Add an Article Add an Event Edit

Village Of Walbridge

111 North Main Street
419-666-1830

History:
Our community was originally known as "Owls Nest" to the early settlers of the 1840's. Phillip G. Loop first settled here in 1846. His son, George Loop was born in 1847. This area was part of the Great Black Swamp with friendly Native Americans traveling through the dense woods where deer, wolves, and wild turkeys were plentiful.

Early property records show that in 1836, Truman P. Handy of Cuyahoga County purchased 160 acres of land (in what is now Walbridge) known as the Warner's Addition from the federal government. This parcel of land was bounded by present day Union Street, Dixon Street, the south half of Loop Park, and Allen Street. Then President Andrew Jackson signed the deed for the sale of the land to Mr. Handy.

In 1839, Mr. Handy sold this land to the Ohio Railroad Company. The first school was built in 1850, a one-room building for grades 1-8. It was located on the east side of S. Main Street near the present site of the Walbridge Nite Club is located. The children of the Loop and Warner families were the only students to attend the school.

Levi S. Warner purchased 80 acres of the Warner's Addition in 1865, and later sold 40 acres of the addition to Samuel Dixon, in 1875. History records note that in 1873 there were six families in the area. The Stien, Taylor, Clark, Warner, Loop, and Allen families lived in log cabins and wooded areas.