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Decorative drawing: a county panorama. Not a photograph of this place.

Putnam County, Ohio

76 topographic sheets and 24 fire insurance atlases across 4 places.

Research this county

This curated hub for Putnam County, Ohio brings together the page's documented record links, visible map or image evidence where published, and routes to related local records.

What is documented here?

Use the page's provenance and linked records to distinguish the source material from the site's navigation and summaries.

How should I cite it?

Open the original record, preserve its repository and identifier, then use the citation tool for this page as a path back to the source.

Where should I go next?

Follow the county or state hub for related places and records, then use the guide for a source-aware research sequence.

From the record

7 National Register listings · 30 businesses named in the fire insurance atlases from 1893 to 1916 · the 1915 county history tells 3 stories and names 300 people · people the book names include Jaaies M. Agner (Ottawa Township, 1915) (machine-read).

Sources: the county history on the Internet Archive · the National Register database, National Park Service

Ohio within the United States
Putnam County within Ohio
Explore by year 1845 1916

What the record shows

  • 4 places in this county were surveyed for fire insurance: Leipsic, Columbus Grove, Ottawa, Continental, between 1884 and 1951.
  • 24 fire insurance atlas(es) survive for the county. Topographic coverage is national; fire insurance survey reached only incorporated places with something worth insuring.
  • 593 topographic sheet readings cover the county's settlements.
  • 7 properties here are on the National Register of Historic Places, including 3 houses and farms.
  • 5 of the 7 listings were added during the 1970s.
  • The Geographic Names Information System records 50 populated places in this county; 0 are covered by at least one topographic sheet.
  • 1 public-domain county history, 1915, supply 372,841 words of narrative reproduced here in full.

What happened here

3 accounts

A captivity, a drowning, a famine, a man scalped clearing his lot in 1789. These are passages from History of Putnam County, Ohio : Its Peoples, Industries, and Institutions, written while people who remembered the events were still alive, and each one opens the section it comes from.

1915, Ottawa Township

Cholera At Gilboa In 1852

In 1852, during the epidemic of cholera, Gilboa was the worst afflicted illage in the county. It had nineteen cases of the dread disease, from which fourteen deaths occurred, only five persons who had the disease recovering. A great many of the people fled from the village, and only two doctorsremained to administer to the afflicted.

Read the rest of this passage

1915, Ottawa Township

Charles E. Wight

relative of President Van Buren, and was also a native of New York state. They moved to Cleveland, Ohio, when that city was a mere hamlet and settled on a forty-acre tract of land, where the heart of the city is now situated. Reuben Wight died of cholera in 1830, during the plague of that year. Charles E.

Read the rest of this passage

1915, Ottawa Township

Commemorative Bioorapiiical Record

son, was born in Pennsylvania in 1789. Her mother was a Miss Bo3'd, member of a family who settled in an early day among the Indians at Carlisle, Penn. During the French and Indian wars the entire family was captured save the father, who at the time was absent from home. In a neighboring schoolhouse the teacher and all the pupils were massacred.

Read the rest of this passage

Photographs

1 photograph,

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.

Mallaham Bridge, County Route M-6 spanning Riley Creek, Pandora, Putnam County, OH
Mallaham Bridge, County Route M-6 spanning Riley Creek, Pandora, Putnam County, OH
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Places on the National Register

7

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 PropertyType ListedReference
Bridenbaugh District No. 3 Schoolhousebuilding200505000343
Edwards, John, Housebuilding197878002177
Huber, Dr. H., Blockbuilding198080003213
Leipsic City Hallbuilding197979001928
Ottawa Waterworks Buildingbuilding197676001519
Putnam County Courthousebuilding197474001608
St. John The Baptist Roman Catholic Churchbuilding197777001083

Covered bridges

0

Putnam 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

6 issues

Sampled issues, machine-read from the Library of Congress scan and published page by page, so every headline and column is searchable text.

The Kalida Venture

Kalida, Ohio, 1841 to 1865. Machine-read from the Library of Congress scan.

Bird's-eye views and land ownership maps

1

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.

