New Knoxville, OH

New Knoxville was laid out in 1836 in Auglaize County, where a mill, store, and trading center helped give the new village a foothold among the farms of Washington Township. The settlers were largely German immigrants, and the name changed from Knoxville to New Knoxville in 1858 after the Post Office Department rejected the original name as already in use elsewhere in Ohio. The village grew with a strong religious and social life: the German Evangelical Reformed congregation formed in 1838, the German Methodist congregation followed in 1843, and both traditions still have churches in town.

That history is still visible in the church buildings, cemeteries, and community institutions. First Church began with forty charter members and built its first log church and parsonage in 1840; the brick Noll Church, dedicated in 1894, remains in continuous use. New Knoxville Local Schools covers the village's public-school life, and the public library is a branch of Auglaize County Public Library. The result is a compact village whose identity grew from German immigration, a water-powered mill, two long-running congregations, and the farm roads around it.