Naming of the County and the Town

General Anthony Wayne had an extensive military career and was involved in the Treaty of Greenville. He has had many towns, villages, bridges, and counties named after him.

 

General David Wooster was a military figure in the Revolutionary War, and although he does not share any direct ties with the initial surveyors, they selected him as the town’s namesake.

 

The current downtown Wooster courthouse serves as a reminder of one of the conditions for Wooster’s position as county seat, which was to construct a courthouse.

The naming of both the town and the county reflects a fondness for military figures since both are named after notable Generals. One of Wooster’s first settlers, Joseph Larwill, chose the name of the town to honor David Wooster, a Revolutionary War general.¹  The county’s namesake is General Anthony Wayne, a participant in the Treaty of Greenville, which allowed settlers to move into the Ohio Valley. Killbuck Creek, which runs through Wayne County, gets its name from a Delaware or Lenape chief, who was head of a village close to Wooster.²  Initially, Wooster had some competition for the title of county seat with Madison Hill, a nearby town, but Wooster won by agreeing to build a courthouse on May 30, 1811.³  Soon after its founding, the economic opportunities of Wooster began to attract an increasing number of settlers.

¹ Ben Douglass, History of Wayne County, Ohio, From the Days of the Pioneers and First Settlers to the Present Time (Indianapolis, IN: Robert Douglass, 1878), 410.
² Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio (Norwalk, OH: The Laning Printing Co., 1896), vol. 2, 831.
³ Ibid., 833.