Erie County/Huron 1800s
Originally the entire Western Reserve, including the Firelands, was part of Trumball County, as designated by the Territorial Government on December 6, 1800. Five years later the Firelands became part of Geauga County, and in 1807 part of the Firelands was included in Portage County. It wasn’t until February 10, 1809 when Huron County was established and Huron Township was included in its perimeter. As the area grew, residents thought their interests would be best served if a new county were created from the northern sections of Huron and Sandusky County.
A committee was appointed to consider Huron, Milan and Sandusky as the county seat. When the committee visited Huron, a northeaster flooded the town and temporarily prevented the committee members from reaching their hotel. Despite Huron officials' claim that Sandusky Bay was too shallow to accommodate the bigger Great Lakes ships, when the committee visited Sandusky they was a large ship safely moored in the bay in water that had been temporarily made deeper due to the storm’s wind. That coupled with a rare brand of an imported spirit conveniently presented to the committee Sandusky’s Mayor Camp, confirmed the men’s choice of Sandusky as the seat of Erie County.