95 topographic sheets and 24 fire insurance atlases across 4 places.
This curated hub for Guernsey County, Ohio brings together the page's documented record links, visible map or image evidence where published, and routes to related local records.
Use the page's provenance and linked records to distinguish the source material from the site's navigation and summaries.
Open the original record, preserve its repository and identifier, then use the citation tool for this page as a path back to the source.
Follow the county or state hub for related places and records, then use the guide for a source-aware research sequence.
18 National Register listings, of which 1 are National Historic Landmarks · 44 businesses named in the fire insurance atlases from 1886 to 1948 · the 1911 county history tells 0 stories and names 0 people.
Sources: the county history on the Internet Archive · the National Register database, National Park Service
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.
Every property in this county listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the year it was listed and the federal nomination document.
| Photograph | Property | Type | Listed | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Barnett-Criss House | building | 1978 | 78002070 |
 | Berwick Hotel | building | 1983 | 83001975 |
 | Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church | building | 1978 | 78002072 |
 | Broom Building | building | 1983 | 83001976 |
 | Broom-Braden Stone House | building | 1980 | 80003032 |
 | Claysville School | building | 1979 | 79001850 |
| Finley, Ebenezer, House | building | 1986 | 86000417 | |
 | Guernsey County Courthouse | building | 1973 | 73001452 |
 | Harper, Samuel, Stone House | building | 1980 | 80003033 |
 | Kennedy Stone House | building | 1975 | 75001412 |
 | McCracken-McFarland House | building | 1979 | 79001848 |
 | McCracken-Scott House | building | 1978 | 78002071 |
 | McCreary-Burnworth House | building | 1982 | 82003574 |
 | National Road | structure | 1985 | 85001842 |
 | S Bridge, National Road | structure | 1966 | 66000610 |
 | Sarchet-Burgess House | building | 1987 | 87000808 |
| Scott, Matthew, House | building | 2023 | 100008837 | |
 | Taylor, Colonel Joseph, House | building | 2008 | 08000801 |
Guernsey 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.
Sampled issues, machine-read from the Library of Congress scan and published page by page, so every headline and column is searchable text.
Cumberland, O. [Ohio], 1892 to 1952. 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.
Selected from the Digital Public Library of America's 9 image records catalogued for this county. Every one shown here carries a public-domain status or a licence that permits reuse on a site that carries advertising; non-commercial, share-alike and restricted images are excluded. The selection is spread across the county's towns (at most eight per town), so no single institution's bulk upload crowds out the rest. Each opens the holding library's record, and the complete set at the Digital Public Library of America is one click away.
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. 514 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.
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.
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.
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. 6 of these 44 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.
Church
1946 to 1948, named in 3 atlases
Read elsewhere as Free Methodist Church; Trinity Methodist Church.
Church
named once, in the 1909 atlas
Appears in 1909
On the National Register as Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church
Every wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 212 of them, burning about 431 acres. 1 started naturally and 8 were recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 115 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52 |
| Smoking | 11 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 9 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 8 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 8 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 April 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 April 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 October 2020 | Debris and open burning | 20 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 15861 |
| 5 April 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 March 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 1 March 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 18 February 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 10 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 12 May 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 10145 |
Every settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it - see the settlement index below.
The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 406 reports for this county, causing 0 deaths, 14 injuries and about $11,774,500 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.