Land ownership map, 1888 - Map of Lucas and parts of Wood, Ottawa and Sandusky Counties, Ohio
Land ownership map (1888) - Map of Lucas and parts of Wood, Ottawa and Sandusky Counties, Ohio. Library of Congress.

The county from the air

28 of 682 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. 682 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.

U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1952-08-01, scale 1:69000
1952-08-01, scale 1:69000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1952-08-01, scale 1:69000
1952-08-01, scale 1:69000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1952-08-01, scale 1:69000
1952-08-01, scale 1:69000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1952-08-01, scale 1:69000
1952-08-01, scale 1:69000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1959-04-23, scale 1:18000
1959-04-23, scale 1:18000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1959-04-23, scale 1:18000
1959-04-23, scale 1:18000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1959-04-23, scale 1:18000
1959-04-23, scale 1:18000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1959-04-23, scale 1:18000
1959-04-23, scale 1:18000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1960-05-03, scale 1:60000
1960-05-03, scale 1:60000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1960-05-03, scale 1:60000
1960-05-03, scale 1:60000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1960-05-03, scale 1:60000
1960-05-03, scale 1:60000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1960-05-03, scale 1:60000
1960-05-03, scale 1:60000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1971-04-16, scale 1:24000
1971-04-16, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1971-04-16, scale 1:24000
1971-04-16, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1971-04-16, scale 1:24000
1971-04-16, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1971-04-16, scale 1:24000
1971-04-16, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1972-05-05, scale 1:24000
1972-05-05, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1972-05-05, scale 1:24000
1972-05-05, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1972-05-05, scale 1:24000
1972-05-05, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1972-05-05, scale 1:24000
1972-05-05, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1973-01-02, scale 1:24000
1973-01-02, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1973-01-02, scale 1:24000
1973-01-02, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1973-01-02, scale 1:24000
1973-01-02, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1973-01-02, scale 1:24000
1973-01-02, scale 1:24000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1977-04-01, scale 1:80000
1977-04-01, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1977-04-01, scale 1:80000
1977-04-01, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1977-04-01, scale 1:80000
1977-04-01, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.
U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph, 1977-04-01, scale 1:80000
1977-04-01, scale 1:80000. U.S. Geological Survey aerial photograph.

City directories

2 volumes

The "who lived here, by year" answer: pre-1929 public-domain directory volumes naming the county's people, machine-read and searchable as text.

Weather records

9 stations, 45 gages

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.

The 1950 census, district by district

38 districts

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.

  • 69-1Blanchard township: Gilboa village
  • 69-2Blanchard township - That part outside Gilboa village
  • 69-3Greensburg township
  • 69-4Jackson township
  • 69-5Jennings township: Fort Jennings village
  • 69-6Jennings township - That part north of State Hwy. 189, outside Fort Jennings village
  • 69-7Jennings township - That part south of State Hwy. 189, outside Fort Jennings village
  • 69-8Liberty township: West Leipsic village
  • 69-9Liberty township - That part east and south of State Hwy. 109, outside West Leipsic village
  • 69-10Liberty township - That part west and north of State Hwy. 109
  • 69-11Monroe township: Continental village: Continental village - That part north of New York Central and St. Louis Railroad
  • 69-12Continental village - That part south of New York Central and St. Louis Railroad
  • 69-13Monroe township - That part outside Continental village
  • 69-14Monterey township: Ottoville village
  • 69-15Monterey township - That part outside Ottoville village
  • 69-16Ottawa township: Glandorf village
  • 69-17Ottawa village: Ottawa village - That part east of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and north of U.S. Hwy. 224
  • 69-18Ottawa village - That part west of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and north of U.S. Hwy. 224
  • 69-19Ottawa village - That part south of U.S. Hwy. 224
  • 69-20Ottawa township - That part outside Glandorf and Ottawa villages
  • 69-21Palmer township: Miller City village
  • 69-22Palmer township - That part outside Miller City village
  • 69-23Perry township: Cloverdale village
  • 69-24Dupont village
  • 69-25Perry township - That part outside Cloverdale and Dupont villages
  • 69-26Pleasant township: Columbus Grove village: Columbus Grove village - That part north and west of State Hwy. 12
  • 69-27Columbus Grove village - That part south and east of State Hwy. 12
  • 69-28Pleasant township - That part east of State Hwy. 65, outside Columbus Grove village
  • 69-29Pleasant township - That part west of State Hwy. 65, outside Columbus Grove village
  • 69-30Riley township: Pandora village
  • 69-31Riley township - That part outside Pandora village
  • 69-32Sugar Creek township
  • 69-33Union township: Kalida village
  • 69-34Union township - That part outside Kalida village
  • 69-35Van Buren township: Belmore village
  • 69-36Leipsic village: Leipsic village - That part east of Eastom
  • 69-37Leipsic village - That part west of Eastom
  • 69-38Van Buren township - That part outside Belmore and Leipsic villages

