76 topographic sheets and 8 fire insurance atlases across 2 places.
This curated hub for Vinton 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.
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6 National Register listings · 2 businesses named in the fire insurance atlases from 1911 to 1911 · the 1927 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Eakin Mill Covered Bridge | structure | 1976 | 76001539 |
 | Hope Furnace | structure | 1973 | 73001546 |
 | Masonic Lodge #472 | building | 2000 | 00000182 |
 | Mt. Olive Road Covered Bridge | structure | 1976 | 76001538 |
 | Ponn Humpback Covered Bridge | structure | 1973 | 73001545 |
 | Trinity Episcopal Church | building | 1976 | 76001540 |
Vinton County holds 3 covered bridges on the National Register, more than any other property type here. Each is a listed structure with a federal nomination on file.
| Eakin Mill Covered Bridge | Listed 1976, 0 map sheets show this crossing |
| Mt. Olive Road Covered Bridge | Listed 1976, 0 map sheets show this crossing |
| Ponn Humpback Covered Bridge | Listed 1973, 0 map sheets show this crossing |
Sampled issues, machine-read from the Library of Congress scan and published page by page, so every headline and column is searchable text.
McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio, 1853 to 1865. 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.
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. 485 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 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. 0 of these 2 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: 224 of them, burning about 1,541 acres. 1 started naturally and 18 were recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 116 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 56 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 18 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 13 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 9 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 5 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 April 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 355 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | PARK CABIN |
| 6 April 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 280 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 March 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 131 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 506 |
| 13 July 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 13 November 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 90 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 8 March 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 3634 |
| 17 April 2016 | Debris and open burning | 26 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 4571 |
| 24 October 2010 | Debris and open burning | 25 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | not named |
Every settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it - see the settlement index below.
The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 251 reports for this county, causing 0 deaths, 1 injury and about $5,884,300 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.
| Kind of event | Reports |
|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 129 |
| Flood | 53 |
| Flash Flood | 44 |
| Hail | 17 |
| Tornado | 6 |
| Heavy Rain | 1 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2020 | Lightning | Eagle Mills | 1 hurt | Near the town of Eagle Mills, a man was struck by lightning. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition, but fortunately did recover from his injuries. |
| May 2011 | Flash Flood | Jimtown | $2,500,000 | Small streams in the western portion of the county flooded. Streams such as Pike Run, and the Middle Fork of Salt Creek damaged roads, homes and campers. One home was destroyed, 11 homes had major damage, and 42 others had minor damage. |
| March 1997 | Flash Flood | Countywide | $750,000 | no account filed |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Eagle Mills | $500,000 | Scattered locations throughout the county had trees or large branches blown down. Around 4,000 customers lost electricity. The county middle school was set up as a cooling center and a place to charge cellular phones. Along with residences and businesses, the storm knocked out power and phone lines to the Vinton County Sheriff's Office, the McArthur Police Department, and emergency medical services. |
| April 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Zaleski | $500,000 | Winds measured at 80 mph at the Zaleski State Forest Ranger Station from a microburst. Trees were downed in the vicinity, a mobile home was destroyed, and a barn roof was removed. |
| April 2020 | Tornado (EF1) | Wilkesville | $200,000 | A brief tornado touchdown occurred along Ohio 124 1.5 miles WNW of Wilkesville. A new double-wide mobile home was shifted off the block foundation and turned in a westerly direction. Another nearby mobile home was blown a few feet off of its foundation in a southerly direction. Clear rotation was also evident in the direction several uprooted trees were laying and in debris scattered across the property. |
