James Kilbourne

Community service

Biographical sketch

James Kilbourne was the founder of Worthington and of the Scioto Company, a group organized in Connecticut in 1802 to purchase land and establish the town in the Northwest Territory that became Worthington. Kilbourne and Nathaniel Little traveled west in 1802 to view land prospects, and Kilbourne served as the company's agent in the purchase of land. In the spring of 1803, he traveled to Worthington as supervisor of the advance party, clearing land and building temporary cabins. He began to build the first brick home in the village in 1804, after the lands were partitioned on August 11. 

In 1805, he became a U.S. Surveyor of public lands, and surveyed several towns and roads. From the Kilbourn Commercial Building, he printed the first newspaper published in Franklin County, the "Western Intelligencer," along with operating his retail store and surveying office. He additionally served as deacon of the St. John's Episcopal Church in Worthington. 

According to the book "Scioto Company Descendants" by Virginia McCormick, he additionally "served as township Justice of the Peace in 1805-1807, Major and later Colonel in the local militia, President of the Worthington Academy and later the Worthington Medical College, U.S. Congressman 1812-1814, a founding director of the Franklin Bank in Columbus in 1816, Representative to the Ohio Legislature in 1823 and again in 1838, Franklin Co. Assessor 1825-1827," as well as Worthington's first mayor with three subsequent terms. 

According to "Scioto Company Descendants," he spelled his last name "Kilbourn" for most of his life, only changing it to "Kilbourne" about five years before his death.