Businesses named in the atlases

30 businesses

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. 7 of these 30 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.

Wildfire, 2002 to 2002

4 fires

Every wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 4 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 ceremony2
Equipment and vehicle use1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1

The five largest, by the area the report gives. None of them was recorded as arson.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
18 October 2002Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresOhio State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
25 February 2002Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresOhio State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
5 May 2002Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreOhio State Fire Marshal's Officenot named
6 July 2002Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreOhio State Fire Marshal's Officenot named

Every settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it - see the settlement index below.

Storms, 1954 to 2026

60 of 287 shown

The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 287 reports for this county, causing 4 deaths, 5 injuries and about $11,572,700 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.

Kind of event Reports
Thunderstorm Wind159
Hail88
Tornado26
Flash Flood8
Flood5
Dust Devil1

The most serious of them, by death, then injury, then recorded damage. The accounts are quoted exactly as the forecast office filed them.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
November 2002Tornado (F3)Continental2 killedThis tornado originated in Van Wert county and moved across Paulding county into Putnam county about 4 miles west southwest of Continental. NWS ground and aerial survey found F3 damage as the tornado entered Putnam county, striking a mobile home and killing a husband and wife. The tornado moved northeast across the northwest corner of Putnam county, quickly weakening to an F0 as it exited the county 4.5 miles north of Continental.
May 1997Thunderstorm WindOttawa1 killed, $10,000Numerous trees down including one that fell on a car causing a fatality.
March 2009FloodGlandorf1 killedFlood waters from the Blanchard River, near Glandorf, caused a truck to be swept off the road on Road 15, north of Road J. Investigators believe that the driver exited the truck attempting to escape the flood water and was swept away. The body of the 74 year old male was recovered about 900 yards from the truck a few days after flood waters receded.
April 2025Tornado (EF2)Mandale2 hurt, $500,000A second tornado spun up north of the decaying Van Wert tornado, touching down in far southeast Paulding County. The tornado severely damaged a pole barn as it moved into Putnam county. The tornado rapidly moved northeast, hitting a well anchored mobile homed and flipping it 60 feet away. Three occupants were in the mobile home and two of them sustained minor injuries. It is here that the tornado peaked at an EF-2 with an estimated wind speed of 120 mph. The tornado destroyed another well-anchored 60x120 ft pole barn, throwing its debris onto the bank of the Auglaize River. To the northeast, it directly hit the town of Dupont where it did widespread EF-0 to EF-1 damage throughout. The tornado damaged several large corn silos (one that was full of corn had the ground anchor bolts break from uplift). It is near here where the visible damage stopped.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindLeipsic1 hurt, $250,000ONE MAN ENDED UP PARALYZED WHEN A LARGE TREE LIMB FELL ONTO HIS CAR. COUNTLESS LARGE TREES WERE BLOWN DOWN ACROSS THE COUNTY. ONE HOUSE AND TWO BARNS WERE DESTROYED ON ROAD J-3 AND ROAD K. ANOTHER TWO STORY HOUSE COMPLETELY LOST ITS UPPER FLOOR. ANOTHER BARN ALONG ROAD 7-D AND X WAS FLATTENED WHILE THE LEPSIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SUSTAINED EXTENSIVE DAMAGE TO ITS ROOF AND WATER DAMAGE TO THE INTERIOR.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindContinental1 hurt, $15,000A barn was blown down in the area. A RV was rolled over on a nearby road. The driver suffered minor injuries to a foot as a result of the upset.
June 2013Thunderstorm WindNorth Creek1 hurtLaw enforcement officials reported numerous trees and power lines down from North Creek to Leipsic. A mobile home was overturned on the south side of North Creek, with one person suffering minor injuries.
