52 topographic sheets cover 42 settlements here, and 10 properties are on the National Register of Historic Places.
10 National Register listings published here · the county-history sources tell 1 story and name 1 person · people the book names include Big John Of St. Paul (Adams Township, 1915) (machine-read).
Sources: the county history on the Internet Archive · the National Register database, National Park Service
Among them: The First Settler. These passages come from the identified county-history source books. Each inset names its own source and opens the exact section it comes from.
The first white man to take up his abode in Adams township is believed to have been John Gullion. He came from Switzerland county, and was an old Revolutionary soldier - said to have been perfectly irrepressible and uncontrollable in battle. He had been shot through the cheek and mouth in some of the battles of that war, and was greatly disfigured.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Bromwell Wire Works | building | 1990 | 90000810 |
 | Champ's Ford Bridge | structure | 2009 | 09001127 |
 | Decatur County Courthouse | building | 1973 | 73000014 |
 | Greensburg Carnegie Public Library | building | 1995 | 95000701 |
 | Greensburg Downtown Historic District | district | 1995 | 95001113 |
 | Bright B. Harris House | building | 2000 | 00001545 |
 | Jerman School | building | 2005 | 05001017 |
 | Knights of Pythias Building and Theatre | building | 1978 | 78000028 |
 | Strauther Pleak Round Barn | building | 1993 | 93000557 |
 | Westport Covered Bridge | structure | 1982 | 82000031 |
Decatur County has 1 covered bridge on the National Register. Each is a listed structure with a federal nomination on file.
| Westport Covered Bridge | Listed 1982 |
Every wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 1 of them, burning about 3 acres. None started naturally and none was recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Recreation and ceremony | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 October 2004 | Recreation and ceremony | 3.0 acres | Indiana 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 260 reports for this county, causing 3 deaths, 17 injuries and about $5,516,750 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.
| Kind of event | Reports |
|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 138 |
| Hail | 63 |
| Tornado | 25 |
| Flash Flood | 14 |
| Flood | 11 |
| Lightning | 8 |
| Heavy Rain | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 1974 | Tornado (F4) | not stated | 2 killed, 7 hurt | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Lightning | Greensburg | 1 killed | no account filed |
| June 1992 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | 2 hurt, $250,000 | no account filed |
| February 1971 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | 2 hurt, $25,000 | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harris City | 2 hurt, $8,000 | A tree was down on a vehicle near the intersection of County Roads 500 South and 20 West due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| July 1991 | Thunderstorm Wind | not stated | 2 hurt | no account filed |
| September 1976 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | 1 hurt, $250,000 | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Lightning | Waynesburg | 1 hurt | A young girl was struck by lightning outside of her grandmothers home after 9:00 AM EDT on the morning of the 26th of July. The strike occurred in the 1300 block of South Country Road 1100 West near Alert, Indiana. The Decatur County Sheriffs Office said the young girl and her grandmother were getting ready to get into the car when she was struck by lightning. The grandmother told deputies she heard a loud crack of lightning and looked over and saw the girl on the ground. She is expected to make a full recovery. |
| April 1996 | Tornado (F1) | Greensburg | $1,200,000 | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Tornado (EF1) | Greensburg Arpt | $500,000 | A high end EF-1 tornado, with maximum winds of 100-105 mph impacted the southwest side of Greensburg, with the most extensive damage from the Decatur County Airport northeast through Greensburg City Park, the Greensburg Country Club, and the Country Club Estates neighborhood where about 30 homes sustained damage. Damage began at the airport where roofs were peeled and several garage doors were blown in on the hangar buildings. A Twin Otter plane tethered near the hangars was spun around and cartwheeled about 50 feet to the north. Numerous large oak trees in excess of 4 feet in diameter were completely uprooted through the park and the golf course. A park shelter building was destroyed when a 4 1/2 foot diameter oak tree fell on the structure. Homes throughout the Country Club Estates neighborhood sustained roof, siding and gutter damage with several garage doors blown out. One home had its exterior garage wall bowed. Homes also sustained significant hail damage, with siding severely damaged and windows broken. This tornado was determined to be a mile in length with a maximum width of 600 yards. |
| February 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Letts | $260,000 | A microburst caused damage to numerous structures in Decatur County including a church steeple and roof, two mobile homes, three pick up trucks, trees, power lines, a school bus, two semi trailers, a barn, two businesses, a fence, and a few houses. |
