Radnor Village and Township

Radnor Village and Township. . , Radnor village is located amid a cluster of elevated knolls surrounded by broad fields and beautiful farms largely devoted to the cultivation of grain. In the early 1800s, many Welsh settlers came to this country for three reasons: they wanted their own land, worship in the church of their choice and offer their children a good education. In 1802. Welshman David Pugh purchased 4000 acres in the area for $2650, about $.75 an acre, and named the area after his home county of Radnorshire in Wales. This became Radnor Township in 1803 with Ohio statehood. The first settlers were the Henry and Margaret Perry family in 1803. The first child born in the settlement was David Penry. Jr. and the second was Mary Jones (Warren) in the spring of 1807. The first death, Sarah Kyle, in 1807 required a burial ground and was set out like those in Wales with a hedge fence (since removed). Mr. Pugh designated a village plot named New Baltimore, but it never materialized. Thomas Warren purchased the plot in 1810 then opened the first tavern in 1811. Elijah Adams was the first Justice of the Peace. In 1821 there were three log school houses in the township and in later years the number of schools grew to fourteen with approximately 300 students. In 1833, Edward Evans laid out a new village called Delhi. The cemetery was legally established in 1835 when Pugh sold 2½ acres for it to the Trustees, with the elaborate Lych Gate later added in 1911. In 1870 the consolidation of schools made one central school, and further consolidation in 1962 made Buckeye Valley School district. By the late 1870s, the Delhi village name was changed to Radnor to satisfy railroad requirements for mail delivery. At one time Radnor village had five churches: Baptist. Congregational. Methodist. Presbyterian and Episcopal. The Baptist was the first and it was constituted in 1816. By 2000 only the Baptist and Congregational United Church of Christ remained. Radnor Township and Radnor Village remain a beautiful farming district unsurpassed for fertility providing an abundance of farm production.