| Kind of event | Reports |
|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 219 |
| Hail | 104 |
| Flash Flood | 40 |
| Flood | 27 |
| Tornado | 11 |
| Heavy Rain | 4 |
| Debris Flow | 1 |
The most serious of them, by death, then injury, then recorded damage. The accounts are quoted exactly as the forecast office filed them.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 1978 | Tornado (F2) | not stated | 6 hurt, $2,500,000 | no account filed |
| July 1971 | Tornado (F2) | not stated | 5 hurt, $250,000 | no account filed |
| August 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cambridge | 3 hurt, $400,000 | An intense thunderstorm gust known as a macroburst raked across central Guernsey County, wind gusts were estimated between 80 and 90 mph. The thunderstorm formed in northeast Guernsey County about 430 pm just ahead of another very intense thunderstorm moving through Muskingum County. It then moved southeast at nearly 40 mph.The swath of damage produced by this intense downburst of wind was estimated to be nearly 8 miles long. Its width fluctuated between 0.75 miles to over 2.5 miles. The damage started just south of Cambridge and continued southeast to near the town of Buffalo. There were 3 reported injuries which consisted of cuts and abrasions. One person was treated and released from the hospital. The town of Byesville was hardest hit. Hundreds of trees were snapped or toppled. Power lines and telephone poles were also downed which resulted in widespread power outages. There were some outbuildings destroyed, as well as damage to shingles, siding and roofs. Part of a roof of a school was torn off. Billboards, business signs and Interstate highway signs were also partially or totally destroyed. It was also reported that about 30 automobiles in a grocery store parking lot had their windows completely shattered. A plate glass window in a fast food restaurant was also shattered. The area was declared a disaster area by the Governor of Ohio. On Interstate 77, there was a report of a tractor-trailed truck which was stopped in its tracks by the tremendous gust as it tried to move forward. It actually spun its wheels as if it were on ice without moving and an automobile behind it collided with the truck. |
| June 1998 | Flash Flood | Countywide | $5,000,000 | no account filed |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cambridge | $500,000 | Emergency manager reported damage to the clock tower of an 150 year old courthouse, the collapse of a church, and several other structures damaged in the city of Cambridge. |
| April 2024 | Tornado (EF1) | Mantua | $400,000 | An NWS damage survey confirmed that an EF-1 tornado, with winds |peaking near 100 mph, tracked through north central Guernsey County|on the evening of April 2, 2024. The length of the tornado was |about 1.30 miles and the max width was estimated to be about 75 |yards. This tornado was associated with the same circulation that |initially produced 2 tornadoes in Muskingum County. One tornado in|Muskingum County was surveyed near North Zanesville, OH (EF-1) and|the other tornado was surveyed in Highland Twp (EF-0).||Peak intensity was reached as Cool Springs Road meets Cowden |Road, where a number of trees were snapped and/or uprooted. The |tornado caused minor structure damage to a barn before crossing |over a mobile home. The mobile home had partial roof damage, where|insulation was lofted into a tree. Numerous trees were snapped |and/or uprooted near the mobile home. After passing the mobile |home, the tornado lifted along a hillside. |
| December 1990 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | $250,000 | no account filed |
| June 1968 | Tornado (F2) | not stated | $250,000 | no account filed |
| November 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cambridge | $200,000 | Widespread tree and power line damage was reported across the county. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cumberland | $75,000 | Law enforcement reported numerous trees and power lines down across the southern portion of the county. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Middlebourne | $75,000 | Law enforcement reported numerous trees down throughout Guernsey county. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Guernsey | $75,000 | Law enforcement reported trees and power lines down north of Kimbolton. |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cambridge | $55,000 | Between 840 PM EDT and 9 PM EDT, a microburst struck just southwest of Warrentown, about 4 miles northeast of Cambridge. Numerous trees toppled or snapped. Siding and shingles torn from a few houses. Two small barns knocked down. One mobile home was pushed off its foundation. Maximum estimated wind 75 mph (65 knots). This microburst made a swath of sporadic damage about half a mile in length and 350 yards wide. It started from just south of Lakespur Lane, and moved northeastward to just south of Route 22 |
| July 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cambridge | $50,000 | Multiple trees and wires were reported to be down in and throughout Cambridge. |
| June 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mineral Siding | $50,000 | Law enforcement reported numerous trees down near Cambridge. |
| November 2011 | Flood | Craig | $50,000 | Emergency manager reported several roads closed due to flooding in and around Cambridge. |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cambridge | $50,000 | The public reported trees down in Cambridge. |
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Senecaville | $50,000 | Law enforcement reported several large trees down in Senecaville. |
| August 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byesville | $50,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew a small garage down onto the car inside. Another car parked outside the garage was flipped onto its roof. Several trees across the area were also blown down. |
| August 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cambridge | $50,000 | Several trees were downed, including one on a car. A porch was ripped off of a house. Downed trees were blocking roads. |
| June 1998 | Tornado (F0) | Walhonding | $50,000 | no account filed |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kimbolton | $40,000 | Emergency management reported 10 to 20 large trees down in Kimbolten. |
| July 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Countywide | $40,000 | Trees and power lines down. |
| November 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Center | $35,000 | Law enforcement reported trees down near Cambridge along old Route 21. |
| July 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Birds Run | $35,000 | The Department of Highways reported trees down. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cassell | $35,000 | Law enforcement reported powerlines down on Patch Road. |
| October 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cambridge | $35,000 | Emergency management reported numerous trees down in Cambridge. |
