45 topographic sheets and 24 fire insurance atlases across 4 places.
This curated hub for Hardin 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.
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3 National Register listings · 41 businesses named in the fire insurance atlases from 1888 to 1911 · the 1883 county history tells 1 stories and names 0 people.
Sources: the county history on the Internet Archive · the National Register database, National Park Service
A captivity, a drowning, a famine, a man scalped clearing his lot in 1789. These are passages from The History of Hardin County, Ohio, written while people who remembered the events were still alive, and each one opens the section it comes from.
The surface of this township is considerably varied. Some of the southern and eastern portions, especially east of Panther Creek, is mostly level, except along the Wild Cat Creeks, where it is undulating, and in some few places slightly hilly. The western and northwestern portion is quite undulating, and some places on Panther and Wolf Creeks are really hilly.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Ada Pennsylvania Station and Railroad Park | building | 1998 | 98001014 |
 | Hardin County Courthouse | building | 1979 | 79001863 |
 | Kenton Public Library | building | 1983 | 83004311 |
Hardin 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.
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. 481 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 41 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.
Opera House
1897 to 1911, named in 4 atlases
Appears in 1897 1900 1902 1911
Read elsewhere as Opera House.
Church
1902 to 1911, named in 3 atlases
Read elsewhere as United Presbyterian Church; Presbyterian Church,_.
Every wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 8 of them, burning about 3 acres. 0 started naturally and 0 were recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Recreation and ceremony | 4 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The five largest, by the area the report gives. None of them was recorded as arson.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 August 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 15 July 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.0 acres | Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 10 September 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 12 July 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 21 November 2002 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 23 March 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 5 July 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 2 August 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 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.
The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 243 reports for this county, causing 1 death, 0 injuries and about $2,191,750 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.
| Kind of event | Reports |
|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 136 |
| Hail | 51 |
| Flood | 26 |
| Flash Flood | 16 |
| Tornado | 11 |
| Heavy Rain | 2 |
| Lightning | 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 2005 | Lightning | Kenton | 1 killed | An Amish boy was killed when lightning struck the tree he was leaning against. He had taken shelter under the tree from the thunderstorm. |
| December 2021 | Tornado (EF1) | Alger | $300,000 | The first sign of tornadic damage was observed at a residence just southwest of the intersection of State Routes 309 and 235, where part of the roof was lifted off of a barn and multiple softwood trees were snapped and blown in multiple directions.||The tornado then strengthened as it moved northeast, causing more substantial damage at a business and a two story residence, located on opposite sides of State Route 309, near the intersection with State Route 235. At the business, two outbuildings were completely destroyed and part of the roof of another building was lifted off, with debris splatter noted on multiple sides of this building. A metal sign was also damaged and a tractor trailer was overturned on its side.||At the two story home, the roof was completely lifted off, with parts of the roof thrown in multiple directions. Several windows were broken, most likely due to metal debris from the business across the road. Two outbuildings were completely destroyed. Debris from these outbuildings and debris from the home were blown at least 0.7 miles into the field to the northeast. Multiple trees also sustained significant damage. The tornado was strongest in this area, with maximum winds of up to 110 mph.||The tornado was likely still on the ground in the field to the northeast of State Route 235, however it showed signs of weakening as it crossed Township Road 55. On Township Road 55, shingles were removed from one home, while one outbuilding had partial roof uplift and another outbuilding was moved off cinder blocks. A few trees along a grove behind the home were also snapped.||Additional minor roof damage was observed on Township Road 64. This appears to be the end of the tornado as no further damage was noted to the northeast. |
| August 2023 | Tornado (EF1) | Kenton | $250,000 | The tornado first touched down in the vicinity of west Espy Street and Robinson Avenue. Some minor tree limb damage was noted, with some sheet metal damage to buildings in this area, including roof damage to one structure between west Espy Street and U.S. Route 68. Damage was more significant and concentrated in a neighborhood near Detroit Street and Main Street, especially between Railroad Street and Letson Street. Numerous trees and large limbs were downed and numerous homes and garages had at least some minor roof or fascia damage. The winds were likely the strongest just north of Letson Street, where one garage was flattened and another outbuilding had its roof and second floor removed. Debris from these structures could be found at least a quarter mile downstream. Winds at this location were estimated to be about 90 mph. Additional tree damage and minor structural damage was noted on the east side of Main Street, extending from near the Hardin County Sheriff's Office through Brumm Street.||Additional tree damage was observed on the north side of the Scioto River, near and south of Lick Street. This includes one grove of trees south of the end of Stevens Street, with several tree tops snapped off. The tornado then traversed an uninhabited area but minor tree damage was noted near the intersection of Bales Road and County Road 175. In addition, small pieces of insulation were found near this intersection and in the field to the east. This is where the tornado ended. |
