60 topographic sheets and 24 fire insurance
atlases across 4 places.
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From the record
27 National Register listings · 45 businesses named in the fire insurance atlases from 1885 to 1926 · the 1881 county history tells 0 stories and names 1 people · people the book names include North Lewisburg P. O. (Wayne Township, 1881) (machine-read).
Ohio within the United StatesChampaign County within Ohio
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What the record shows
4 places in this county were surveyed for fire insurance: Urbana, Mechanicsburg, Saint Paris, North Lewisburg, between 1885 and 1950.
24 fire insurance atlas(es) survive for the county. Topographic coverage is national; fire insurance survey reached only incorporated places with something worth insuring.
517 topographic sheet readings cover the county's settlements.
27 properties here are on the National Register of Historic Places, including 12 houses and farms.
4 of the 27 listings were added during the 1970s.
The Geographic Names Information System records 39 populated places in this county; 0 are covered by at least one topographic sheet.
2 public-domain county histories, 1881 and 1881, supply 372,950 words of narrative reproduced here in full.
Photographs
9 photographs, 1938
Taken for the Office of War Information and
the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between
1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no
known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.
Buildings on grounds at Champaign County Fair, Ohio Shahn, Ben, 1938. Library of CongressEntrance to Champaign County Fair, Ohio Shahn, Ben, 1938. Library of CongressJudges' stand, county fair Shahn, Ben, 1938. Library of CongressLivestock display, Champaign County Fair, Ohio Shahn, Ben, 1938. Library of CongressEntrance to Champaign County Fair, Ohio Shahn, Ben, 1938. Library of CongressLivestock display, Champaign County Fair, Ohio Shahn, Ben, 1938. Library of CongressMatt Gray House, North Lewisburg, Champaign County, OH Unattributed, . Library of CongressCovered Bridge, Spanning Darby Creek, North Lewisburg, Champaign County, OH Unattributed, . Library of CongressCovered Bridge, Spanning Spain's Creek, North Lewisburg, Champaign County, OH Unattributed, . Library of Congress
Places on the National Register
27
Every property in this county listed on the
National Register of Historic Places, with the year it was listed and the
federal nomination document.
Champaign County holds 0 covered bridges on
the National Register, more than any other property type here. Each is a listed
structure with a federal nomination on file.
Digitised newspapers
5 issues
Sampled issues, machine-read from the
Library of Congress scan and published page by page, so every headline
and column is searchable text.
Urbana Union
Urbana, Ohio, 1862 to 1872. Machine-read from the Library of Congress scan.
Drawn when these were printed as
single large sheets: the town seen from the air, and the county
divided into its farms with every owner named. Each opens the
original at the Library of Congress.
Bird's-eye view (1899) - Mingo Junction, Ohio 1899. Library of Congress.Land ownership map (1858) - Map of Champaign Co. O.. Library of Congress.Land ownership map (1894) - Map of Champaign County, Ohio. Library of Congress.
The county from the air
32 of 583 shown
Flown by the U.S. Geological Survey
between 1937 and 1989, the Aerial Photo Single Frames collection is
the definitive mid-century view of the land: fields, roads and rivers
as the camera saw them. 583 frames touch this county; the
selection below spreads across the decades of flights (at most four
per year), so one flight cannot crowd out the rest. The full set is
free to browse and download at
EarthExplorer under the dataset Aerial Photo Single
Frames.
1952-08-01, scale 1:69000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1952-08-01, scale 1:69000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1952-08-01, scale 1:69000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1952-08-01, scale 1:69000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1959-10-28, scale 1:60000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1959-10-28, scale 1:60000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1959-10-28, scale 1:60000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1959-10-28, scale 1:60000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1960-05-03, scale 1:60000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1960-05-03, scale 1:60000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1960-05-03, scale 1:60000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1960-05-03, scale 1:60000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1964-04-15, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1964-04-15, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1964-04-15, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1964-04-15, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1968-03-18, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1968-03-18, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1968-03-18, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1968-03-18, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1972-05-01, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1972-05-01, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1972-05-01, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1972-05-01, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1973-10-01, scale 1:76000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1973-10-01, scale 1:76000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1973-10-01, scale 1:76000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1973-10-01, scale 1:76000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1979-11-01, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1979-11-01, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1979-11-01, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.1979-11-01, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
City directories
1 volume
The "who lived here, by year" answer:
pre-1929 public-domain directory volumes naming the county's people,
machine-read and searchable as text.
The thermometers that kept this
county's weather, and the gages that watched its rivers, as the
federal records hold them. The extremes below are measured values
from those records, not estimates.
ROSEWOOD1894 to 1901, hottest 36.1 C, coldest -30.0 C
URBANA WRF1895 to 2026, hottest 41.1 C, coldest -29.4 C
Who lived here in 1950, one enumeration
district at a time, as the Census Bureau described each district.
Each row opens its official National Archives result, with Population
Schedules and ED Maps available there.
