History & Heritage

Symmes Township is situated in the northeast corner of Hamilton County.  The Township was formed in 1824 from the eastern portion of Sycamore Township and bears the name of John Cleves Symmes (1742-1814) who, in 1788, made the "Miami Purchase" which led to the founding of Cincinnati.

An 1869 Symmes Township land map gives clues to some of our present-day areas.   The Harper family owned large tracts of land in the area now know as Harper's Station.  The Humphreys gave us Humphrey Road and Humphrey Hills Subdivision.   Residents will recognize names such as Ann Enyart, Daniel Knicely, and a D. Ertel whose many fields were the inspiration for the road we call Fields Ertel.

There were several villages within Symmes Township but only a few are recognizable today.  Symmes Station was the old Symmes Township "center" where Hopewell Road intersects with Loveland-Maderia Road.  Once called Polktown, Symmes Station had a church, fire station and the Township hall which was used until 1975.  Remington, located in the southwest corner of the Township, has retained its identity and is one of the sites of the Loveland-Symmes Fire Department.

Camp Dennison is perhaps the most historic of Symmes' old-time villages.  It was settled in the late 1790's by a group of German Pietists led by Christian Waldschmidt.   Over the next fifty years the village, originally called "Germany", was an active mill town with a school, church and post office.  During the Civil War, the area became an army garrison named after Ohio's governor, William Dennison.  Today, Camp Dennison retains its small town charm and historic ambiance.