BlockDarbyville, Ohio
13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1911 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Muhlenberg Township. It lies in ZIP code area 43146. It stands on Lizard Run. The Survey maps it on the Darbyville quadrangle. 186 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 745 feet above sea level.
Then and now
1911 to 1986The same ground, surveyed 75 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
Population over time
2 figuresDarbyville fell from 222 to 186 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 222 | |
| 2020 | 186 | -36 (-16%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 13 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1911 USGS Era quadrangle1:62500
- 1913 USGS Era quadrangle1:62500
- 1943 USGS Era quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Columbus quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Darbyville quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1961 USGS Columbus quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Columbus quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Columbus quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1986 USGS Springfield quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
In the county-history sources
9,301 words on this townshipHistory of Pickaway County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, published 1906 names this settlement in its chapter on Muhlenberg Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
It is thought that the first election in Muhlenberg township was that held in the spring of 1831, a few months after the township's erection. William Hill, Sr., was the first justice of the peace. In 1875 a town house was erected on the main street in Darbyville at a cost of $1,200, the lower story being built by the township and corporation and the upper story jointly by the Good Templars organization and Good Samaritan Grange. The township officers for 1906 are as follows: Trustees - R. C. Hill, William Graham and E. F. Kneislev; clerk, Jonathan M. Grabill ; treasurer, W. S. Carpenter; assessor, Milton Fullen; justices of the peace - Henry B. Darst and Jacob Bennett.
Passage source: History of Pickaway County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, published 1906.
This section was the home of the Shawnee Indians. At an early day small bands of thc.^e Indians lived in various parts of the township; even after the country was partially settled, the Indians returned annually early in the spring for the purpose of making maple sugar. In the fall of the year they proceeded north toward Lake Erie. On the opposite side of the creek, a short distance above Darbyville, a large burying ground was located, in the rear of the old camp of the band to which the chief Darby belonged. At an early day in the history of the township, an Indian duel took place just below' Darbyville where there was an Indian camp.
Passage source: History of Pickaway County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, published 1906.
It is not known who was the first white person born in the township, but it is thought there were births in the families of some of the squatters before the actual settlers came in and j took possession of the land. The first death that occurred in the neighborhood was that of a child of Jonathan Renick, named Seymour, in 1805. An infant daughter of Judge Florence, deceased in November, 1806, was the first person buried in the Florence burial-ground. The first marriage that can be recalled was that of Anthony Hall and Polly Wood in 1806. The early settlers obtained flour and meal from a mill on Darby Creek in Jackson township, about seven miles from the present town of Darbyville or from a mill on the upper part of the same stream, in Franklin County. The first of these mills was built about 1802 or 1803, and the other a little later. The first orchard planted in Muhlenberg township was set out on the place of Isaac Van Meter about 1808. About this time Eleazar Smith established a blacksmith shop on Darby Creek below Darbyville. A sawmill was built on the farm of Francis Hill, a little below Darbyville, about 1820; in 1831 it was equipped for grinding purposes. In 1835, after the death of Mr. Hill, Jonathan Blue rented the property and bought a wool-carding machine. It was subsequently rented by others and finally sold to Jacob Measy about 1844. This old mill was torn down on the completion of the mill in Darbyville, in 1877. A tannery, established | by John Shepherd in 1819, was conducted by | him until his death and then by his son, Abram,
Passage source: History of Pickaway County, Ohio and Representative Citizens, published 1906.
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 Muhlenberg Township - it names this place 13 more 13 times.