| May 2011 | Tornado (EF1) | Greensburg Arpt | $250,000 | Tornado damage was discovered in the Rolling Meadows neighborhood about one half mile south of the Interstate 74 and US 421 interchange and just north of County Road 100 North. This was determined to be from a second tornado, rated EF-1 with maximum winds at 90 mph. Approximately 15-20 homes throughout the neighborhood sustained roof or siding damage, with garage doors buckling and blowing inwards on several of these homes. Much of the debris was strewn into an adjacent farm field. Just across US 421 off to the northeast, a small piece of plywood was found impaled into the stucco on a bank building. The path length was 0.5 miles with a maximum width 400 yards. |
| November 1992 | Tornado (F2) | not stated | $250,000 | no account filed |
| November 1965 | Tornado (F3) | not stated | $250,000 | no account filed |
| August 2018 | Hail | Greensburg | $150,000 | The emergency manager reported many instances of hail damage to homes, cars, a school bus, and roofs, including both the elementary and high schools. |
| April 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Burney | $100,000 | Straight line winds damaged two trailers and an old store. |
| April 2006 | Tornado (F1) | Burney | $100,000 | A weak tornado briefly touched down near Burney in Decatur County. Among the damage was a destroyed garage, and several outbuildings. No injuries were reported. |
| July 2000 | Lightning | Greensburg | $100,000 | Lightning damaged a business in Greensburg. |
| April 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Greensburg | $100,000 | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Tornado (EF1) | Springhill | $70,000 | A tornado touched down at 2050 EST approximately three miles to the southwest of Clarksburg and traveled to the northeast for 4.09 miles before lifting about a mile east of Clarksburg. The tornado was rated an EF-1. Based on damage indicators, wind speeds with this tornado were around 100 miles per hour. Near Clarksburg one home had the roof ripped off, another residence had extensive damage, a van had broken windows, telephone poles were damaged, and farm buildings were also damaged. |
| June 1998 | Lightning | Greensburg | $65,000 | A barn, house, and nursing home were struck by lightning causing fire to each structure. In one case, a truck and boat in the barn was destroyed by the fire. |
| April 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Harris City | $58,000 | Roof was blown off of a trailer due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts. A barn in bad shape was also destroyed and part of a roof was blown off of 4 barns. Siding was pulled off of a house. Trees, one onto a car, and power lines were also reported down south and southwest of Greensburg. No injuries were reported and there were multiple reports of a funnel. Damage survey determined the damage was caused by strong straight-line wind gusts. |
| May 2024 | Tornado (EF0) | Springhill | $50,000 | This last of five central Indiana tornadoes tracked slightly north of east, from north of County Road 640 North between County Roads 400 East and 550 East to extreme northeastern Decatur County, west-northwest of the intersection of County Road 750 North and County Line Road. Damage was primarily to utility poles downed along the north to south aligned County Roads 550 East (3 poles downed) and 700 East (6 older poles bent or broken with wire thrown 80-100 yards east). A small patch of wheat was also bent over where the vortex crossed 860 East, with a large tree limb present of unknown origin. Farm buildings near the damage along County Road 700 East sustained little or no damage. Peak winds were 81 mph where the poles where downed. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westport | $50,000 | Half mile wide swath of trees downed by thunderstorm wind gusts. Estimated 200-250 total trees. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Forest Hill | $50,000 | Storm survey found damage to a few farms near County Road 700 South between County Roads 1000 West and 700 West. The most extensive damage to a property occurred near the intersection of County Roads 700 South and 800 West with complete destruction of a detached garage. Debris from the garage and other structures on the property were carried downstream to the east-northeast nearly a mile. All damage was knocked over to the east-northeast in the direction the storm moved and was classified as straight-line wind damage. |
| February 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Greensburg | $50,000 | Trailers were blown over, a house under construction collapsed, large trees were uprooted, and utility poles were snapped due to damaging thunderstorm winds. |
| June 2008 | Flash Flood | Greensburg | $50,000 | State Road 46 at United States 421 and State Road 3 in Greensburg were closed due to flash flooding. Gas and Sand Creek flooded. Cars were stuck in flood waters. Numerous county roads and bridges were washed away. |
| May 1994 | Hail | Davis City | $50,000 | Thunderstorms erupted over Iowa for the second day in a row. The setting was quite similar to the previous day except much of the activity was driven by synoptic scale dynamics. A cold front was moving southeast across the state while an upper level wave was traveling east across the state. The airmass was quite unstable in spite of the limited low level moisture. Thunderstorms formed over the southern three tiers of Iowa's counties. The trigger mechanism was a weak boundary settling south ahead of the cold front. This boundary could be seen clearly on the WSR-88D radar. Since inflow was much weaker over Iowa than the day before, the storms were not as wide spread. A cell formed south of Des Moines and expanded into a short line extending southwest. The new development was to the south and west of the initial cell. No significant wind was reported with the cells, but hail was common. Most of the hail reports were in the quarter-size to golf ball-size range. Union, Wayne, Ringgold, and Decatur Counties were affected by the line. The time each cell produced significant hail was quite short, on the order of 30 minutes or less. The storms behaved as pulsar storms with the storm structure quite straight up and down. Vertically Integrated Liquid values reached a high of 73 Kg-M-2 at the peak of the storms. This is significantly above the threshold for late May. The Kellerton area in Ringgold County was hard hit. Hail ranging from quarter-size to golf ball-size fell for a long enough period of time to cover the ground. By the early evening hours the storms moved and developed into northern Missouri. |
