History

Clinton Township received its name from DeWitt Clinton, Governor of New York, and its first settler was Erastus Bowe on November 18, 1817. Clinton Township was organized on the first Monday in June 1820, by the commissioners of Sandusky County, as Seneca County was not organized until 1824.

By an act of the General Assembly of Ohio on the 22nd of January, 1824, Seneca County was organized. The act took effect the first day of April, 1824, and according to its provisions elections were held the first Monday in April, 1824, in the Townships of Clinton, Eden, Seneca, and Thompson, these being the only ones then organized.

Clinton Township had its first election on the 15th of June, 1822, as part of Sandusky county, thus Clinton Township has been a part of two counties.

In the early days of the Township the entire City of Tiffin was in its boundaries, however, Oakley and Fort Ball were plated before Tiffin on about the same ground. Part of Oakley still remains in Clinton Township.

Clinton Township had its own Justice of the Peace who served the resident of the Township which included Tiffin. The establishment of the Municipal Court did away with the Justice of Peace.

Early Religion in Clinton Township

On the Northeast corner of the Maul and Wolfe Roads is a stone marker that reads:
“This marks the site of the Bethel Church, one of the oldest Methodist Protestant Churches in Ohio. It was part of the Sandusky Circuit, built in 1832. This stone was one of the steps of the church.” On a trip through the county in 1862, Bishop Fenweck offered the first Mass in the county in the home of John Julian, located near the present site of St. Mary’s Cemetery.