June 1978Tornado (F1)not stated$2,500,000no account filed
June 1971Tornado (F3)not stated$2,500,000no account filed
May 2008Tornado (EF0)Glandorf$1,200,000The tornado formed near Road 13I just south of Township Highway I and dissipated near the Firefox Lake Private Subdivision. As the tornado moved toward the Blanchard River it quickly widened to a peak width of 464 yards or just a little over a quarter of a mile. The tornado continued east before crossing the river again and quickly weakening. The most significant damage occurred along Township Highway I between Roads 13 and 13I. The tornado destroyed six outbuildings including pole barns and well built buildings constructed on a foundation. Over a half dozen homes were damaged with several sustaining major damage including the complete removal of roofs. A large amount of agricultural equipment and eleven vehicles were also damaged or destroyed with total monetary losses initially estimated at $1,200,000.
October 2001Tornado (F3)Ft Jennings$1,000,000Tornado touched down in extreme southeast Van Wert county northwest of Delphos as an F0 and movednortheast into Putnam county southwest of Fort Jennings. F3 damage occurred 2 miles southwest of Ottawa in Putnam county with significant damage to well built homes and structures. The tornado was skipping across northeast Putnam county with F1-F2 damage before lifting just south of the Henry county line east of Belmore.
July 2002Thunderstorm WindPandora$580,000Emergency management reported straight line winds destroyed 3 gym walls and portion of an elementary school wall under construction in Pandora. Walls were cinder block.
August 2007Flash FloodLeipsic Jct$500,000Law enforcement reported that numerous roads were closed due to flowing water from the heavy rains. In addition, the Blanchard River was rapidly rising and beginning to close off roads around the river. Damage estimates are for the flash flooding only and do not account for river flooding.
September 1994HailContinental$500,000no account filed
August 1998Flash FloodContinental$250,000EXTENSIVE FLOODING OCCURRED ACROSS THE COUNTY ESPECIALLY THE NORTHERN HALF. MANY COUNTY ROADS WERE WASHED OUT TO SOME DEGREE.
September 1990Tornado (F1)not stated$250,000no account filed
April 1980Tornado (F1)not stated$250,000no account filed
July 1978Tornado (F1)not stated$250,000no account filed
June 2012Thunderstorm WindColumbus Grove$100,000A local newspaper showed pictures of a second story wall of the two story Christies on the Square, built in the 1800s, being blown out with debris falling onto the street below, destroying two parked cars.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindOttoville$100,00060 MPH WIND GUSTS REPORTED ACROSS COUNTY. NUMEROUS LARGE TREES AND LIMBS WERE BLOWN DOWN WITH DAMAGE TO VEHICLES AND HOUSES.
March 2024Tornado (EF0)Ottawa Putnam Co Arp$75,000A brief EF-0 land spout with winds estimated at 70 mph was confirmed near Leipsic, OH. Emergency manager and trained spotters confirmed tornado. Several photos and videos of the land spout along SR65. One home near the intersection of Road H5 and SR65 sustained damage to the roof and siding. An attached garage collapsed and debris was scattered to the northeast of the property. Time was estimated from radar.
May 1999Thunderstorm WindContinental$70,000County EMA reported roof torn off of building and an old building destroyed by straight-line winds.
April 2008Thunderstorm WindFt Jennings$65,000Five telephone poles were damaged from strong winds, with two being snapped off in the Fort Jennings and Ottawaville area. A wood barn was blown down by the strong winds, with two nearby trees being uprooted. Damage is estimated at $15,000 for repair and replacement of the poles and $50,000 for the replacement of the barn.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindKalida$50,000Emergency manager reports of trees on houses.
June 2012Thunderstorm WindPandora$50,000A local newspaper reported a tree fell through a house near Pandora. In addition, the Bridenbaugh School house, north of Pandora, lost nearly half of its roof to the strong winds.
June 2000Tornado (F1)Pandora$40,000Significant damage to a barn. Minor crop damage and six fruit trees blown down in same location.