11-20Union township - That part outside Mutual village
11-21Urbana city: Urbana city - That part comprising Ward 1 Bounded by Miami, Ward line; Ward line, S. Main, Ward line; City limits; City limits
11-22Urbana city - That part of Ward 2 Bounded by Scioto; City limits; City limits; Kenton
11-23Urbana city - That part of Ward 2 Bounded by Ward line, Scioto; Kenton; City limits; Ward line, S. Main
11-24Urbana city - That part of Ward 3 Bounded by City limits; City limits, East Lawn Ave.; Boyce, Boyce extended; N Main
11-25Urbana city - That part of Ward 3 Bounded by Boyce extended, Boyce; East Lawn Ave.; Scioto, Ward line; Ward line, N. Main
11-26Urbana city - That part of Ward 3 Bounded by City limits; City limits; Scioto; East Lawn Ave.
11-27Urbana city - That part of Ward 4 Bounded by City limits; City limits, N. Main; Light; Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, City limits
11-28Urbana city - That part of Ward 4 Bounded by City limits; Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway; Miami; City limits
11-29Urbana city - That part of Ward 4 Bounded by Light; N. Main, Ward Line; Ward line, Miami; Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway
Every Sanborn volume opens with a printed index
naming the town's mills, tanneries, hotels and works by proprietor. Those
indexes were read off the scanned sheets by machine and then matched to each
other, so a business surveyed four times appears here once, with the years it
survived. 11 of these 45 were named in more than one atlas. Each carries a
crop of the line it was read from: the spelling is the recogniser's and the
1880s lithographer's, and the scan behind it is the proof.
Every wildfire the federal occurrence
database records inside this county: 11 of them, burning about
31 acres. 1 started naturally and 2 were
recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five
miles of it.
Reported cause
Fires
Recreation and ceremony
4
Debris and open burning
2
Arson/incendiarism
2
Natural
1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
1
Other causes
1
The five largest, by the area the report
gives. One of them was set deliberately.
Date
Cause
Size
Reported by
Name on the report
8 March 2002
Debris and open burning
25 acres
Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office
not named
6 September 2002
Recreation and ceremony
1.0 acres
Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office
not named
13 September 2002
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
1.0 acres
Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office
not named
5 September 2002
Recreation and ceremony
1.0 acres
Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office
not named
8 September 2002
Other causes
1.0 acres
Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office
not named
13 September 2002
Recreation and ceremony
under an acre
Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office
not named
9 March 2002
Debris and open burning
under an acre
Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office
not named
23 March 2002
Arson/incendiarism
under an acre
Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office
not named
Every settlement page carries the fires within five
miles of it - see the settlement index below.
Storms, 1958 to
2026
60 of 283 shown
The
NOAA Storm Events Database holds
283 reports for this county, causing 1 death,
8 injuries and about $2,118,854 in recorded property damage.
Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.
Kind of event
Reports
Thunderstorm Wind
172
Hail
59
Flood
25
Flash Flood
12
Tornado
8
Heavy Rain
5
Lightning
1
Funnel Cloud
1
The most serious of them, by death, then
injury, then recorded damage. The accounts are quoted exactly as the
forecast office filed them.
A twelve year old boy drowned when he was swept into a flooded culvert. Several roads were flooded and a number of homes in Urbana had high water in basements.
A 12-year old boy was seriously injured by a lightning strike. Two other boys with him, ages 8 and 11, also complained of minor muscle spasms in their legs.
Initial EF-0 damage began on West Herr Road near North US Highway 68. Several large tree branches measuring between 3-8 inches were snapped. The adjacent home toward the east had four large hardwood trees downed, several of which were snapped at the trunk. Additionally, this home and unattached garage had siding ripped off. Continuing 1.7 miles northeast, the property at the intersection of Kennard-Kingscreek Road and Game Farm Road received EF-0 damage. At this location, numerous hardwood trees were snapped at the trunk, a metal garage door was bent, a barn door track was ripped from the barn, and a shed was rolled onto its side.||The tornado continued eastward and broke additional tree limbs along Kennard-Kingscreek Road. Farther down the road, a barn was completely destroyed with the roof caving in and one of the supporting walls thrown 15 yards to the north. Next door to this location, several large hardwood trees were uprooted. Farther northeast, down Kennard-Kingscreek Road, a front porch was completely separated from the home and had large 20 foot pieces of structure thrown as far as 50 to 70 yards away. The damage path continued past North Ludlow Road, down South Kennard Road, where metal roofing was lifted off of a barn. More damage was found along a tree line off of Dog Leg Road, where numerous tree branches were snapped and trees were uprooted. The last known damage from the tornado occurred along State Route 296, where several trees were downed.
Numerous trees and power lines were knocked down countywide, but mainly in the western half of the county. Also, a roof was blown off a Dairy Queen restaurant.
Thunderstorms with very heavy rainfall fell on already saturated ground causing water to overflow from ditches, sewers, and creeks. Roads were flooded across the county, but the hardest hit area was in the eastern part of the county. In North Lewisburg, 40 people were evacuated from an apartment complex and some roads were washed out. Overall, in less than 24 hours, nearly 5 inches of rain fell on parts of the county.
