BlockBefore
Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Alton, Ohio

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1923 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Prairie Township. It lies in ZIP code area 43119. The Survey maps it on the Galloway quadrangle.

Alton within Franklin County

Then and now

1923 to 1986

The same ground, surveyed 63 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Alton, surveyed 1986
Topographic sheet of Alton, surveyed 1923

Topographic sheets covering this place

14 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

469 words on this township

History of Franklin County [Ohio]:, published 1858 names this settlement in its chapter on Prairie Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Thei'e are three Methodist Churches in this township: one at Alton, one in Clovers' Settlement, and one in the south part of the township, known as the Henderson Church - all frame buildings, and each one has a burying ground contiguous to it. And there is a German Lutheran Church about two miles north of Rome - a hewed log building, erected some fifteen or eighteen years since, and answering for both church and school house, and in which a respectable German school is taught. They also have a burying ground contiguous to the church.

Passage source: History of Franklin County [Ohio]:, published 1858.

After the construction of the National Road, in the spring of 1836, the town of Alton was laid out by Thomas Graham, and a post office was established there. The successive postmasters have been : John Graham, first ; Mervin Stearw^alt, second ; David P. Cole, third ; Solomon Putman, fourth ; Goodhue McGill, fifth ; and A. W. Shearer, sixth and present.

Passage source: History of Franklin County [Ohio]:, published 1858.

About the same time that Alton was laid out, James Bryden and Adam Brotherlin laid out lots for a town on the pike, two or three miles east of Alton, which they named " Rome." The two villages, so near together.

Passage source: History of Franklin County [Ohio]:, published 1858.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Prairie Township.

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 8,458 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 8,458 specimens collected within 10 miles of Alton between 1814 and 1975: 6,669 Animalia, 1,249 Fungi, 411 Plantae, 101 Chromista, 27 Unrecorded, 1 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by 19 V 1938 in original publication, Knull, =, ? and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Cintractia sorghi (Sorokn) De ToniCintractia sorghi (Sorokn) De Toni1900Tyler, F.J.; O. E. JenningsColumbus
A photograph of the species Hirundo Linnaeus, not of this specimenHirundo Linnaeus, 17581814not recordedColumbus Ohio, Franklin, Ohio, USA
A photograph of the species Callimome strobiloides, not of this specimenCallimome strobiloides Huber, 19271821C. HuberColumbus
A photograph of the species Solidago riddellii, not of this specimenSolidago riddellii Frank1832W. A. KellermanA few miles N of Columbus.
A photograph of the species Carex lupulina, not of this specimenCarex lupulina Muhl. ex Willd.1834AnonymousColumbus.
A photograph of the species Anomodon viticulosus, not of this specimenAnomodon viticulosus (Hedw.) Hook. & Taylor1837W. S. SullivantNear Columbus
A photograph of the species Carex bullata, not of this specimenCarex bullata Willd.1837AnonymousColumbus.
A photograph of the species Carex comosa, not of this specimenCarex comosa Boott1837AnonymousColumbus.
A photograph of the species Carex granularis, not of this specimenCarex granularis Muhl. ex Willd.1837AnonymousColumbus.
A photograph of the species Acris crepitans, not of this specimenAcris crepitans blanchardi Harper, 19471897not recordedNo Further Locality Data
Albugo candida (Pers. ex J.F.Gmel.) Roussel1897Clevenger, J. F.Columbus
A photograph of the species Ameiurus melas, not of this specimenAmeiurus melas (Rafinesque, 1820)1897United States Bureau of Fisheries, R. Osburn & E. WilliamsonOhio, Scioto River, Franklin County

All 8,458 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Alton: 2 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Dolomite, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Madison Limestone QuarryDolomite, Stone, Crushed/BrokenPast Producer
Olen Corporation PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Olen PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Franklin County

Storms near this place

1 since 2014

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alton in 1 storm report between 2014 and 2014: 1 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2014HailAlton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Franklin County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Summerlyn0.8 miles14
Galloway Ridge1.1 miles14
The Village At Thornapple1.2 miles14
Thornapple Highlands1.2 miles14
Greene Countrie1.3 miles14
Quaker Hill1.4 miles14
Westbend1.5 miles14
Glenchester1.5 miles14

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1048456. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

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.