| February 1992 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | $250,000 | no account filed |
| March 1986 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | $250,000 | no account filed |
| November 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hepburn | $200,000 | On County Road 235, a garage was destroyed and the adjacent house suffered damage as well with the chimney destroyed, windows broken, and some damage to the exterior of the house due to thunderstorm winds. On County Road 265, one third of a hog barn roof was removed and a machine shop was destroyed. Trees were blown down, and damage occurred to several other properties along County Road 265. |
| March 2026 | Tornado (EF1) | Kenton | $65,000 | The first tornadic damage was observed at the Hardin County Fairgrounds, just south of County Road 140, where minor roof damage occurred. Several wooden power poles were damaged and snapped in half. On the northern side of the fairgrounds, a hardwood tree was snapped and a building sustained a major loss of its metal roofing panels. An additional building had its concrete block siding blown out, which caused a partial roof collapse. An open-ended barn structure was lifted, causing the support poles to be lifted and shifted. The final damage associated with this tornado was on the eastern side of the fairgrounds, where additional power poles were snapped and minor roof damage was observed to fairground buildings. |
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kenton | $50,000 | Numerous trees were downed throughout Hardin County, especially in the Ada, Kenton and McGuffy areas. |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kenton | $50,000 | Numerous trees and large trees were downed due to damaging thunderstorm winds. Some of the trees fell on cars. Siding was reported off some of the homes in the area. |
| November 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ada | $50,000 | Four outbuildings were damaged and a barn was destroyed. |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ada | $50,000 | A television tower was blown over, a roof damaged, and trees and power poles were downed. |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kenton | $50,000 | A home and outbuildigs suffered roof damage. |
| May 2019 | Tornado (EF0) | Yelverton | $25,000 | The tornado is believed to have initially touched down in an open field behind a residence on Township Highway 95, Gunn Road, and began moving southeast. Two residences on TH 95 were impacted on the west side of the road. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted with a grill thrown more than 50 feet. On the east side of the road, large limbs were downed and portions of a barn roof and several barn doors were removed. Tree limbs from the residence on the west side of the road were found to have been thrown well downstream, and the barn material from the residence on the east side was found wrapped in tree stands more than a half mile to the southeast, on the east side of TH 115. More large trees were found to have been snapped and thrown in tree stands between TH 95 and TH 115.||The tornado continued southeast and began to lift as it crossed TH 119, Silver Creek Road. On the east side of TH 119, more limbs were found to be thrown, albeit these limbs were considerably smaller than larger branches found along the first mile of the path. The tornado is believed to have lifted in an open field west of US Highway 68.||Damage along the path was consistent with wind speeds from 65 to 75 mph, or EF0. |
| October 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kenton | $25,000 | Numerous trees and power poles were downed on the northeast side of Kenton due to thunderstorm winds. Shingle and other roof damage occurred to a church. |
| July 1983 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | $25,000 | no account filed |
| April 1963 | Tornado | not stated | $25,000 | no account filed |
| March 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kenton Hardin Co Arp | $20,000 | Part of a factory roof was peeled off and tractor trailers and campers were blown over. The side of a hangar at Hardin County Airport was also blown in. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Pfeiffer | $20,000 | Two trees were blown down and structural damage occurred to an abandoned farmhouse, barn, and storage shed due to thunderstorm winds. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dunkirk | $20,000 | A portion of a barn sustained heavy structural damage. An antenna was blown over along County Road 14. |
| June 2000 | Flash Flood | Roundhead | $20,000 | Cars were submerged along route 195. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dola | $16,000 | A barn had its' roof torn off and it blown about 500 feet into a field. Also a 16 inch diameter healthy tree was broken in half. |
| February 2008 | Flood | Mc Guffey | $15,000 | Numerous roads were flooded and closed across the western and central portions of the county. Several vehicles were stranded in high water along Township Road 120. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ada | $10,000 | Numerous trees were downed throughout the county, particularly near Ada. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mc Guffey | $10,000 | A tree fell onto a house. |
