The settlement was knows as Sells Settlement and John Sells, who owned the land in the part of Dublin we know as the Historic area, was preparing to divide the property and sell lots for people to buy and build houses. He contracted with John Shields, a surveyor from Franklinton (the town across the Scioto River from today’s downtown Columbus) who was well known in the area. Shields also was a Methodist minister. He would have been familiar with the Black Horse Tavern in Sells Settlement because this was where everyone stopped when they came this way. Shields had surveyed some of the land in this vicinity for the Virginia Military District. In 1810, after surveying 200 lots for Sells, one legend tells of a grateful Sells giving Shields the honor of naming the community: “If I have the honor conferred upon me to name your Village, with the brightness of the morn, and the beaming of the sun on the hills and the dales surrounding this beautiful valley, it would give me great pleasure to name your new town after my birthplace, Dublin, Ireland.”
