Beavercreek Committee of Eleven, Inc. Records

In August of 1964, the Fairborn Chamber of Commerce initiated proceedings to annex a portion of Beavercreek Township to Fairborn In response, eleven citizens of Beavercreek formed a study group to determine a means of keeping the township boundaries intact. The original eleven members represented the following organizations: Beavercreek Improvement Association, Beaver Valley Grange, Beavercreek Schools, Beavercreek Lions Club, Woodhaven Homeowners Association, Friends of the Beavercreek Library, Beavercreek Democratic Club, Elano Corporation, and Greene County Medical Association. Although the membership was greatly expanded after May 1965, the group never changed its original title.

After researching the township's tax duplicates, alternative forms of governments, background reports indicating how incorporation had been achieved in nearby areas, and records of the township's police, fire, and road departments, the Committee of Eleven, Inc. concluded that incorporation of the township was the best way to prevent any neighboring city from annexing portions of the township. The members agreed also that the township form of government had become inadequate for this growing urbanized community, and that by incorporating, a more efficient and effective form of government could be established.

Fairborn's determination to annex a portion of Beavercreek Township was only the first of many obstacles which the Committee of Eleven was to face in its fifteen-year struggle to incorporate Beavercreek. A small section of the township petitioned to incorporate separately; several neighboring municipalities filed suits to prevent Beavercreek from incorporating, each with the intent of annexing portions of the township; court hearings were frequently delayed; and raising money for legal fees, which ultimately totaled over $50,000, required considerable time and effort.

Fairborn's annexation petitions were denied in August 1965, but several months earlier, residents of a small portion of Beavercreek Township petitioned to incorporate separately as the Village of Valleywood. With its legal representative, John P. McHugh, the Committee was in and out of court until Valleywood's goal of separate incorporation was defeated. On September 30, 1975, the Greene County Commissioners approved the incorporation of Beavercreek Township.

A sixty-day waiting period was established during which time suits could be filed opposing the Commissioners' approval of incorporation for Beavercreek Township. The neighboring municipalities of Dayton, Kettering, and again, Fairborn each filed suits to prevent the incorporation of the entire township, hoping to eventually annex portions of it. Wright Patterson Air Force Base and Technology, Incorporated also filed suits against the Committee. Several years of intense litigation followed. In a compromise decision, the Committee of Eleven agreed to pursue the incorporation of an area much smaller than the entire township. Finally, on July 3, 1979 Beavercreek became a village with certification of municipal status by the Ohio Secretary of State.