| December 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kenton | $10,000 | A couple of trees and power lines were reported down in the area due to thunderstorm winds. A power pole was also blown over along State Route 31 south of Route 190. |
| October 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Yelverton | $10,000 | Thunderstorm winds caused a shed and wooden play set to be destroyed. Many shingles were also torn off a roof and half of a roof was removed from a barn. This damage occurred about 2 miles north of Belle Center. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ada | $10,000 | Two homes near the intersection of US Route 68 and State Route 81 sustained damage. One of the houses had its chimney blown off. The second house had roof tiles blown off of its garage. Several large tree limbs were downed. |
| July 2006 | Flash Flood | Kenton | $10,000 | Streets were flooded throughout town. A few school buildings sustained minor water damage. |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kenton | $10,000 | Numerous trees and powerlines were downed across the town, including several that fell on houses and vehicles. Seventeen streets were blocked by fallen trees. |
| November 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Countywide | $10,000 | Numerous trees and power poles were downed. |
| February 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kenton | $10,000 | Storms knocked a roof off a house, knocked trees down, and caused damage at the county fair. |
| August 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kenton | $10,000 | Numerous trees knocked down. |
| July 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Roundhead | $10,000 | Trees and large limbs downed. |
| March 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mt Victory | $8,000 | A barn was destroyed by strong winds. |
| August 2007 | Flash Flood | Alger | $8,000 | Numerous roads were flooded across the western part of the county, including State Routes 235 and 309. Several vehicles were stuck in the high water. |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Countywide | $8,000 | Trees and power poles were knocked down. |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Countywide | $8,000 | Numerous trees and power poles were downed. |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kenton | $6,000 | Multiple trees were reported down in Kenton; including on Market Street, Kohler Street and North Ida Street. |
| June 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kenton | $6,000 | Trees and power poles were downed in Kenton due to thunderstorm winds. |
| March 2026 | Thunderstorm Wind | Foraker | $5,000 | A property sustained minor roof damage and also had multiple trees uprooted. |
| May 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ada | $5,000 | A barn roof was damaged. |
| July 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Forest | $5,000 | A few trees and power lines were downed near the intersection of North Martin Street and Smith Street. |
| July 2017 | Flash Flood | Dunkirk | $5,000 | Numerous vehicles were stranded in high water on US Route 68. |
| October 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Silver Creek | $5,000 | Southwest of Kenton a roof was torn off a trailer and a 40 foot recreational vehicle was pushed off its blocks due to thunderstorm winds. |
| March 2011 | Flood | Kenton | $5,000 | Several roads were flooded due to heavy rainfall. |
| March 2011 | Flood | Kenton | $5,000 | Numerous roads were underwater during the event due to heavy rain and previous snow melt. Flooding began around 0811 EST on February 28th and ended around 1100 EST on March 1st. Damages estimates from February were around five-thousand dollars. |
| February 2011 | Flood | Kenton | $5,000 | Numerous roads were underwater during the event due to heavy rain and previous snow melt. Flooding began around 0811 EST on February 28th and ended around 1100 EST on March 1st. Damage estimates from March were around five-thousand dollars. |
| August 2007 | Flood | Dunkirk | $5,000 | Several county roads remained flooded and closed across the northern part of the county. |
| August 2007 | Flash Flood | Forest | $5,000 | Numerous roads throughout the northern part of the county were submerged in three to four feet of water. A vehicle was stranded and floating in high water in Forest. |
| March 2007 | Flood | Kenton | $5,000 | A couple roads were flooded across the county. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alger | $5,000 | Twelve inch diameter trees and several power poles were downed on County Road 92 between Alger and McGuffey. |
| June 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ada | $5,000 | A semitruck was overturned and sustained minor damage. Two trees were also knocked down. |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Countywide | $5,000 | Trees were knocked down. |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kenton | $5,000 | Several trees were knocked down, and a barn was damaged. |
| June 2003 | Hail | Grants | $5,000 | A few trees were knocked down along with the large hail. |
| June 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Kenton | $5,000 | A large limb fell on an automobile, causing extensive damage to the windshield. |
| April 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Countywide | $5,000 | Trees and power lines downed, mainly in the western part of the county. |
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ada | $5,000 | Several trees were knocked down between McGuffy and Foraker. Also, .75 inch diameter hail occurred 4 miles southeast of Ada. |
| July 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Patterson | $5,000 | Numerous trees were knocked down and .75 inch diameter hail fell. |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Countywide | $5,000 | Trees knocked down. |
The Survey's mineral resources record lists 5 workings inside this county. 2 still produce and 3 are closed or unrecorded. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.