| May 2010 | Flood | Ray | $175,000 | The first report of flooding was around midday as the headwaters of Raccoon Creek, including Wiselabout Creek, flooded Route 278. Numerous other creeks overflowed and blocked roads. |
| May 2012 | Flash Flood | Jimtown | $150,000 | Streams such as Pretty Run, Salt Creek, Middle Fork of Salt Creek, Raccoon Creek, and Puncheon Fork, flooded and damaged roads. Culverts under some roads were damaged. Private bridges were damaged. Near MacArthur, some residents in a trailer park were evacuated. The American Red Cross gave assistance to 14 families in Vinton County. |
| May 2001 | Flash Flood | Prattsville | $100,000 | Streams flooded and blocked roads, including Route 50, in the central and southern portion of the county. Ohio state officials reported 2 homes with minor damage, plus damage to roads, in Richland Township. |
| February 2000 | Flash Flood | Countywide | $75,000 | no account filed |
| June 1996 | Flash Flood | Prattsville | $75,000 | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Flash Flood | Hope | $50,000 | Many roads flooded and became impassable, including areas around McArthur and Zaleski. |
| July 2003 | Flash Flood | South Portion | $50,000 | Houses were evacuated in Hamden, as the headwaters of the Little Racoon Creek flooded. |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Countywide | $50,000 | Numerous trees were downed iun a number of locations. Some roof damage occurred as well. |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | North half | $50,000 | Trees were downed in a number of locations, some on power lines. |
| January 1998 | Flash Flood | Countywide | $40,000 | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Flash Flood | Allensville | $40,000 | no account filed |
| April 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilkesville | $25,000 | Along Covered Bridge Road, several mobile homes were shifted off of their foundations and were damaged. Numerous trees were also downed along the road. |
| July 2017 | Tornado (EF1) | Creola | $25,000 | A National Weather Service survey team found damage consistent with an EF-1 tornado with estimated winds speeds up to 105 mph. The tornado touched down along Locust Grove Road northwest of McArthur, then paralleled Locust Grove for just under a mile. Hundreds of trees were blown down or snapped. One tree fell on a van. A metal barn had most of its metal roofing ripped off, and thrown about 50 feet away. |
| August 2003 | Flash Flood | South Portion | $25,000 | Near Allensville, Kelley Branch washed out culverts and private bridges. Riles Run overflowed. A car was driven into flood waters along Route 18. Numerous private bridges were damaged. |
| June 2015 | Flash Flood | Mc Arthur | $20,000 | Roads in the northeastern portion of the county were flooded by overflowing streams. Near Elk Fork northeast of McArther, a culvert was washed out near the intersection of Morgan Road and Barleon Road. |
| November 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hamden | $20,000 | The largest concentration of tree damage was around Hamden. |
| June 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Countywide | $20,000 | Fallen trees blocked several county roads. |
| February 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Allensville | $15,000 | There was minor roof damage to 2 homes. A small barn was also damaged. |
| March 2026 | Flood | Hamden | $10,000 | Flooding was observed at State Route 349 and Lake Alma Road, and State Route 160 was closed due to flooding between South Buffalo Street and State Route 324. During the afternoon of the 4th, a vehicle was observed in water up to the windows at the intersection of State Routes 160 and 349. |
| June 2021 | Flash Flood | Radcliff | $10,000 | High water impacted three separate sections of State Route 160 and flooding restrictions were also observed along Route 124 for a time. |
| May 2019 | Tornado (EF0) | Mc Arthur Vntn Co Ar | $10,000 | A National Weather Service storm survey team found damage consistent with an EF0 tornado with maximum estimated winds of 80 mph. A small path of trees was found snapped and uprooted along Pumpkin Ridge Road, with debris scattered in a rotational pattern. |
| June 2017 | Flash Flood | Hope | $10,000 | Three to five inches of rain fell across much of Vinton County. This resulted in widespread flooding of creeks and streams throughout the county. Some of the first flooding occurred near Allensville, where the feeder streams into the Middle Fork River flooded shortly after 5 PM EST. Many roads were flooded throughout during the evening and overnight. This included portions of State Routes 56, 95, 278, 328, 671. US Route 50 near Ratcliffburg was also closed. |
| November 2017 | Flash Flood | Ratcliffburg | $10,000 | Widespread flash flooding occurred across the central part of the county. This included along the Middle Fork of Salt Creek, which closed US 50 west of McArthur. Raccoon Creek flooded, closing State Routes 278 and 378. Flash flooding also occurred along Puncheon Fork, Elk Fork, Wolfe Run, Pierce Run, Johnson Run and Little Raccoon Creek. |
| July 2016 | Flash Flood | Hamden | $10,000 | High water from heavy rain blocked State Route 160. |
