History

James Watson Riley established Celina in 1834. Celina is the county seat of Mercer County. While  traveling through New York state to get the town plat lithographed, Riley came across the town of Salina situated on the edge of Onondaga Lake near Syracuse. Noting the similarity between Salina and the newly founded settlement in Ohio, he named the new town Celina. The spelling was changed to avoid confusion at the post office, or so the story is told from past legends. Another legend has it that the spelling was changed because in Salina, NY, Main Street is oriented east-west (also Market Street is oriented north-south), where in Celina, OH, Main Street is oriented north-south (and Market Steet is oriented east-west). Originally, St. Mary’s was the Mercer County seat of government, but with the Ohio government’s creation of Auglaize County in 1848, St. Mary’s became part of the new county, and Celina became the county seat of Mercer County.

Celina grew slowly after its founding in 1834. In 1880, only 1,346 people resided in the community, but over the next decade, Celina’s population nearly doubled to 2,684 inhabitants. The primary reason for this population growth was the discovery of oil and natural gas deposits during the 1880s. In 1886, Celina contained three newspaper offices, five churches, and two banks. Numerous manufacturing establishments existed in the community, most of which provided services or products to farmers in the surrounding countryside. This has held true throughout the twentieth century. In 2000, Celina was the largest city in Mercer County, with a population of 10,303 people

More information about Celina's History can be found at the Mercer County Historical Museum  listed below.

Intersection of Main and Market Streets

History in the area :

Mercer County Historical Society Museum, Celina

MERCER COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM
130 West Market Street, P.O. Box 512
Celina, OH 45822
Museum Phone: 419-586-6065