Specimens collected near this place
12 of 2,748 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 2,748 specimens collected within 10 miles of Darbyville between 1829 and 1975: 2,702 Animalia, 38 Plantae, 8 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. Spreitzer, A. White, M. Trautman, T. Cavender, Abbott, R; and others 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 | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Rallus elegans elegans Audubon, 1834 | 1829 | Florence, A. (Arledge) | Col Anderson farm 6 1/2 mi west of Circleville, Pickaway, Ohio, USA |
 | Caprimulgus vociferus vociferus A.Wilson, 1812 | 1876 | Jones, H. (Howard) | Darby Creek, Circleville, Pickaway, Ohio, USA |
 | Lanius ludovicianus migrans W.Palmer, 1898 | 1877 | Jones, H. (Howard) | Goose Pond, near Circleville, Pickaway, Ohio, USA |
 | Hirundo rustica erythrogaster Boddaert, 1783 | 1879 | Jones, H. (Howard) | near Circleville, Pickaway, Ohio, USA |
 | Bartramia longicauda (Bechstein, 1812) | 1880 | Jones, H. (Howard) | near Circleville, Pickaway, Ohio, USA |
 | Setophaga ruticilla (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1880 | Jones, H. (Howard) | near Circleville, Pickaway, Ohio, USA |
 | Accipiter striatus Vieillot, 1808 | 1881 | Jones, H. (Howard) | Scioto River bottoms near Circleville, Pickaway, Ohio, USA |
 | Petrochelidon pyrrhonota (Vieillot, 1817) | 1881 | Jones, H. (Howard) | near Circleville, Pickaway, Ohio, USA |
 | Piranga olivacea (J.F.Gmelin, 1789) | 1881 | Jones, H. (Howard) | near Circleville, Pickaway, Ohio, USA |
| Vermivora pinus (Linnaeus, 1766) | 1881 | Jones, H. (Howard) | near Circleville, Pickaway, Ohio, USA | |
 | Bubo virginianus virginianus (J.F.Gmelin, 1788) | 1882 | Jones, H. (Howard) | Circleville, Pickaway, Ohio, USA |
 | Icterus spurius (Linnaeus, 1766) | 1882 | Jones, H. (Howard) | Circleville, Pickaway, Ohio, USA |
All 2,748 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Storms near this place
11 since 1998Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Darbyville in 11 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 6 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 tornado, 1 flash flood. The reports record 1 injury. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Darbyville | 1 hurt, $45,000 | A microburst occurred three miles northwest of Darbyville, near the intersection of Darby Creek and London Road. Three barns and a home had significant damage, and a trailer was moved a short distance to the southeast. A short distance from here had another two homes damaged, along with several trees snapped. The microburst was .4 miles long and up to 350 yards wide. One man was injured when the tractor he was on tipped over. |
| October 2010 | Tornado (EF0) | Darbyville | $75,000 | The tornado touched down near Gullick Road where a small outbuilding was destroyed with debris strewn across Gullick Road and into adjacent fields. The tornado then hit several barns and outbuildings on Matville Road where one building was destroyed and significant roofing was torn off of another. The tornado crossed Hudson Road where more debris from a heavily damaged barn was strewn across Hudson Road and into adjacent fields. The tornado lifted before reaching Graham Road. Small debris was noted scattered in the fields on the west side of Graham Road. This damage is consistent with wind speeds near 85 miles per hour. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Darbyville | $5,000 | Several trees were downed throughout the county. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Darbyville | $5,000 | Numerous trees and power lines were downed. |
| August 2007 | Thunderstorm Wind | Darbyville | $5,000 | Numerous trees and power lines were downed. |
| May 2011 | Flash Flood | Darbyville | $2,000 | High water was reported over a road due to heavy rain that produced flash flooding. |
| May 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Darbyville | $1,000 | A tree was downed on Darby Creek Road. |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Darbyville | $1,000 | A tree was downed in Darbyville. |
| July 2019 | Flood | Darbyville | - | High water was reported across several roads, including State Routes 56, 138 and 316. |
| April 2024 | Hail | Darbyville | - | no account filed |
| June 1998 | Hail | Darbyville | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pherson | 2.9 miles | 13 | |
| Robtown | 3.2 miles | 13 | |
| Five Points | 3.8 miles | 14 | |
| Matville | 4.7 miles | 12 | |
| Commercial Point | 5.8 miles | 12 | |
| Grange Hall | 5.8 miles | 14 | |
| Scioto Estates | 6.2 miles | 11 | |
| Fox | 6.5 miles | 13 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Darbyville | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2639199 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1064507. 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.
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.