Block
Gratis, Ohio
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1911 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Gratis Township. It lies in ZIP code area 45330. It stands on Sandy Run. The Survey maps it on the West Alexandria quadrangle. 842 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 879 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresGratis fell from 881 to 842 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. 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 | 881 | |
| 2020 | 842 | -39 (-4%) |
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.
Compare 1911 against another survey:
Topographic sheets covering this place
10 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 Oxford quadrangle1:62500
- 1953 USGS Cincinnati quadrangle1:250000
- 1953 USGS Cincinnati quadrangle1:250000
- 1953 USGS Cincinnati quadrangle1:250000
- 1957 USGS Cincinnati quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS West Alexandria quadrangle1:24000
- 1961 USGS West Alexandria quadrangle1:24000
- 1961 USGS West Alexandria quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Dayton quadrangle1:100000
- 1986 USGS Dayton quadrangle1:100000
In the county-history sources
6,783 words on this townshipHistory of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, published 1915 names this settlement in its chapter on Gratis Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
Gratis is the southeast township of the county, and may be described as rolling land generally. Along the southern line, measuring from the west line, is a strip of level land about three miles long by one and a half miles wide. When the county was first settled this land was wet and much of it swampy, but, by drainage, it has become the most fertile land of the county.
Passage source: History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, published 1915.
Gratis township is essentially a farming community, the main crops being those generally raised in this latitude. The houses and farms look comfortable and well kept, the land is productive and the farmers prosperous. The origin of the name of the township is given in the chapter on organization, at least that is the story told by Judge Jacob Chambers and George D. Hendrix, who got it from those who were prominent in the affairs of the county at the time it occurred.
Passage source: History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, published 1915.
The first settlers of Gratis township were John Leslie and John Long, who, about 1800, some claim as early as 1798, located on section 36. Leslie took the south half and it has been a tradition in the township that near the banks of Elk creek stood a very large sycamore or cottonwood tree, some eight or ten feet in diameter, that was hollow at the base, with an opening some two or three feet in diameter, and he made it his home for about three or four months until he could find time to build his cabin. The next year Leslie brought his family of five sons and three daughters from Pennsylvania and there are many of his descendants yet living in this and the adjoining counties.
Passage source: History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, published 1915.
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 Gratis Township - it names this place 15 more 15 times.
Specimens collected near this place
12 of 746 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 746 specimens collected within 10 miles of Gratis between 1877 and 1975: 567 Animalia, 152 Fungi, 27 Plantae. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A.R. Gaufin, H.H. Ross, Arden R. Gaufin 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Fagus grandifolia Ehrh. | 1877 | Matthes,B. | USA, Ohio, Hamilton County, Camden |
 | Uromyces ari-triphylli (Schwein.) Seeler | 1901 | W. A. Kellerman | West Alexandria |
 | Fomes conchatus (Pers.) Gillet | 1917 | Overholts | West Elkton; Base of maple |
 | Uria lomvia lomvia (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1896 | Stewart, R. T. (Robert T.) | Israel Twp, Fairhaven, Preble, Ohio, USA |
 | Phyllosticta Pers., 1818 | 1901 | W. A. Kellerman | |
 | Puccinia circaeae Pers. | 1901 | W. A. Kellerman | West Alexandria |
 | Septoria oenotherae Westend. | 1901 | W. A. Kellerman | |
 | Uromyces caladii (Schwein.) Farl. | 1901 | W. A. Kellerman | West Alexandria |
 | Polyporus adustus (Willd.) Fr. | 1910 | Overholts L. O. | West Elkton |
 | Polyporus berkeleyi Fr. | 1910 | Overholts L. O. | West Elkton |
 | Polyporus distortus (Schwein.) Fr. | 1910 | Overholts L. O. | West Elkton |
 | Porella platyphylla (L.) Pfeiff. | 1910 | Braun, Lucy E. |
All 746 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 Gratis: 1 past producer, 1 plant, 1 producer. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Ohio Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Stiener Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Stiener Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Plant |
Storms near this place
10 since 1995Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Gratis in 10 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 8 thunderstorm wind, 2 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gratis | $8,000 | A barn was blown across the road. |
| February 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gratis | $5,000 | Several trees were downed. |
| September 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gratis | $4,000 | A few trees were downed in the Gratis area near the intersection of U.S. Route 127 and Antioch Road as well as in the 9000 block of Pleasant Valley Road. |
| June 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gratis | $3,000 | Trees downed. |
| March 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gratis | $2,000 | A pole was snapped and a tree was downed. |
| August 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gratis | $2,000 | A one foot diameter tree snapped and struck a house. |
| March 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gratis | $1,000 | A power pole was downed on east Carlton Road. |
| April 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Gratis | $1,000 | One tree was knocked down. |
| June 2009 | Hail | Gratis | - | One and three quarter inch to two and a half inch hail fell in and around Gratis. |
| April 2017 | Hail | Gratis | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beechwood | 3.5 miles | 9 | |
| Greenbush | 3.5 miles | 12 | |
| Enterprise | 3.7 miles | 10 | |
| Wheatville | 3.8 miles | 10 | |
| West Elkton | 4.4 miles | 9 | |
| Ingomar | 4.7 miles | 11 | |
| Quail Trail | 5.6 miles | 11 | |
| Camden | 6.6 miles | 11 |
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 Gratis | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1960222 | 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 1061112. 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.