The township form of government was brought to America by the Pilgrims in 1620 and was established in the Ohio Territory even before Ohio became a state. Today, as in the early years, this remains the basic unit of local government and currently functions with those powers that are specifically granted and defined by state legislature.

The first known settlers arrived in what is now Moorefield Township in 1799 and were part of a colony of five men, plus wives and children that came from Kentucky and included Simon Kenton. They made their first homes along Urbana Pike which was at that time a cleared path through the forest. Other settlers followed in the early years of the nineteenth century and made their homes throughout the area that would become Moorefield Township, which was officially organized in June, 1818.

This commemorative stone is located in Mumper Cemetery on Morris Road, marking the location of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

This marker is located at Pleasant Hill Cemetery on Mechanicsburg Road.

Early businesses in the area were saw mills, grist mills and merchandising, in addition to the main pursuits of agriculture and trapping. In 1881 there were three churches and nine school districts within the township. In each district, classes were held in brick schoolhouses, which were built at a cost of $1600.00 each. During the nineteenth century and into the first half of the twentieth century, the township remained mostly rural in nature and agriculture was the chief support of local families. Historic Crabill Homestead, built in or before 1826, has been rehabilitated and stands on its original location at what is now the grounds of Clarence J. Brown Reservoir. Another historic home, known for many years as the Hunt Home, dating to the early nineteenth century, stands on the lands where Simon Kenton built his log home on Urbana Road.