Baskets were stored in the upper part of this
blacksmith shop owned and operated by W.A. Clute
on Old Turnpike Road from 1877 to 1906 Mr. Clute
built wagons and carriages and also did blacksmithing,
pipefitting, painting and repair work. This was the
largest shop of its kind in the village of
Kelloggsville during its thriving years.


Biggest Township, Name Dates Back To 1818
By Nancy Horst (1976)

The determination of the first pioneers to survive and succeed in the wilderness of the township encouraged those that followed and Monroe Township grew into one of the most highly populated townships in the county around the late 1800s. And it probably would have been growing still had it not been for the railroad.

For when the railroad was proposed to run through the township, the residents openly opposed the swift moving, noisy steam engine and forbade the laying of tracks through their farmlands. These hardworking, religious people loudly proclaimed that "If God had meant for man to travel at 15 miles per hour, He would have written it into the Scriptures." Therefore, the railroad that came through in 1872 ran from Ashtabula to Warren and later Ashtabula to Conneaut and completely by-passed Monroe Township. Soon after, business in the township started to decline.

The turn of the century brought automobiles, electricity, the telephone, power machinery and foreclosures. Businesses closed throughout the township and families moved to more active communities.

Today the township is a quiet governing township body. The system of one clerk and three trustees elected from the residents living within the boundaries of the township has continued to serve as it did from the beginning.