| November 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gibson | $30,000 | Law enforcement reported several large trees down. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cambridge | $30,000 | Emergency management reported trees down near Cambridge. |
| November 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Robins | $25,000 | Law enforcement reported power lines down on Queen Lane. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kimbolton | $25,000 | Law enforcement reported trees down. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cambridge | $25,000 | Law enforcement reported trees down. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cumberland | $25,000 | Law enforcement reported trees down. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byesville | $25,000 | Law enforcement reported trees down on Vocational Road. |
| April 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kimbolton | $25,000 | Law enforcement reported trees down near Kimbolton. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cassell | $25,000 | Law enforcement reported trees down on High Hill Rd south of Cambridge. |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Byesville | $25,000 | Tree blown down on car. Several other trees blown down. |
| June 1975 | Tornado (F0) | not stated | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 1968 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | $25,000 | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Jackson Special | $20,000 | A tree fell on to a trailer on Orme Avenue. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Birmingham | $20,000 | Law enforcement reported trees down. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Londonderry | $20,000 | Law enforcement reported trees down. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stop | $20,000 | The public reported trees down between Cambridge and Byesville. |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Old Washington | $20,000 | Emergency personnel reported numerous damage to structures and trees down. |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stop | $20,000 | Trained spotter reported the roof blown off of a house. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Derwent | $20,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew several large trees and power lines down. One tree fell onto a house trailer. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cambridge | $20,000 | Trees blown down throughout the city from thunderstorm winds. |
| May 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cambridge | $20,000 | Thunderstorm winds collapsed a barn, killing two cows inside. Damage was also reported to three vehicles and a boat. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cambridge | $15,000 | Shingles were blown off of a roof on Jefferson Avenue, with tree limbs also blown down. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Stop | $15,000 | Law enforcement reported trees down. |
| August 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kipling | $15,000 | Several trees and power lines were downed by thunderstorm winds. |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lore City | $10,000 | Trees were blown down in Lore City. |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Antrim | $10,000 | Trees were reported to be blown down near Antrim. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Claysville | $10,000 | Trees were reported to be down near Route 313. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mantua | $10,000 | Trees were reported to be blown down near the intersection of Cabin Hill Road and Route 209. |
| March 2017 | Flood | Oppermans | $10,000 | Department of highways reported that state route 146 was closed in both directions between Iowa Road and Crane Run Road due to high water. |
| March 2017 | Flood | Lore City | $10,000 | Department of highways reported that state route 285 was closed in both directions between Old Glory Road and state route 265. |
| August 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Antrim | $10,000 | Law enforcement reported several trees down with one of them on a house. |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cambridge | $10,000 | State official reported numerous trees down. |
| November 2011 | Flood | Claysville | $10,000 | A trained spotter reported flooding on Route 83 near Claysville. |
The Survey's mineral resources record lists 6 workings inside this county. 2 still produce and 4 are closed or unrecorded. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.
| Commodity | Workings |
|---|---|
| Limestone, General | 2 |
| Stone, Crushed/Broken | 2 |
| Titanium, Silica, Iron, Aluminum | 1 |
| Vanadium | 1 |
| Zirconium, Iron | 1 |
The least common of them first, because a county's hundredth gravel pit says nothing its first ten did not.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge Plant | Vanadium, Zirconium, Iron | Producer | ||
| Lower Kittanning Under Clay | Titanium, Silica, Iron, Aluminum | Occurrence | 1850 | |
| Guernsey Quarry | Limestone, General | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Guernsey Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| Westland Quarry | Limestone, General | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Westland Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Museum specimens collected inside this county and catalogued with a date and a place: 399 of them, by kingdom 162 animalia, 139 fungi, 94 plantae, 2 protozoa, 2 unrecorded. Each is a physical object in a named collection, not a sighting. Held by BPI, CM, Ohio State University - Fish Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM), UMMZ, Ohio State University - Amphibian Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM), ASC 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.
| Photograph | Year | Species | Kingdom | Where | Collector | Catalogue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1875 | Asclepias tuberosa L. | Plantae | Fairmont | s.c. | CINC CINC-V-0002268 |
 | 1875 | Enslenia albida Nutt. | Plantae | Fairmont | s.c. | CINC CINC-V-0002281 |
 | 1875 | Impatiens pallida Nutt. | Plantae | Fairmont | Lloyd, Curtis Gates | CINC CINC-V-0000416 |
 | 1887 | Blephilia hirsuta (Pursh) Benth. | Plantae | near Temperanceville | Koenig, A. | CM CM083078 |
 | 1893 | Stereum spadiceum (Pers.) Quél. | Fungi | College Hill | Holden Wm. | BPI BPI 329551 |
| 1895 | Favolus europaeus Fr. | Fungi | College Hill | Holden Wm. | BPI BPI 322860 | |
 | 1895 | Lenzites trabeus (Pers.) Fr. | Fungi | College Hill | Holden Wm. | BPI BPI 742847 |
 | 1895 | Pleurotus nidulans (Pers.) P.Kumm. | Fungi | College Hill | Holden Wm. | BPI BPI 740527 |
History of Guernsey County, Ohio devotes a chapter to each township: its boundaries and streams, who settled it and when, the mills, the schools and the churches. All 16 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.
