HIDDEN WEST CHESTER: GANO

Gano was formed just 13 days after Maud was recorded at the Butler County Courthouse. Husband and wife Charles L. and Jane Gano platted the village on May 12, 1873. Gano is located about 2 miles due south of (Olde) West Chester. The Ganos came to Union Township around 1861 and lived in a home they inherited on farmland, initially owned by the pioneering Montanye family, in the southeastern portion of Union Township. When the Dayton Short Line Railroad was built, the Ganos bought an additional 100 acres of land October 25, 1872 for the purpose of developing a railway town. Gano was modeled after the nearby suburb of Glendale, Ohio –settled in 1855 – where Jane’s family was from and where Charles Gano once made his home. Gano had its own train depot in the early days, like its sister village Maud to the north. The railroad bridge at the entrance/exit of the Gano neighborhood today was constructed in 1911, at the same time the railroad tracks were shifted east to their present location.