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

East Townsend, Ohio

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1908 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Townsend Township. It lies in ZIP code area 44826. The Survey maps it on the Clarksfield quadrangle.

East Townsend within Huron County

Then and now

1908 to 1986

The same ground, surveyed 78 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of East Townsend, surveyed 1986
Topographic sheet of East Townsend, surveyed 1908

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 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

2,113 words on this township

History of Huron County Ohio Its Progress and Development, published 1909 names this settlement in its chapter on Townsend Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The first postoffice was established in 1833 or 1834, with Daniel Phillips as postmaster, who kept the office in his house, on lot ninety-two, in the first section. The office was called East Townsend, which name it has retained until the present time, for the reason that there was an office in Sandusky county of the name of Townsend.

Passage source: History of Huron County Ohio Its Progress and Development, published 1909.

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 Townsend Township.

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 732 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 732 specimens collected within 10 miles of East Townsend between 1887 and 1975: 417 Plantae, 245 Animalia, 66 Fungi, 3 Unrecorded, 1 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. Woolman, B Zahuranec & party, Baumgartner, L. 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 Dryopteris marginalis (L.) A.GrayDryopteris marginalis (L.) A.Gray1887Leonard, F.E."Rich woods, bluff of Vermillion River at Beecher's.
Specimen of Rumex verticillatus L.Rumex verticillatus L.1896Stair, L. D.
Specimen of Enallagma exsulans (Hagen, 1861)Enallagma exsulans (Hagen, 1861)1898[Not Stated][Not Stated]
A photograph of the species Cephalanthus occidentalis, not of this specimenCephalanthus occidentalis L.1888Shafer, J.A.W of Brighton near Cleveland
A photograph of the species Chrysemys picta, not of this specimenChrysemys picta (Schneider, 1783)1893not recordedClarksfield, Vermillion River
A photograph of the species Dryopteris carthusiana, not of this specimenDryopteris carthusiana (Vill.) H.P.Fuchs1893Collector(s): Edwin Lincoln MoseleyMilan, Huron River
A photograph of the species Etheostoma caeruleum, not of this specimenEtheostoma caeruleum Storer, 18451893not recordedVermillion River, Clarksfield, Ohio
A photograph of the species Etheostoma nigrum, not of this specimenEtheostoma nigrum Rafinesque, 18201893A. WoolmanOhio, Wakeman, Vermillion River
A photograph of the species Gymnosporangium clavipes, not of this specimenGymnosporangium clavipes Cooke & Peck1893Hall W. B.Wakeman
A photograph of the species Micropterus dolomieu, not of this specimenMicropterus dolomieu Lacepède, 18021893A. WoolmanVermillion River, Clarksfield, Ohio
A photograph of the species Moxostoma erythrurum, not of this specimenMoxostoma erythrurum (Rafinesque, 1818)1893A. WoolmanVermillion River, Clarksfield, Ohio
A photograph of the species Notropis chrysocephalus, not of this specimenNotropis chrysocephalus (Rafinesque, 1820)1893A. WoolmanOhio, Wakeman, Vermillion River

All 732 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of East Townsend: 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: 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
Sandstone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast ProducerSedimentary
Sandstone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer

Every working recorded in Huron County

Storms near this place

5 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names East Townsend in 5 storm reports between 2010 and 2026: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 tornado. 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
June 2025Tornado (EF1)East Townsend$20,000This EF1 tornado with estimated peak winds of 100 mph travelled east-northeastward during its lifespan and began on the south side of Collins, near the intersection of U.S. Route 20 and Hartland Center Road. The tornado produced mainly tree damage along its path in Huron County, although some tree limbs or entire trees were downed onto residences, which caused minor structural damage. As the tornado progressed east-northeastward, it crossed Derussey Road, Wakeman Townline Road, Ogan Road, Fitchville River Road, West River Road, North River Street, Lincoln Road, and Butler Road before entering Lorain County near the Firelands Boy Scout Reservation.
March 2026Thunderstorm WindEast Townsend$3,000Power poles downed in Collins.
June 2010Thunderstorm WindEast Townsend$1,000Thunderstorm winds downed a large tree.
July 2020Thunderstorm WindEast Townsend-Tree and power poles down where US-20 intersects Hartland Center Road and Derussey Road in Collins area.
April 2014HailEast Townsend-Amateur Radio operator reported three quarter inch size hail.

Every storm recorded in Huron 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
Collins0.7 miles14
Hartland Station2.6 miles10
West Hartland4.0 miles12
East Norwalk4.4 miles13
Wakeman4.9 miles14
Hartland5.1 miles10
West Clarksfield5.3 miles10
Clarksfield5.6 miles10

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1064590. 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.