West Jefferson rose out of the dust of a failed town and once was the
most important business in Madison County, Ohio. Samuel Jones and Samuel
Sexton moved to the area from New Jersey and platted New Hampton on July
5, 1822, along Little Darby Creek and Ludlow Road, the first state road
in Ohio. The town was laid out with ninety-three lots on eight streets
on the south side of Hampton Cemetery on Frey Avenue in West Jefferson.
It had two general stores, a post office, three taverns, a hotel, and a
brick Baptist church in the cemetery. West Jefferson was flourishing
with a grist mill and the pork packing industry. It had five hotels at
its peak, with passenger and goods stagecoaches lining the streets. In
this book, author Ashley Murray guides readers through the history of
this unique Ohio community.