| May 2002 | Flash Flood | Countywide | $50,000 | no account filed |
| April 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westport | $50,000 | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Greensburg | $45,000 | Approximately two dozen homes received minor roof damage from shingle loss or fallen trees due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts within a bow echo. Trees were also reported down on some cars and blocking roads. The damage occurred between State Route 46 and Interstate 74, north of downtown. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Letts | $45,000 | Three grain bins were blown over near the intersection of South County Road 350 West and West County Road 850 South due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Greensburg | $40,000 | A barn and home was damaged in Greensburg due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| May 1996 | Tornado (F0) | Greensburg | $40,000 | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westport | $36,000 | Power lines and trees were reported down in Westport due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts. The town was without power and some of the downed trees damaged a few homes. This report came in via WebEOC. |
| April 2017 | Tornado (EF1) | Millhousen | $35,000 | An EF-1 tornado touched down around 7:35 PM EDT approximately 2 miles northeast of Millhousen in southern Decatur County.||The tornado as on the ground intermittently along its path and caused damage to a few farm outbuildings, destroying one of them. Also, numerous trees were uprooted or snapped. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Greensburg Arpt | $30,000 | Several buildings were destroyed at the Decatur County Fairgrounds due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| April 2025 | Flash Flood | Burney | $25,000 | Several roads were closed across the county due to water flowing over them. 3 water rescues conducted. Total rainfall was around 1.5 inches. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Adams | $25,000 | Trees and powerlines downed by thunderstorm wind gusts across the northwestern portion of the county. |
| June 2009 | Lightning | Adams | $25,000 | The Greensburg Daily News reported that a historic home near Greensburg was struck by lightning and a fire was started. Damage to the home was significant. The time this event occurred was estimated. |
| May 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Greensburg | $25,000 | Trees fell throughout the city, including one that fell on a car, and another that fell on a home. |
| November 2004 | Tornado (F0) | Greensburg | $25,000 | A small and short lived tornado touched down four miles northwest of Greensburg, crossing Interstate 74 near exit 132. Trees were downed, a barn roof was torn off, and cars were blown off the road. Damage amount is estimated. |
| May 2002 | Flash Flood | Greensburg | $25,000 | no account filed |
| January 1989 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | $25,000 | no account filed |
| June 1973 | Tornado (F2) | not stated | $25,000 | no account filed |
| July 1971 | Tornado (F1) | not stated | $25,000 | no account filed |
| September 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Greensburg | $20,000 | Thunderstorm downburst winds blew down trees and power lines in central Decatur County. |
| June 2018 | Flood | Greensburg | $20,000 | There was flooding reported to be in or around a structure due to heavy rainfall in west Greensburg. The exact location is unknown. |
| September 2016 | Flash Flood | Greensburg | $20,000 | Interstate 74 was shut down between mile markers 134 and 143 due to high water from heavy thunderstorm rainfall.||Also, an Indianapolis woman drowned inside a vehicle late Thursday after it struck a semi on a flooded portion of Interstate 74 and overturned into a water-filled ditch, trapping her inside, county law enforcement officials said.||The accident occurred at approximately 11:53 p.m. Thursday. At that time, a Cloverdale man, 62, was traveling east on Interstate 74, near the 143 mile marker. Heavy rains led to high water on the roadway, which are believed to have caused the man to lose control of the vehicle and slide. As it slid, the vehicle was hit by a 2000 Freightliner semi and sent into a roadside ditch. The SUV came to rest upside-down and was partially submerged. More than four feet of water had collected in the ditch by the time the accident had occurred, Decatur County Sheriff said.||The deceased woman, 58, a passenger in the SUV, was pronounced dead at the scene. The man escaped the vehicle unharmed and he and emergency responders attempted to free the woman from the vehicle, but all were unable to pull her from the submerged car. Attempts to resuscitate the woman after she was extricated were unsuccessful.||Westbound lanes in the vicinity of the accident were shut down for approximately two hours, sheriffs department personnel said. |