| Commodity | Workings |
|---|---|
| Limestone, General | 3 |
| Stone | 1 |
| Stone, Crushed/Broken | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boich Lime and Coal Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Standard Pit | Stone | Producer | ||
| Boich Lime and Coal Quarry | Limestone, General | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Hardin Quarry | Limestone, General | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Hardin Quarry | Limestone, General | Producer |
Museum specimens collected inside this county and catalogued with a date and a place: 514 of them, by kingdom 248 animalia, 200 protozoa, 35 plantae, 30 fungi, 1 unrecorded. Each is a physical object in a named collection, not a sighting. Held by Ohio State University - Fish Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM), USDA-SBML, BPI, CM, Ohio State University - Bird Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM), Ohio State University - Amphibian Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM) 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1882 | Meleagris gallopavo silvestris Vieillot, 1817 | Animalia | Mt. Victory | W.C. Hampton | WFVZ 163590 |
 | 1885 | Bovistella radicata (Durieu & Mont.) Pat. | Fungi | Preston | A. P. Morgan | NY 65638 |
 | 1886 | Gloeophyllum trabeum (Pers.) Murrill | Fungi | Preston | A. P. Morgan | NY 1964661 |
 | 1888 | Craterium leucocephalum (Pers. ex J.F.Gmel.) Ditmar, 1813 | Protozoa | Ohio: Preston | Morgan, A. P. | USDA-SBML 812285 |
 | 1888 | Diderma floriforme (Bull.) Pers., 1794 | Protozoa | Ohio: Preston | not recorded | USDA-SBML 813964 |
 | 1889 | Calonema aureum Morgan, 1893 | Protozoa | not stated | Morgan, A. P.; Preston, O. | USDA-SBML 835082 |
| 1889 | Tapesia derelicta Morgan | Fungi | Preston | A. P. Morgan | NY 00012485 | |
| 1890 | Metatrichia vesparia (Batsch) Nann.-Bremek. ex G.W.Martin & Alexop., 1969 | Protozoa | not stated | Morgan, A. P.; Preston,O. | USDA-SBML 837522 |
The History of Hardin 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 10 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.
| Shape and position in the county | Township | Settlements in it | Length | Sections |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blanchard Township | Blanchard, Bridgeport, Dunkirk | 22,247 words | 6 | |
| Buck Township | Mentzer | 14,815 words | 3 | |
| Dudley Township | Browns Crossroads, Hepburn, Marshs, Otterbein, Pfeiffer | 35,913 words | 10 | |
| Hale Township | Grassy Point, Mount Victory, Ridgeway | 19,108 words | 5 | |
| Jackson Township | Forest, McVitty, Patterson | 15,061 words | 4 | |
| Liberty Township | Ada, Hillcrest Estates, Parkview Village North, Parkview Village South | 24,044 words | 3 | |
| Lynn Township | Foraker | 8,809 words | 3 | |
| Marion Township | Alger, Belmont Court, Huntersville, McGuffey, Quickstep | 9,298 words | 6 | |
| Pleasant Township | Grant, Kenton, Walnut Grove, Westview Estates | 23,391 words | 1 | |
| Washington Township | Blocktown, Dola | 18,492 words | 3 |
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.
Blanchard township · 45836 · Dunkirk quadrangle
12 sheets, 1905 to 1986
Fire insurance: 5 atlases
Jackson township · 45843 · Forest quadrangle
12 sheets, 1905 to 1986
Fire insurance: 6 atlases
Pleasant township · 43326 · On Taylor Creek · Kenton quadrangle
12 sheets, 1915 to 1986
Fire insurance: 7 atlases
Washington township · 45835 · Foraker quadrangle
11 sheets, 1915 to 1986
No longer a settlement
Dudley township · 43326 · On Garwood Run · Mount Victory quadrangle
11 sheets, 1915 to 1986
Dudley township · 43332 · On North Wildcat Creek · La Rue quadrangle
10 sheets, 1915 to 1986
No longer a settlement
Pleasant township · 43326 · On Taylor Creek · Kenton quadrangle
12 sheets, 1915 to 1986
12 topographic sheets and 7 fire insurance atlases, 1888 to 1948
12 topographic sheets and 6 fire insurance atlases, 1885 to 1939
12 topographic sheets and 6 fire insurance atlases, 1895 to 1950
12 topographic sheets and 5 fire insurance atlases, 1895 to 1924
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 Hardin County, the places these records name that are no longer on the map.
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