July 1998Tornado (F1)Gilboa$40,000BRICK HOME BADLY DAMAGED. ROOF TORN OFF AND LARGE CHUNKS OF BRICK CHIMNEY STREWN ABOUT YARD. TREE WAS FELLED ON CAMPER-TRAILER.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindMuntanna$30,000Trees and power lines down over the roads in Ottoville and Kalida areas.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindGlandorf$25,000The public reported a barn was blown off its foundation, with numerous trees being downed. Roof damage also occurred to some nearby buildings. Damage is estimated at $25,000.
September 1976Tornado (F0)not stated$25,000no account filed
July 1973Tornado (F1)not stated$25,000no account filed
July 1965Tornado (F0)not stated$25,000no account filed
June 1964Tornado (F2)not stated$25,000no account filed
April 2025Thunderstorm WindOttoville$20,000Part of a barn was reported in the roadway on SR 66 south of Ottoville.
November 2005Thunderstorm WindCountywide$20,000Trees and power lines were blown down across the county.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindContinental$20,000NWS storm survey showed winds estimated between 80 and 100 MPH occurred across northern Putnam county with damage to trees and a barn destroyed northwest of Continental. Minor damage was reported to a few homes.
March 2024Thunderstorm WindColumbus Grove$15,000A semi truck was blown over and several road signs were downed.
August 2006Tornado (F1)Ft Jennings$15,000A brief tornado occurred about three-quarters of a mile northwest of Fort Jennings at about 945 pm EDT. The tornado was on the ground for about 1 mile and traveled northeast, crossing County Road R and Ohio State Route 634. The tornado was about 75 yards wide at its broadest point. Damage observed by the survey team included roof and siding damage to several homes and garages. A pole barn received substantial damage and its metal doors were pushed inward, with a section of roof ripped off. Another barn was completely destroyed. Damage to structures is estimated at $15,000. Crop damage was noted with corn knocked down and soy bean fields scoured, estimated at $10,000.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindLeipsic$10,000Several trees and power lines down across eastern Putnam County. 10 to 13 power lines down on CR 7 north of US 224. Trees blocking the road on CR 5.
April 2023Thunderstorm WindPandora$10,000Three trees were downed along with a few power poles.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindColumbus Grove$10,000Local law enforcement officials reported a few trees and power lines across parts of the county.
May 2007Thunderstorm WindOttoville$10,000Trees and power lines were reported in Ottoville.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindPandora$10,000Several trees and power lines blown down.
August 2000Thunderstorm WindLeipsic$10,000Large trees down. Metal roof blown off of a warehouse.
November 1998Thunderstorm WindColumbus Grove$10,000SEVERAL TREES AND POWER LINES WERE BLOWN DOWN. STATE ROUTE 65 WAS BLOCKED IN SEVERAL LOCATIONS DUE TO FELLED TREES.
December 1998Thunderstorm WindOttawa$10,000TREES AND POWER LINES WERE BLOWN DOWN ACROSS THE TOWN.
July 1997Flash FloodOttawa$10,000Heavy rainfall caused streets to flood. Also, Cranberry creek flooded a few homes.
May 1997Flash FloodOttawa$10,000Numerous roads closed due to persistent heavy rainfall.
April 1996Thunderstorm WindColumbus Grove$10,000no account filed
April 2005Thunderstorm WindColumbus Grove$9,000Three power lines and a total of 9 power poles were knocked down.
May 2005Thunderstorm WindOttoville$7,500Metal grain bin rolled and wrapped around a pole.
July 2011Thunderstorm WindOttawa$5,000Emergency management officials reported a tent and a temporary wall blown down at the county fair.
May 2007Thunderstorm WindLeipsic Jct$5,000A tree fell down onto a power line in Leipsic.
August 1997Flash FloodOttawa$5,000Several hours of thunderstorms with torrential downpours caused many roads to be flooded.
June 1997Thunderstorm WindOttawa$5,000Numerous large limbs downed.
June 1997Flash FloodCountywide$5,000Several roads flooded due to persistent heavy rainfall.
November 1994Thunderstorm WindColumbus Grove$5,000Wind gusts were measured at 61 mph. Several trees were downed.
September 1993Thunderstorm WindOttawa$5,000Damage occurred to several outbuildings.
January 2008Thunderstorm WindColumbus Grove$4,000A 38 foot 5th wheel trailer was rolled by the strong winds. Branches were also reported down in parts of the county.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindCloverdale$3,000Trees downed.

