Callensburg was surveyed in 1826, by Hugh Callen, Sr., who commissioned a young surveyor named Sidle Lobaugh to lay out a town on part of the 300 acres he had purchased in 1812.
In laying out the town, Mr. Callen reserved three acres for building a Presbyterian Church and cemetery, and deeded an open lot north of Main street, where the town spring was located, to the town.