Killbuck, OH

Killbuck is a Holmes County village along Killbuck Creek in east-central Ohio. The 2020 census counted 810 residents. The creek valley carries local roads through farm and wooded country, with Millersburg and Coshocton serving as nearby regional connections. Killbuck’s municipal footprint is compact, and county services matter in everyday operations: the village’s own police department closed in 2002 after financial strain, and the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office now provides law enforcement under contract.

The village was established in 1874 and took its name from Bemino, a Lenape leader also known to English settlers as John Killbuck Sr. That name links the creek, the village, and a much older Indigenous history in the Ohio Country. Killbuck grew at a waterway crossing, with the creek still giving the place its clearest geographic shape. The creek name and village name preserve that connection in everyday geography. Today the village serves residents along the valley while its name keeps a Lenape figure in the local map.