Editing New Madison, Ohio (section)

==History==
New Madison was [[plat]]ted by Zadock Smith in 1817 for purposes of [[speculation|land speculation]], but his efforts failed; he was unable to sell any of the lots.  Two years later, he sold the land to Ernestus Putnam, who replatted the village and began to sell lots in 1831; unlike Smith, Putnam saw the establishment of a successful community.<ref name="wilson">{{cite book|last= Wilson|first=Frazer Ells|title=History of Darke County, Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Vol. 1|url=https://archive.org/stream/historyofdarkeco01hoba#page/558/mode/2up|year=1914|publisher=Hobart Publishing Company|location=Milford, Ohio}}</ref>{{rp|559}}  The village was named after Madison, Indiana by Ernestus Putman. Ernestus Putman previously lived in Madison, In. and he named it New Madison after he bought the village.<ref>{{cite book|last=Overman|first=William Daniel|title=Ohio Town Names|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015015361465;view=1up;seq=114|year=1958|publisher=Atlantic Press|location=Akron, OH|page=98}}</ref> The first church in the community was a [[Presbyterian Church in the United States of America|Presbyterian]] congregation.<ref name=wilson />{{rp|561}}  While the community's first school was founded in its early years, the building was replaced by a substantial two-[[storey|story]] structure in 1870; it in turn was replaced by a larger built in 1897.<ref name=wilson />{{rp|562}}