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.
Jackson township · 43723 · On Trail Run · Byesville quadrangle
14 sheets, 1911 to 1994
Fire insurance: 5 atlases
Cambridge township · 43725 · On Crooked Creek · Cambridge quadrangle
15 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Fire insurance: 9 atlases
Spencer township · 43732 · On Rannells Creek · Cumberland quadrangle
14 sheets, 1911 to 1994
Fire insurance: 5 atlases
Valley township · 43772 · On Buffalo Fork · Byesville quadrangle
14 sheets, 1911 to 1994
Fire insurance: 5 atlases
Cambridge township · 43725 · On Jackson Run · Cambridge quadrangle
15 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Richland township · 43780 · On Hawkins Run · Senecaville quadrangle
13 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Jefferson township · 43725 · On Beeham Run · Old Washington quadrangle
17 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Cambridge township · 43725 · On Crooked Creek · Cambridge quadrangle
15 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Cambridge township · 43725 · On Crooked Creek · Cambridge quadrangle
15 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Richland township · 43780 · Senecaville quadrangle
13 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Jefferson township · 43749 · On Beeham Run · Cambridge quadrangle
15 sheets, 1909 to 1994
No longer a settlement
Westland township · 43725 · In Pleasant Valley · New Concord quadrangle
14 sheets, 1911 to 1994
Valley township · 43733 · On Seneca Fork Wills Creek · Byesville quadrangle
14 sheets, 1911 to 1994
Cambridge township · 43725 · On Leatherwood Creek · Cambridge quadrangle
15 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Cambridge township · 43725 · On Leatherwood Creek · Cambridge quadrangle
15 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Cambridge township · 43725 · On Leatherwood Creek · Cambridge quadrangle
15 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Cambridge township · 43725 · On Leatherwood Creek · Cambridge quadrangle
15 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Knox township · 43749 · On Twin Sister Knobs · Plainfield quadrangle
16 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Cambridge township · 43725 · On Leatherwood Creek · Cambridge quadrangle
15 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Richland township · 43780 · On Opossum Run · Senecaville quadrangle
13 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Cambridge township · 43725 · On Crooked Creek · Cambridge quadrangle
15 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Richland township · 43780 · Senecaville quadrangle
13 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Cambridge township · 43725 · On Chapman Run · Byesville quadrangle
14 sheets, 1911 to 1994
Center township · 43755 · On Hawkins Run · Senecaville quadrangle
13 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Wills township · 43755 · On Infirmary Run · Senecaville quadrangle
13 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Cambridge township · 43725 · On Jackson Run · Cambridge quadrangle
15 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Westland township · 43762 · In Pleasant Valley · New Concord quadrangle
14 sheets, 1911 to 1994
Cambridge township · 43725 · On Sarchet Run · Cambridge quadrangle
15 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Adams township · 43725 · On Jackson Run · Bloomfield quadrangle
16 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Richland township · 43780 · On Opossum Run · Senecaville quadrangle
13 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Millwood township · 43773 · On Shannon Run · Quaker City quadrangle
12 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Jackson township · 43723 · On Chapman Run · Byesville quadrangle
14 sheets, 1911 to 1994
Cambridge township · 43725 · On Jackson Run · Cambridge quadrangle
15 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Wheeling township · 43749 · On Birds Run · Plainfield quadrangle
16 sheets, 1909 to 1994
No longer a settlement
Westland township · 43725 · On Bobs Run · Bloomfield quadrangle
16 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Center township · 43755 · On Beeham Run · Old Washington quadrangle
17 sheets, 1909 to 1994
Madison township · 43755 · On Christian Creek · Old Washington quadrangle
17 sheets, 1909 to 1994
15 topographic sheets and 9 fire insurance atlases, 1886 to 1949
14 topographic sheets and 5 fire insurance atlases, 1905 to 1948
14 topographic sheets and 5 fire insurance atlases, 1895 to 1946
14 topographic sheets and 5 fire insurance atlases, 1905 to 1946
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.
The vanished settlements of Guernsey County, the places these records name that are no longer on the map.
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