The history of Girard Township is plentiful and quite interesting. We are providing you a synopsis of this in the next few paragraphs. If you are interested, the Township office has a Background Analysis that goes into more detail. If you have some time, you can come into the office between 7:30 and 4:00 Monday through Friday and sit and read this at your leisure.

Girard Township was named after Philadelphia banker and philanthropist, Stephen Girard who died in 1831. Mr. Girard owned many large tracts of land in the western part of the county. The Township itself was created in 1832 with approximately 20,000 acres.

The Erie Canal was being built and came into Girard Township between 1838 and 1842. Before the canal, this area was mostly agricultural. The canal brought business and manufacturing to the area. Coal and iron ore were two major commodities shipped along the canal. The boats used in transporting these resources were built in Girard and Albion.

Another activity came to Girard with the canal, it was the circus. Dan Rice brought his circus troupe and animals to winter in Girard in starting in 1854. During this time Girard had a reputation as a Show Town. Rice later moved into the area, built a large estate, married the daughter of the wealthy McConnell family and owned 2 newspapers. Those 2 newspapers were later combined to form what is now the Cosmopolite.

The Battles family came to the Girard area in 1825. Members of the family were involved in retail, stagecoach lines and investing. Asa Battles began purchasing land on South Creek Road while maintaining a residence on Myrtle St. in the Boro. The 200 acres in the South Creek Road area he named “Pleasant View Farm”. His increased interest in agriculture grew and he developed an extensive fruit orchard. Asa passed away in 1899 at the age of 62. Rush Battles, the son of Asa, was the one who built the “Yellow House” in 1859 for his mother and sisters. He later built the “white house” in the Boro for his new bride. He continued to farm the land left to him by his father.

During the war years, many of the men were called off to the war and migrant workers had to be brought in to help with the crops. There was the record snow of 1944-1945 when the National Guard had to be brought in to help clear the roads. The war ended and the service men returned, bringing with them the need for more cars. Girard became the center for dealerships and was known as the Girard Auto Group. The car dealers were originally located in the center of town but moved east into the Township to take advantage of the larger land tracts available.

Today as we look at Girard Township, we have a stable economy. The population is stable and some descendants of the early settlers still live here in the Township and in the Boro. Many retail businesses moved east from the Boro into the Township to have a plaza style setting including fast food, drive in banking and a large supermarket.

The Battles farm houses still stand today and are refurbished and are open to the public for tour.