In 1801, pioneers first settled in a central Ohio area still occupied by Delaware Indians. Maps from the mid-18th century show that Mingos and other tribes had pre-Revolutionary settlements along a trail from the lower Scioto Valley northward to the Sandusky Bay area. Hundreds of years earlier, the Hopewell Mound Builders who inhabited this area built several mounds in what would become Delaware County.

The city of Delaware got its start in 1808 when Moses Byxbe and others from Massachusetts settled near Joseph Barber's small trading post that opened in 1805. For some years, Delaware remained a country village along the Olentangy River, in the midst of forest and open fields.

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During the War of 1812, Delaware served as headquarters for General William Henry Harrison, a number of whose soldiers are buried in area cemeteries. Following the Treaty of Greenville in 1814, settlers poured into the area.

Among those settlers were the parents of Rutherford B. Hayes, the Civil War general and 19th president of the United States. Born in Delaware in 1822, Hayes met his future wife, Lucy Webb, at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan got its start in what had been the Mansion House resort, which offered guests the health benefits of a nearby sulfur spring. The resort failed and was purchased by Methodists seeking to establish a liberal arts college. The Mansion House, now called Elliott Hall, is still in active use at Ohio Wesleyan.

Delaware County's rugged terrain, as well as the Northern sympathies of its settlers, brought the pre-Civil War underground railway through the area. Africa Road owes its name to this era.

In 1851, the railroads came to the area with Delaware as a stop on a line between Cleveland and Columbus. By the 1890's, additional rail lines served Delaware providing access to major cities and markets throughout the country. At the turn of the century, Delaware could boast of its own electric street railway system. In the early 1930's, electric inter-urban service was provided by the Columbus, Delaware & Marion system.

Today, highways have replaced railways as the preferred avenues of transportation. Three U.S. routes and two state routes cross through Delaware, and a major north-south interstate is seven miles east of the city.

Delaware has a long and proud heritage. Though part of a dynamic and growing Columbus metropolitan area, Delaware maintains and preserves its historical character, one that assures a sense of the past, yet embodies new growth and change for the future.

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