The village of Bidwell, once known as Heatly, was surveyed in 1881 after the arrival of the Columbus, Hocking Valley, and Toledo Railroad, and a depot called Porter Station was soon built on this site for passenger and freight service. By 1900, Heatly was renamed Bidwell in honor of John Bidwell of California, a Prohibitionist candidate for the presidency of the United States. By 1906, a thriving railroad business, together with the efforts of J. K. Powell, Charles Heatly, and E. T. Morrison, caused land speculation to boom. The village soon included the Powell Tile Factory, the Morrison General Store, the Heatly housing addition, a post office established in 1881, a two-room school, a Methodist Church established in 1892, Mount Carmel Baptist Church established in 1903, Bidwell-Porter High School established in 1902, a flour mill, a hotel, and a bank. The railroad was a primary factor in Bidwell's prominence throughout the area, and the Bidwell Bean Dinner and the Emancipation Proclamation Celebration were held each year in nearby Bush's Park, with special excursion trains arriving from Columbus and bringing hundreds of visitors. These signs of progress declined when railroad passenger service to Bidwell and other towns along the route ended on December 31, 1949.