Montpelier (Ohio)
Williams County
39-51772
Montpelier is a village in Williams County, Ohio, United States. At the 2000 census, there were 4,320 people.
Geography
The village is located about 16 kilometers north of the county capital Bryan in a bend of the St. Joseph River. The Ohio Turnpike Highway runs directly north.
History
Montpelier was founded in 1845 by John K. Bryner and Jesse Tucker. The founders named the place after Montpelier, the capital of the State of Vermont. The early years were marked by rivalry between the new settlement with the neighboring Bryan. After the founding of the Defiance County Montpelier was closer to the geographical center of Williams County, and strove so in the years 1850, 1853 and 1857, to draw the seat of county government itself. The dispute was finally settled in 1888 in favor of Bryan. The status of a Village Montpelier was awarded in 1874.
Upswing hired himself as Montpelier Connection succeeded to the rail network. As early as 1870 there were plans to connect the place to the network of Chicago & Canada Southern Railroad, which, however, were not realized. Opened in 1880, the Company Detroit, Butler & St. Louis Railroad (later Wabash Railroad, now Norfolk Southern Railway ), a connection to Montpelier, in 1881 they built the first depot. Ten years later, the population had tripled. Opened in 1901, the company has a line of Montpelier to Toledo, and in 1907 they moved their offices from Ashley, Indiana, in the small town. The web has become the largest employer and a determining economic factor: 1936, the Company employed 400 persons in Montpellier. Until the 1970s, Montpelier remained a railroad town, then again, reflecting a decline of the rail down. The passenger was set in 1971, the historic depot was demolished in the early 1980s. The line of Maumee to Montpelier was discontinued in 1991.
Culture and Education
Personalities
- Paul Siple, Antarctic explorer and geographer, was born here.
- Art Smith, stunt pilot, died in 1926 in a flying accident near Montpelier.
- Zach Roerig, actor, was born here.