Millersburg, Holmes County's seat, was named for Charles Miller, who laid out lots in 1815 to establish the village. Its first building was a tavern in 1819, followed by a log cabin schoolhouse in 1820 and a frontier store in 1821, and during the winter of 1820-21 the first religious services were believed to have been held in the school. A log courthouse, the first of three, was built in 1825, and by 1834 the community had about sixty buildings and a population of nearly 300. Millersburg was incorporated on February 17, 1835. Rail service reached the village in 1854 with the completion of the first line from Hudson to Millersburg, a distance of 61 miles, and the line was not completed to Columbus until 1873 by the Cleveland, Mt. Vernon and Delaware Railroad. Those railroad links made Millersburg the county's commerce center, allowing farmers and merchants to receive merchandise and ship produce to various markets, while the village remained strongly tied to agriculture. The 1888 business directory listed seventy places of business serving the county's grain farmers. Electricity came in July 1888, Jackson and Clay Streets were paved with brick two years later, and in 1895 the telephone arrived and the village waterworks was completed. Millersburg has grown slowly, and its historic downtown contains more than 120 listed buildings, including Hotel Millersburg, one of Ohio's oldest continuously operating hotels, with many downtown structures dating mainly from the second half of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century.