Zanesville, Ohio

Zanesville was formed by Ebenezer Zane in 1797. Zane and a party of woodsmen cut a

path from Wheeling, West Virginia, through the Ohio forest, to Maysville, Kentucky.

Dubbed Zane's Trace this path became a gateway to the rich lands of the west. 


For his work in opening the Trace, Zane was granted by Congress the right to locate

his military land parcel where the Trace crossed the three main rivers. In his

agreement with Congress he agreed to operate ferries across the Ohio, Muskingum,

and Licking Rivers to make the Trace passable. The first settlers of Zanesville

were William McCullough and Henry Crooks, ferrymen sent by Zane, his brother

Jonathan, and his brother-in-law Jonathan McIntire to comply with his promise.


John McIntire laid out the streets of a town which he called Westbourne in 1799.

When the post office was established in 1801 the Postmaster re-named the town

Zanesville. In 1804 a committee of the Legislature came to choose a county seat for

Muskingum County. McIntire called his neighbors together and, with scythes and axes,

they cleared the streets of brush and saplings. These neatly cleaned streets so

impressed the committee members that they made Zanesville the County Seat.