A mobile home was destroyed and debris was blown into the side of a nearby house. This debris damaged the house, including the roof and garage. Widespread tree and power line damage was also reported in the area. A horse trailer was destroyed with debris blown into a farm house. The storm survey concluded that this damage was due to thunderstorm winds.
Trees and power lines were downed across the northwestern portions of the county due to thunderstorm winds. Some road closures occurred due to fallen tree debris. A porch was also damaged at a residence in the area.
The tornado began approximately 6 miles east of Urbana, Ohio north of US Highway 36 with the first visible sign of damage along Mutual Union Road. Minor roof damage was observed at one residence with nearly all trees in the surrounding location remaining intact. As the tornado continued northeast, outbuilding damage was observed on Yocom Road. The most concentrated area of damage occurred on Perry Road where multiple trees were uprooted and several outbuildings were damaged. The final location of damage was found on North Parkview Road where minor roof and tree damage was observed. The tornado likely dissipated east of this point.
Large trees were downed and power poles were snapped due to damaging thunderstorm winds. Some of the downed trees and power poles caused multiple roads to be blocked. One of the trees fell on a house.
The first damage was noted along South Lincoln Street where a few limbs were downed. From there, as the tornado slightly increased in intensity, the tree damage became more extensive along both North Lincoln Street and North Monroe Street between Pike Street and East 4th Street. Here, numerous large limbs were snapped off with most trees along these streets experiencing some damage. As the tornado exited Christiansburg on the north side of town along South Elm Tree Road, tree damage became less concentrated, but large limbs were still downed, especially along the west side of South Elm Tree Road. The tornado likely lifted in an open field between South Elm Tree Road and North Bollinger Road.||Damage along the tornado path suggested a maximum wind speed estimated at 75 mph.
Trees and powerlines were downed from Upper Valley Pike east to Kennard-Kingscreek Road. A garage sustained major damage beyond repair along Upper Valley Pike.
The tornado touched down along U.S. Route 36, approximately two tenths of a mile northeast of the intersection with Yocom Road. Damage was primarily confined to the properties of two adjacent residences on the south side of U.S. Route 36. The most substantial damage occurred to a double wide manufactured home that lost half of its roof from the northwest side of the structure. The shingles and rafters were lifted over the home...and deposited immediately to the south. A 20 foot tall apple tree located 60 feet southwest of the home was uprooted and fell to the southeast. Numerous smaller limbs, mostly less than 3 inches in diameter, were broken from a willow tree located approximately 100 feet southeast of the home. These limbs were strewn to the east for approximately 175 feet into a neighboring yard.
Several trees and power lines were downed in Carysville. One tree fell onto a house, causing some damage. Three-quarters inch hail fell at Mechanicsburg.
The Survey's mineral resources record
lists 13 workings inside this county. 8 still
produce and 5 are closed or unrecorded. Each settlement
page carries the workings within five miles of it.
Commodity
Workings
Sand and Gravel, Construction
12
Tungsten
1
The least common of them first, because a
county's hundredth gravel pit says nothing its first ten did not.
Museum specimens collected inside this
county and catalogued with a date and a place: 1,918 of them, by
kingdom 1,528 animalia, 281 plantae, 90 fungi, 11 unrecorded, 7 protozoa. Each is a physical object in a named collection, not a
sighting. Held by Ohio State University - Fish Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM), NY, USDA-ARS, INHS, Ohio State University - Mammal Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM), OSU among others, and each settlement page carries
the specimens collected near it.
The oldest of them. A specimen proves
something was collected on that day; its absence proves nothing.
The History of Champaign County, Ohio, Containing a History of the County; Its Cities, Towns, Etc.; General and Local Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; History of the Northwest Territory; History of Ohio; Map of Champaign County; Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters .. devotes a chapter to each township:
its boundaries and streams, who settled it and when, the mills, the
schools and the churches. All 3 are reproduced here in full. Each row
shows the township's own shape and where it lies in the county, drawn from
the Census Bureau's boundary. Which settlements belong to which township
is computed from that same boundary, not taken from the book.
Everyone The History of Champaign County, Ohio, Containing a History of the County; Its Cities, Towns, Etc.; General and Local Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; History of the Northwest Territory; History of Ohio; Map of Champaign County; Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters .. stops to write about, with
the section that describes them. Among them are the men who founded the
place and governed the Territory. Each name opens the passage itself, in
the words of 1881.
Named settlements recorded in the Geographic Names
Information System, each with the topographic sheets covering it. Villages,
hamlets and abandoned places alike. Each is shown with the watercourse or
landform it stands on and the survey quadrangle it falls on. The 4
places that were also surveyed for fire insurance come first, with the
number of atlases and photographs held for them.
The complete index, with nothing left out.
Each of these is a separate record with its own page: a federal survey
report, or the case file that argued a property on to the National
Register. Both are public domain and reproduced word for word.
Topographic sheets. USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, county index, measured from the bulk metadata.
Fire insurance maps. Library of Congress Sanborn collection, faceted to this county.
Photographs. Each place queried individually against the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs search.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.