Block
Florence, Ohio
14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1903 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Florence Township. It lies in ZIP code area 44814. The Survey maps it on the Berlin Heights quadrangle.
Then and now
1903 to 1986The same ground, surveyed 83 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
Topographic sheets covering this place
14 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.
- 1903 USGS Vermilion quadrangle1:62500
- 1903 USGS Vermilion quadrangle1:62500
- 1956 USGS Toledo quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Toledo quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Toledo quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Toledo quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Berlin Heights quadrangle1:24000
- 1959 USGS Berlin Heights quadrangle1:24000
- 1961 USGS Toledo quadrangle1:250000
- 1969 USGS Berlin Heights quadrangle1:24000
- 1969 USGS Berlin Heights quadrangle1:24000
- 1969 USGS Berlin Heights quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Lorain quadrangle1:100000
- 1986 USGS Lorain quadrangle1:100000
In the county-history sources
6,497 words on this townshipA Standard History of Erie County, Ohio, published 1916 names this settlement in its chapter on Florence Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
Vermillion River, which has its rise in a little lake of the same name in Ashland County, passes through this township on its way to the lake. There is but one other water-course in the township: Chapelle Creek, that rises in Townsend, and entering Florence from Wakeman, a mile and a quarter east of the west town line, empties into Lake Erie.
Passage source: A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio, published 1916.
The first settlement was made by Ezra Sprague and family, in May, 1809. They came to the mouth of the Huron River by water, and then went to Florence through an unbroken wilderness. Mr. Sprague was the first justice of the peace in the township, and afterwards held the _ position of associate judge of the Common Pleas Court. He died in 1856, survived by only two of his seven children.
Passage source: A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio, published 1916.
In 1848-49 Mr. Fish gave lectures and addresses in various places in Northern Ohio. In 1852 his parents moved from Auburn to Florence Township, and this led him to come, in 1854, to Erie County, where all his subsequent teaching was done. In 1862-63 iJl health prevented his teaching, and in 1864-65 he was on a farm in Burr Oak, Michigan, whither his parents had moved in 1864.
Passage source: A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio, published 1916.
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 Florence Township - it names this place 11 more 11 times.
Specimens collected near this place
12 of 1,208 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,208 specimens collected within 10 miles of Florence between 1874 and 1975: 748 Plantae, 366 Animalia, 93 Fungi, 1 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A. Dowdy, A. M. Evans 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Dennstaedtia punctilobula (Michx.) T.Moore | 1900 | Grover, F.O. | "Dry sandy hillside, shaded |
 | Carduus nutans L. | 1874 | Jones, G.T. | Berlin Twp., just W of Ceylon |
 | Carex gracillima Schwein. | 1892 | Moseley, E.L. | Shinrock |
 | Catharus fuscescens fuscescens (Stephens, 1817) | 1892 | C. Tuttle | Berlin Heights |
 | Salix discolor Muhl. | 1892 | Moseley, E.L. | Florence |
 | Dryopteris carthusiana (Vill.) H.P.Fuchs | 1893 | Collector(s): Edwin Lincoln Moseley | Milan, Huron River |
 | Huperzia lucidula (Michx.) Trevis. | 1893 | Moseley, E.L. | Vermilion, Furnace Woods |
 | Ambloplites rupestris (Rafinesque, 1817) | 1894 | C. Rutter | Vermillion River, Ohio |
 | Apios tuberosa Moench | 1894 | Moseley, E.L. | Florence |
 | Aster macrophyllus L. | 1894 | Moseley, E.L. | Florence Twp |
| Apocynum sibiricum Jacq. | 1896 | Watson, J.R. | North Ohio | |
| Aristolochia serpentaria L. | 1896 | Simms, C. | Berlin |
All 1,208 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Florence: 2 producers, 1 past producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Flagstone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleveland Quarry | Flagstone | Producer | ||
| Harris Brothers Sandstone Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Harris Brothers Sandstone Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Producer |
Storms near this place
3 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Florence in 3 storm reports between 2006 and 2013: 1 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2011 | Flash Flood | Florence | $80,000 | Training thunderstorms with torrential showers brought as much as 2 to 3 inches of rain over the Berlin Heights region. This heavy rainfall fell during rush hour and all within 2 hours. This resulted in several flooded roads with water as high as bumpers, and several road birms were washed away. |
| November 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Florence | $15,000 | Sheriff reported trees down with power outages in Florence and Vermilion. |
| April 2006 | Hail | Florence | - | Penny size hail was reported in Florence Township. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ogontz | 2.8 miles | 14 | |
| Birmingham | 2.8 miles | 12 | |
| Joppa | 3.0 miles | 14 | |
| Ashmont (historical) | 3.9 miles | 12 | |
| Axtel | 4.1 miles | 12 | |
| Berlin Heights | 4.2 miles | 14 | |
| Berlin Heights Station | 4.7 miles | 14 | |
| Heidelberg Beach | 4.9 miles | 12 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1064659. 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.