Mines and quarries

12 recorded

The Survey's mineral resources record lists 12 workings inside this county. 4 still produce and 8 are closed or unrecorded. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.

Commodity Workings
Clay4
Limestone, General3
Stone, Crushed/Broken3
Sand and Gravel, Construction2

The least common of them first, because a county's hundredth gravel pit says nothing its first ten did not.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Columbus Grove Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Columbus Grove Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Ottawa Stone Co QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Ottawa Stone QuarryLimestone, GeneralPast ProducerSedimentary
Putnam QuarryLimestone, GeneralPast ProducerSedimentary
Putnam Stone Co.Stone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Rimer QuarryLimestone, GeneralPast ProducerSedimentary
Rimer QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Glandorf Tile Co PitClayProducer
Glandorf Tile Company PitClayPast ProducerSedimentary
Miller Brothers Clay PitClayPast ProducerSedimentary
Miller Brothers Clay WorksClayPlant

Collected here, 1860 to 1969

8 of 216 shown

Museum specimens collected inside this county and catalogued with a date and a place: 216 of them, by kingdom 207 animalia, 8 plantae, 1 fungi. Each is a physical object in a named collection, not a sighting. Held by Ohio State University - Fish Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM), USNM, CMN, CUMV, UMMZ, NYSM 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 YearSpecies KingdomWhere CollectorCatalogue
A photograph of the species Hybopsis amblops, not of this specimen1860Hybopsis amblops (Rafinesque, 1820)AnimaliaBlanchard R. at OttawaunknownCUMV 56372
A photograph of the species Botaurus lentiginosus, not of this specimen1878Botaurus lentiginosus (Rackett, 1813)Animalianot statednot recordedCMN CMNAV 59389
A photograph of the species Calidris alpina, not of this specimen1878Calidris alpina (Linnaeus, 1758)Animalianot statedPorter collection, J.B.CMN CMNAV 60587
A photograph of the species Calidris minutilla, not of this specimen1878Calidris minutilla (Vieillot, 1819)Animalianot statedPorter collection, J.B.CMN CMNAV 60576
A photograph of the species Chlidonias niger, not of this specimen1878Chlidonias niger (Linnaeus, 1758)Animalianot statedPorter collection, J.B.CMN CMNAV 60666
A photograph of the species Gallinago gallinago, not of this specimen1878Gallinago gallinago (Linnaeus, 1758)Animalianot statedPorter, J.B.CMN CMNAV 60343
A photograph of the species Gallinula chloropus, not of this specimen1878Gallinula chloropus (Linnaeus, 1758)Animalianot statedPorter, J.B.CMN CMNAV 59830
A photograph of the species Sterna hirundo, not of this specimen1878Sterna hirundo Linnaeus, 1758Animalianot statedPorter collection, J.B.CMN CMNAV 60658

The townships, in 1915

372,841 words

History of Putnam County, Ohio : Its Peoples, Industries, and Institutions devotes a chapter to each township: its boundaries and streams, who settled it and when, the mills, the schools and the churches. All 12 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.

The people it describes

300 named

Everyone History of Putnam County, Ohio : Its Peoples, Industries, and Institutions 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 1915.

Every populated place in the county

50

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.

Recorded here

Leipsic, Ohio

9 topographic sheets and 7 fire insurance atlases, 1889 to 1939

Columbus Grove, Ohio

13 topographic sheets and 6 fire insurance atlases, 1895 to 1951

Ottawa, Ohio

12 topographic sheets and 6 fire insurance atlases, 1884 to 1931

Continental, Ohio

12 topographic sheets and 5 fire insurance atlases, 1901 to 1928

Everything this county holds

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.

Surveyed structures

1 structure

Nomination case files

7 case files

The vanished settlements of Putnam County, the places these records name that are no longer on the map.

Provenance

  • 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.