Maysville,
a small village near the
center of West Salem township, is located a few miles west of Greenville, in the
northwest corner of Mercer County.
Maysville was a trading spot in the early
1800s, but it hasn't always been called Maysville. Big Run, a
stream that runs through the town was once known as Mays Creek. The part of town on the west side of the creek was called
Maysville; the part on the east side was called Maysdale. The town
was called Meadows for a time in the early 1900s, but the name reverted
back to Maysville.
West
Salem township's first gristmill was built in 1829 in Maysville by John Gravat. It used water from
Big Run. The West Salem Baptist Church erected a building in
1840. Thomas McMahan built a sawmill in 1846 and then
built a steam-operated gristmill in 1848. He ran the mill for 20
years. It later burned down. In 1877, Nimrod
Burwell owned the land where the mill once stood. In 1873, John Russell built a
cheese factory in Maysville, it burned down twice and was later replaced
by one built by J. W. Woods.
The post office was established in
Maysville in 1852; it was discontinued in 1872. An old map
showed that six roads met at Maysville and the town had become a
community center with a store, hotel and blacksmith shop, in addition to
the cheese factory and the various mills on Big Run. It was also a
stagecoach stop between Warren, OH, and Franklin, PA. The town had
succession of early blacksmiths, including one identified
only
in records as Bittenbanner, a man who had
the dubious distinction of having a wooden leg he carved from a log.
continued
Map
and driving directions to Maysville
If
you're looking for your ancestors in Maysville, try the Census for
West Salem Township 
