(The following was taken from an article in the Southwest Messenger by author Jill Billman Royer – Grove City Record, July, 1966, and is reprinted from “Reflections II”, a collection of local stories available at the Grove City Welcome Center and Museum. Any opinions made in the article are from the authors.)

“Georgesville is a village of hill and dale where only the labors of years prevail and the railroad is swung from hill to hill.  Above the river so clear and still. For the Big and Little Darby unite. Below the twin bridges sustained all right. Of all the picturesque towns, you will find nothing that compares with Georgesville.”

The author of the above poem is unknown; but it was found in the printed church history of the Georgesville Methodist Church, also known as Dyer Chapel, published in 1951. Dyer Chapel was the first church constructed in Georgesville, originally erected as a wooden structure in 1875 for the cost of $1,800 and was named in honor of his chief promoter, William Dyer.

Georgesville was never Incorporated, yet the community is believed to be as old as any town in Franklin County. One of William Dyer’s ancestors, John Dyer is credited with being among the first settlers in the area of Georgesville soon after the turn of the nineteenth century.

Although Mr. Spencer and his son-in-law Osborn, are thought to have settled near Georgesville in the same year Franklinton was settled (1797). In fact the Rev. James Hoge, from the Presbyterian Church in Franklinton, visited the town periodically to conduct the first church services in the homes of John Biggart and Thomas Roberts.

Roberts served as Georgesville’s first postmaster and is credited with “laying out” the town in 1816. Some official histories of Georgesville credit its name to a majority of men with names of George inhabiting the town. Rumor has it that George Spencer, George Lambert, George Osborn, and George Sullivant name the town after themselves. Before it became known as Georgesville the area was referred to as “The Farms of Darby” for its proximity to the Little and Big Darby Creeks.

(The conclusion of this story in the next blog entry).