When Hickory was first settled, the area was known as "Hickory Tavern," and this name applied to both the town as a whole, and an actual tavern establishment in the town. The exact year that the town of Hickory was given the name "Hickory Tavern" is unknown, but it is generally written to have been founded in 1797, as claimed by the town's two original Keystone signs. This is due to a newspaper advertisement published in The Western Telegraphe, and Washington Advertiser by Andrew McCown (spelled M'Cowan in the ad) on March 26, 1797 advertising town lots "at a place commonly known by the name of the Hickory Tavern or Mount-Pleasant," within Smith Township (Mount Pleasant Township was not formed until 1806). However, given that this town was already commonly called Hickory Tavern, we can infer that it must have been known by that name for some time before 1797.
Almost a year earlier, John Johnston published his own advertisement in The Western Telegraphe and Washington Advertiser on June 30, 1796, describing a horse that he lost "on the great Road betwixt John White's mill and the Hickory Tavern." It is unknown if this refers to the settlement known as Hickory Tavern, or specifically to the tavern establishment at the same place, but it remains the earliest written mention of Hickory Tavern and gives proof of the name in use pre-1797.
The earliest mention of the actual Hickory Tavern establishment is seen in an article regarding election districts printed in The Herald of Liberty on September 10, 1798. The article mentions "...including the dwelling house of John McDonald: thence to the house known by the name of the Hickory tavern..."
But how did Hickory get its name to begin with?
The namesake of the town of Hickory comes from a story involving an actual hickory tree. Whether or not this story is fact or fiction cannot be proven, but a few iterations of it have been told throughout history as far back as 1874. The 1874 account was published by local historian William McFarren Farrar (1824-1892, 3rd photo) in various newspapers and was told to him by a man named John McLaughlin, both of whom moved from Mount Pleasant Township to the state of Ohio.
Below is the transcription of an article that ran in the Wednesday, June 10, 1874 edition of The Washington Reporter.
"And as how the town got its name there are many different opinions, which question, for the benefit of history, I propose to settle.
I have the following from John McLaughlin formerly of Morgan Co, Ohio, whose father was present and participated in the dedicatory exercises, and I believe his statement to be correct.
About the year 17-- the people of Canonsburg, whose public highway consisted of a road from Fort Pitt to Catfish (now Washington) desiring an outlet toward Briceland's cross roads organized a company of axe men to open one. Starting at Canonsburg, the first point W. Hays was grandfather of Rev. Geo. P. Hays of Washington College. The second, Nicholos Smith's; third, John Lindsey's; fourth, Robert Guthries'; fifth, James Porter's; sixth, James McClelland's and seventh, Hickory. This point was reached about noon, when they rested to eat their dinners. Here they found an old broken sled which some persons had abandoned, and after using it for a sort of table, some of the company pulled down a hickory sapling to which they fastened the sled and let it fly up again, where it remained for some years.-- After this in speaking of the place as one of the points on their route, they called it Hickory tavern, and when in the course of time it became a "cross-roads," a tavern, blacksmith shop, and store followed, and made it a town which was called Hickory from the circumstance."
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