| April 2015 | Flash Flood | Mc Arthur | $10,000 | Streams overflowed quickly and closed sections of State Route 356 and 328 and U.S. Route 50 in the eastern portion of the county. |
| April 2011 | Flood | Allensville | $10,000 | Several roads were flooded and closed. Yet, no homes were flooded. |
| June 2010 | Flash Flood | Ray | $10,000 | Small streams flooded roads, including sections of Route 93 and Route 324 near Hamden and Duncas. |
| May 2004 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mc Arthur | $10,000 | A porch was blown off a house, while fallen trees damaged a house and a mobile home. |
| June 2003 | Flash Flood | Hue | $10,000 | Headwaters of Brushy Fork flooded. Roads were blocked. |
| May 2001 | Flash Flood | Mc Arthur | $10,000 | Several roads in the southeastern portion of the county were flooded by small streams. |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Plymouth | $10,000 | Several large trees were blown down. |
| March 2008 | Flood | Eagle Mills | $10,000 | no account filed |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mc Arthur | $7,000 | Multiple large trees were downed near McArthur, several of which were uprooted onto houses. |
| June 2021 | Flash Flood | Bolins Mills | $5,000 | High water impacted portions of State Route 50 near the Route 356 intersection. |
| June 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Hope | $5,000 | Several trees were blown down on State Route 238 north of Zaleski. |
| June 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilkesville | $5,000 | Multiple trees were downed within the Wilkesville community. |
| March 2017 | Flood | Allensville | $5,000 | Multiple roads across central Vinton County were closed due to flooding. This included portions of US 50 near McArthur and also near the intersection of US 50 and Carpenter Road at Allensville. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wilkesville | $5,000 | Trees were blown down. One tree fell onto a barn. |
| April 2014 | Flood | Radcliff | $5,000 | Many small streams overflowed and closed low spots in roads. For example, Route 328 was closed in 3 spots and Route 278 in 1 location in the Lake Hope State Park vicinity. No structures were flooded. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mc Arthur | $5,000 | Several trees were blown down. |
| May 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Prattsville | $5,000 | Several trees were blown down in the Union Ridge vicinity near County Route 6. |
| May 2012 | Flash Flood | Dundas | $5,000 | Racoon Creek flooded portions of State Route 278. Other smaller streams flowed across roads. No dwellings were flooded. |
| April 2011 | Flood | Hamden | $5,000 | Streams overflowed and blocked roads. |
| June 2010 | Flash Flood | Radcliff | $5,000 | Roads, including Route 160, were flooded by small streams. However, no dwellings were affected. |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mc Arthur | $5,000 | Several trees were blown down. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Ray | $5,000 | Two microbursts hit the Chief Logan Reservation, a summer camp for Boy Scouts. It occurred during the predawn hours. Luckily, only one scout received a minor injury, despite the large number of occupied tents in the damage paths. One large tree fell right onto a tent cot, but the boys had left earlier to seek safer shelter. ||There was extensive softwood tree damage found in 2 distinct paths in the campground. Numerous pine trees were snapped and uprooted in a diverging pattern. Three tents were destroyed by fallen trees. The damage paths of both microbursts were approximately 500 yards in length with a width of 25 to 40 yards. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mc Arthur | $5,000 | Several trees and large branches were blown down. |
| April 2005 | Flash Flood | Zaleski | $5,000 | Small streams, such as Wheelabout Creek, that flow into Racoon Creek overflowed onto roads. Rains of 1.75 to 2.25 inches fell in less than 3 hours. Route 50 was blocked. |
| July 2002 | Flash Flood | West Portion | $5,000 | The Middle Fork and its tributaries overflowed onto roads, including Route 50. The cooperative observer at McArthur reported 4.06 inches of rain in its 24 hour report. |
| June 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Zaleski | $5,000 | Trees were downed. |
| October 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Mc Arthur | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Logan | $5,000 | no account filed |
| February 2019 | Flood | Hue | $4,000 | Several roads flooded near McArthur, including State Routes 93 and 328. State Route 356 was also closed due to flooding along Raccoon Creek.||The stream gage on Raccoon Creek near Bolins Mills showed the creek rose above its 14 foot bankfull level just after midnight on the 13th. It crested at 14.6 that evening before returning to its banks late on the 14th. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Allensville | $4,000 | Trees and power lines were downed along Clark Road, Pretty Run Road, and Garrett Ridge in the area of Allensville. |
The Survey's mineral resources record lists 2 workings inside this county. 1 still produces and 1 is closed or unrecorded. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.
