New Boston
From 20th Century History of Springfield and Clark County, Ohio by Hon. William A. Rockel
Chicago: Biographical Publishing Co., 1908
New Boston was laid out by Henry Bailey in November, 1809. Jonathan Donnel was the surveyor. The inlots were 5 poles wide by 10 poles in length; the outlots 22x29 poles. The streets were four poles wide and the alleys one pole. This plat of Boston was abandoned by order of Court of Common Pleas of this county, December 13, 1866. Thus it will be seen that the New Boston like its predecessor Piqua has absolutely disappeared; the part of Bethel Township in which it was located was a precinct designated by the name of Boston. The following letter gives the best description of this town that I know of:
"Mr. T. F. McGrew—Dear Sir: If you wish to say anything in your address about Boston on the occasion of the celebration at the place where the town of Boston was located, I will here state what I remember of it in its prosperous days. Just after you pass the toll-gate, near The place named, the turnpike road turns more directly to the west, and it rims in nearly a straight line parallel with the river, until it slopes down to the lower lands forming the long stretch of river bottom. It was on this little piece of table land that the town of Boston was located. The old wagon road ran south and parallel with the present turnpike, and it was along this road in a single line that the town of Boston once stood. The houses were not more than ten or a dozen in number and they were scattered the road for a distance of perhaps forty rods, most of them on the south side, and were nearly all built of logs. One house on the south side was a frame house, where a tavern was kept by a man by the name of French. The last house on the west end of the street was an old log house, when I first remembered the place, about the year 1818. It stood on the edge of the sloping ground that goes down abruptly into the prairie bottom. At that time there lived in this old house a man and his wife, by the name of Powell, who always excited my boyish curiosity on account of their extreme old age, as I then passed frequently through the village on my way to the house of my aunt, who lived a short distance below.
At this period of 1818, the town of Boston was a competitor for the county seat of justice; and after it was located at Springfield, the town of Boston lost its prestige, and began its work of decline. The houses, poor at the best, one by one went into decay, and disappeared, and it must be at least a quarter of a century since the last one disappeared that stood there in 1818. The graves of some of its citizens are now inclosed with an old picket fence, near the decayed town's location.
Yours truly,
John Ludlow."