Formation of Clark County
From 20th Century History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Hon. William A. Rockel
Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co., 1908
When Champaign County was organized in 1805, the temporary seat of justice was fixed at the town of Springfield at the house of George Fithian until the permanent place could be fixed by law. Urbana was laid out in the same year that the County of Champaign was formed, and being perhaps nearer to the center of the territory, and augmented largely by the self-interest of the persons who had platted the town, the county seat was removed, to that place. Urbana had assumed to be a place of considerable importance in the war of 1812; it was a government military post and the army of General Hull, from Dayton, and that of General McArthur, from Chillicothe, met there on their way to Detroit, but Springfield was also growing, and the rivalry of the two towns became rather sharply developed, and it was not long until the agitation for the formation of a new county began to be felt.
December 24th, 1814, Mr. McBeth of the House of Representatives presented petitions from the inhabitants of Champaign, Madison, Miami, and Greene Counties, praying for a new county. Mr. Newel presented remonstrances from the inhabitants of Champaign. Afterwards the matter was referred to committees and passing over the usual matters occurring in legislation of that kind, on Monday, December 15, 1817, the bill admitting the county was read for a third time; it received upon its passage in the Senate seventeen ayes and ten nays. On December 23rd it was passed in the House and on December 25, Christmas Day, 1817, the County of Clark received its existence. The fight had been long and not free from acrimony; almost all of the distinguished men of the time were arraigned on one side or the other. Naturally the citizens of Springfield were very much elated over the passage of the act and held a celebration in a tavern kept by Cooper Ludlow on the northwest corner of Main and Factory Streets.