| Commodity | Workings |
|---|---|
| Clay | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamden Pit Number 2 | Clay | Past Producer | ||
| Vinton County Highway Dept Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
Museum specimens collected inside this county and catalogued with a date and a place: 2,560 of them, by kingdom 2,124 animalia, 304 plantae, 129 fungi, 3 unrecorded. Each is a physical object in a named collection, not a sighting. Held by MSU, Ohio State University - Fish Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM), OSUC, NY, Ohio State University - Amphibian Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM), UMMZ 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1878 | Houstonia caerulea L. | Plantae | Hamden | Guttenberg, G. | CM CM364596 |
 | 1878 | Krigia biflora (Walter) S.F.Blake | Plantae | Hamden | Guttenberg, G. | CM CM402119 |
 | 1878 | Luzula multiflora (Ehrh.) Lej. | Plantae | Hamden | None | CM CM423828 |
 | 1878 | Plantago lanceolata L. | Plantae | Hamden | Guttenberg, G. | CM CM153741 |
 | 1900 | Acordulecera dorsalis | Animalia | Vinton, Vinton Co., OH, Vinton, Vinton, Ohio, United States | not recorded | OSUC OSUC 38625 |
 | 1900 | Acordulecera mellina | Animalia | Vinton, Vinton Co., OH, Vinton, Vinton, Ohio, United States | not recorded | OSUC OSUC 38676 |
 | 1900 | Aglaostigma Kirby, 1882 | Animalia | Vinton, Vinton Co., OH, Vinton, Vinton, Ohio, United States | not recorded | OSUC OSUC 35635 |
| 1900 | Agrypon melleum (Cresson, 1872) | Animalia | Vinton, Vinton Co., OH, Vinton, Vinton, Ohio, United States | not recorded | OSUC OSUC 39188 |
Geology of Vinton County devotes a chapter to each township: its boundaries and streams, who settled it and when, the mills, the schools and the churches. All 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vinton Township | Arbaugh, Oreton, Pincher, Radcliff, Vales Mills | 124,965 words | 189 |
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 2 places that were also surveyed for fire insurance come first, with the number of atlases and photographs held for them.
Clinton township · 45634 · On Tripp Run · Hamden quadrangle
12 sheets, 1913 to 1992
Fire insurance: 3 atlases
Richland township · 45651 · On Riley Run · Allensville quadrangle
16 sheets, 1910 to 2002
Harrison township · 45672 · In Ponetown Hollow · Byer quadrangle
13 sheets, 1913 to 1980
No longer a settlement
Knox township · 45710 · On Russell Run · Vales Mills quadrangle
12 sheets, 1905 to 1992
Eagle township · 45647 · In Brown Hollow · Ratcliffburg quadrangle
14 sheets, 1910 to 1992
No longer a settlement
Eagle township · 45647 · On Pretty Run · Ratcliffburg quadrangle
14 sheets, 1910 to 1992
Jackson township · 43152 · Allensville quadrangle
16 sheets, 1910 to 2002
No longer a settlement
Eagle township · 45647 · In Morrison Hollow · Ratcliffburg quadrangle
14 sheets, 1910 to 1992
Brown township · 45654 · On West Branch Raccoon Creek · New Plymouth quadrangle
15 sheets, 1904 to 2002
Swan township · 45654 · On West Branch Raccoon Creek · New Plymouth quadrangle
15 sheets, 1904 to 2002
Vinton township · 45710 · On Perry Ridge · Vales Mills quadrangle
12 sheets, 1905 to 1992
No longer a settlement
Madison township · 45651 · On The Pinnacle · McArthur quadrangle
13 sheets, 1905 to 1980
Harrison township · 45647 · On Stevens Branch · Ratcliffburg quadrangle
14 sheets, 1910 to 1992
Jackson township · 45651 · On Locust Grove Ridge · Allensville quadrangle
16 sheets, 1910 to 2002
Madison township · 45651 · In Hoagland Hollow · Zaleski quadrangle
15 sheets, 1904 to 2002
No longer a settlement
13 topographic sheets and 5 fire insurance atlases, 1896 to 1924
12 topographic sheets and 3 fire insurance atlases, 1911 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 Vinton County, the places these records name that are no longer on the map.
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