About Us
Waynesville is a village in Wayne Township, Warren County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,669 at the 2020 census. It is named for General “Mad” Anthony Wayne. The village, located at the crossroads of U.S. Route 42 and State Route 73, is known as the "Antiques Capital of the Midwest". It is also known for the annual Sauerkraut Festival which is held the second weekend in October. Caesar Creek State Park is located 5 miles (8.0 km) east of the village.
Geography
Waynesville is located at coordinates 39°31′55″N 84°05′11″W.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 2.39 square miles (6.19 km2), of which, 2.38 square miles (6.16 km2) is land and 0.01 square miles (0.03 km2) is water.
History
Waynesville was founded on the west bank of the Little Miami River in 1797 by Samuel Heighway on land he purchased from Judge John Cleves Symmes. The area was in the Northwest Territory until Ohio achieved statehood in 1803. General "Mad" Anthony Wayne opened the land for settlement through the Treaty of Greenville; appropriately, Waynesville was named for him. Heighway, the projector of Waynesville, built what appears to have been the first cabin in the village on March 9, 1797 but numerous tracts in the vicinity of that place had been sold and settled prior to that time. He platted Waynesville in the fashion of an English village, laying the town out in twelve squares of four acres each. The squares retain their names today, as noted by sign posts on each corner.
Waynesville has significance as an important Quaker settlement. The Miami Monthly Meeting, established in 1803 as the first such gathering in southwestern Ohio, is located here. Early homes were built of logs and later mostly of frame, as wood was plentiful while bricks had to be made on site. The Accommodation Stage Coach Line ran along Third Street, which was the major road of that time, and Waynesville was the halfway point between Springfield, Ohio and Cincinnati, Ohio. In the first half of the nineteenth century, Main Street became the center of Waynesville’s commercial activity. Currently, the Village of Waynesville has over 200 historic buildings that are still in existence. Most of these properties are in the older section of town, which includes Main Street, Third Street, Fourth Street, and parts of Fifth Street.
