Piqua, Ohio

City: Piqua

County: Miami

State: Ohio

Lat/Long: 40.1333, -84.2333

Located in southwestern Ohio, approximately twenty miles north of Dayton, Piqua is a city in Miami County. Prior to the American Revolution, Indian tribes occupied the region, with the Miamis battling the Shawnee and other groups for control. After the Revolution, whites and Indians battled over the territory. General Anthony Wayne's victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers and the subsequently Treaty of Greenville opened the region to white settlement, and settlers began arriving in 1798. In 1807, soldiers surveyed and platted what would become the nucleus of the town, naming the new town Washington. In 1811, the U.S. Post Office established a post office in the town, giving it the name Piquatown. During the War of 1812, Piquatown served as an important relay station and supply depot for military operations in Ohio and the Michigan Territory. In 1823, the Ohio General Assembly incorporated it as a town, changing the name to Piqua. The Ohio General Assembly reincorporated the town in 1835, adding additional territory. Piqua continued to grow and develop throughout the antebellum period, aiding in large part by the construction of the Miami and Erie Canal, which opened in 1837, and the coming of railroads in the 1850s. In 1850, the Ohio General Assembly incorporated it as a city.

John A. Rayner, comp., The First Century of Piqua Ohio (Piqua, OH: Magee Bros., 1916), 5-14, 15-22, 23-35, 36, 43, 58, 59, 69, 158.