Prior to 1850, New Riegel was variously known as Schindler (named for German immigrant Anton Schindler [1790-1851]) and as Wolf's Creek (purportedly due to the large number of wolves that roamed local woodlands). In 1850, Schindler subdivided his land into 43 lots, which he collectively named for his hometown of Riegel, Germany. Historically, New Riegel was inhabited by Roman Catholic immigrants from Germany, who created a mission community under the patronage of the famous eighth-century Anglo Saxon missionary to present-day Germany, Boniface. Local Roman Catholic immigrants from Switzerland, France, Belgium and Luxembourg were also drawn to the mission prior to creating their own church communities in nearby Frenchtown and Alvada.
Passages that mention New Riegel, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Seneca County, Ohio, containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages ... portraits of early settlers and prominent men1886Read the page →
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Organic and Official. — New Riegel Village was incorporated December 2, 1882, on petition of B. J. Murphy and thirty-nine other residents, presented to the commissioners of the county, December 28, 1881. The local records, however, acknowledge the order of February 5, 1883, as the act of incoi-poration, because under this order, the first village elections were held April 2, 1883.
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Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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