| December 2015 | Tornado (EF1) | Sandusky | $20,000 | EF-1 tornado damage was observed near the Decatur-Rush County line with winds estimated at 105 mph. A barn was destroyed near the location the tornado touched down before heading into Rush County. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sandusky | $20,000 | Grain bins were blown 100 yards near County Road 300 North and State Route 3 due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| July 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westport | $20,000 | no account filed |
| October 2001 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westport | $20,000 | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Greensburg Arpt | $18,000 | Power poles were snapped, due to damaging thunderstorm wind gusts, near the Honda plant. |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westport | $15,000 | Many trees of unknown size and power lines downed by thunderstorm wind gusts across the immediate area. |
| April 2022 | Tornado (EF0) | Millhousen | $15,000 | Broad rotation within the squall line's bookend vortex radar signature eventually led to a brief tornado in southeast Decatur County. The only damage was to a lean-to roof and wall on the east side of a farm outbuilding. This section was demolished with sheet metal roofing and wood debris thrown between 200 and 400 yards to the north and north-northwest. A small horse trailer was picked up and thrown to the north side of County Road 800 South. There were no scour or drag marks visible in the ground from where the trailer originally sat. A 2x4 was driven into the ground about 20 yards north of the damaged building. No other damage was found in the area. |
| June 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | New Pt | $15,000 | Roof was blown off a building by thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| April 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Westport | $15,000 | House with half of the roof torn off as well as barn damage nearby due to thunderstorm wind gusts. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Sardinia | $15,000 | A barn was reported to be destroyed near the intersection of State Route 3 and County Road 700 West. |
| December 2004 | Tornado (F0) | Sandusky | $15,000 | On Tuesday 7 December 2004, a rare December tornado touched down near the small town of Sandusky, just north of Greensburg in Decatur County. The touchdown took place just south of the intersection of County Roads 150 West and 500 North at approximately 10:15 a.m. EST. The tornado traveled to the northeast for 1.5 miles, lifting just southwest of Sandusky near State Road 3. The path width was 75 yards, and the tornado was rated as an F0. Damage included a fence row blown down, shingles removed from homes and barns, one barn with partial roof damage, and a steeple blown off a rooftop near Sandusky. This tornado struck just 2 miles north of where another rare late-season tornado struck near Greensburg on November 24th.A preliminary search by NWS staff indicated that this was the first December tornado in Indiana since an F1 touched down in Marshall County, Indiana on 4 December 1973. |
The Survey's mineral resources record lists 3 workings inside this county. 2 still produce and 1 is closed or unrecorded. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.
| Commodity | Workings |
|---|---|
| Stone, Crushed/Broken | 2 |
| Sand and Gravel, Construction | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Omer Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Harris City Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer | ||
| New Point Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
History of Decatur County, Indiana : Its People, 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 9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adams Township | Adams, Downeyville, Germantown, Saint Omer, Saint Paul | 7,596 words | 15 | |
| Clay Township | Burney, Ewington, Horace, Milford | 2,772 words | 6 | |
| Clinton Township | Sandusky, Springhill, Williamstown | 1,257 words | 2 | |
| Fugit Township | Clarksburg, Kingston, Saint Maurice | 6,388 words | 9 | |
| Jackson Township | Alert, Forest Hill, Sardinia, Waynesburg | 78 words | 0 | |
| Marion Township | Millhousen, Pinhook, Slabtown, Tarkeo Corner | 439 words | 1 | |
| Saltcreek Township | Mechanicsburg, Middle Branch, New Pennington, New Point, Rossburg, Smiths Crossing, Smyrna | 1,490 words | 2 | |
| Sandcreek Township | Gaynorsville, Harper, Harris City, Letts, Letts Corner, Mapleton Corner, Neff Corner, Westport | 2,767 words | 3 | |
| Washington Township | Craig, Greensburg, Knarr Corner, McCoy | 3,328 words | 3 |
One book written about this county, cut here where the book itself is cut, at its printed chapters: 23 chapters in all. Every chapter is public domain, machine-read from the scan and reproduced complete. A chapter already given under one of the county's towns is not repeated in this list.
Everyone History of Decatur County, Indiana : Its People, 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.
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 nearest named watercourse or landform and the survey quadrangle it falls on.
Sandcreek township · 47240 · On Fall Branch · Westport quadrangle
11 sheets, 1942 to 1986
Sandcreek township · 47240 · On Muddy Fork Sand Creek · Forest Hill quadrangle
11 sheets, 1942 to 1986
Sandcreek township · 47283 · On Rodney Branch · Westport quadrangle
11 sheets, 1942 to 1986
Sandcreek township · 47283 · On Panther Creek · Westport quadrangle
11 sheets, 1942 to 1986
Clinton township · 47240 · On South Branch Clifty Creek · Milroy quadrangle
10 sheets, 1953 to 1986
Clinton township · 47240 · Milroy quadrangle
10 sheets, 1953 to 1986
No longer a settlement
Marion township · 47240 · On Lost Fork · Greensburg quadrangle
10 sheets, 1953 to 1986
The vanished settlements of Decatur County: the places named above that are no longer on the map.
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