Expansion was slow in the beginning

Hilliard has changed a lot through out the years.  In 1860, there were 41 men and 36 women living in Scioto.  This area would later become known as Hilliard’s Station.  In the west part of town, in Brown Township, Samuel Solomon Jackson Wooley founded the Applegate Tile Company.  He discovered that the clay near Big Darby Creek was good for making tile.  Around this time, other businesses were opened to help the community’s needs.  These included mills (flour and saw), merchants (groceries, dry goods, and produce), smithies (iron and tin), shoemakers, dressmakers, wheelwrights, coopers, carpenters, plasterers, brick masons, and pump makers.  Homes were first made of logs until bricks were available in 1880.  By 1900, the Village of Hilliard’s had 400 people living there.

The Hilliard Centennial was celebrated in May 30, 1953.  This was the end of the small town in Hilliard as suburban neighborhoods were beginning to be built.  Between 1950 and 1960, the population increased from 600 to 10,000 as 12 subdivisions were built.  The popular style was the modern looking one story home.  The town of Hilliard increased five times as areas were annexed (added) into Hilliard.  Some of these areas included: Grant and Wayne Streets, west and east sides of Avery Road, areas around Hilliard-Rome Road (changed to Main Street in 1965), Roman Hills, Colonial Heights, Hilliard Heights, south of Cemetery Road, west of Leap Road, and Westbrooke.

In the 1990's most people began moving into the area mostly because of the school system.  Other things people thought about were the lot location and size and homebuilder, such as the homes in Brixton Estates, which greatly enlarged city’s population.  There were many condominiums built.  Homes with 2 bathrooms, cathedral ceilings, garages, family rooms, and other features to make life more comfortable were also very popular.  The population was reported to be 24,230 in 2000.  Approximately 125 housing areas existed by 2002.

Most subdivisions have a welcoming sign or a greeting sign near the main entrance.  Even though new homes were being built, history still impacted new growth.  It has become a Hilliard tradition to name roads, streets, schools and buildings after early pioneers and townsfolk.  This helps reminds us of who we are, where we have been, and where we are going as Hilliard grows and changes.

Adapted by Brooke Germaine