with ninety-three lots on eight streets on the south side of Hampton Cemetery on Frey Avenue in West Jefferson. It had two general stores, a post office, three taverns, a hotel, and a brick Baptist church in the cemetery. West Jefferson was flourishing with a grist mill and the pork packing industry. It had five hotels at its peak, with passenger and goods stagecoaches lining the streets. In this book, author Ashley Murray guides readers through the history of this unique Ohio community.