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

Howard, Ohio

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1912 and the latest in 1966. It stands in Howard Township. It lies in ZIP code area 43028. It stands on Little Jelloway Creek. The Survey maps it on the Danville quadrangle. 246 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 899 feet above sea level.

Howard within Knox County

Population over time

2 figures

Howard grew from 242 to 246 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	242
2020	246	+4 (+2%)

Then and now

1912 to 1966

The same ground, surveyed 54 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Howard, surveyed 1966

Topographic sheet of Howard, surveyed 1912

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 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

6,998 words on this township

History of Knox County, Ohio, Its Past and Present, Containing a Condensed, Comprehensive History of Ohio, Including an Outline History of the Northwest; a Complete History of Knox County ... a Record of Its Soldiers in the Late War; Portraits of Its Early Settlers and Prominent Men ... Biographies and Histories of Pioneer Families, Etc, published 1881 names this settlement in its chapter on Howard Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The surface of this township is generally broken, but the ascents and descents are not as abrupt as in most of the eastern townships of Knox county. The soil is fertile, much of it being gravelly loam, which is peculiarly adapted for the growing of wheat and other cereals. The bottom lands of Owl creek, and the big and little Jelloway streams, produce very heavy crops of corn, etc. Howard township originally was well timbered, and at this date much valuable timber exists.

Passage source: History of Knox County, Ohio, Its Past and Present, Containing a Condensed, Comprehensive History of Ohio, Including an Outline History of the Northwest; a Complete History of Knox County ... a Record of Its Soldiers in the Late War; Portraits of Its Early Settlers and Prominent Men ... Biographies and Histories of Pioneer Families, Etc, published 1881.

Owl creek, the principal stream of water, enters the township about the centre of its southern side, its course through Howard being north and east, leaving the township near the southeast corner. Big Jelloway creek enters the northeast corner of Howard, from Brown township, and flowing in a southwesterly direction empties into Owl creek near the village of Howard. Little Jelloway creek coming from the northwest, joins the big Jelloway near its mouth. Schenck's run crosses the southwestern part of the township, discharging its waters into Owl creek. Barney's run, coming from Harrison township, empties also into Owl creek. These streams, with their tributaries, make Howard one of the best watered townships in the county.

Howard township was one of the best hunting grounds that could be found in the State at its settlement. The Critchfields, Welkers, and other pioneers were very successful hunters. A few years after Nathaniel Critchfield removed to this township, he one evening heard a hoc; squealing in the thicket near his residence. He seized his gun and started for the place from which the noise_ of the unhappy porker proceeded. Mr. Critchfield was soon near the bear, which had the hog still living in his embrace. He discharged the contents of his gun into old bruin, who, not appearing to feel any effects from the first shot, still continued holding the hog in his paws. He fired another shot which did not prove fatal, and reloading his gun he fired the third load into the bear before he succeeded in killing him. The bear weighed four hundred pounds, and his carcass yielded ten gallons of oil. On another occasion, Benjamin Critchfield and his brother Isaac were out hunting wild turkeys. They heard the cry of a panther, which was in the top of a tree a short distance from where they were standing. They each dreaded to fire the first shot, but was finally agreed that Isaac should shoot first, as he was an excellent marksman, and rarely missed a shot. He deliberately, but not without some trepidation, aimed his gun at the panther and fired. The ball penetrated the animal's brain and he fell from the tree dead. He was of enormous size, measuring eleven feet from tip to tip. This is said to be the only panther ever killed in Knox county by a white man.

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 Howard Township - it names this place 18 more 18 times.

Photographs

1 photograph,

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Howard Bridge, County Route 35 spanning Kokosing River, Howard, Knox County, OH
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Fires near this place

58 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 58 fires within 5 miles of Howard between 2004 and 2020, burning about 42 acres in total. None started naturally. 5 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	33
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	8
Equipment and vehicle use	6
Arson/incendiarism	5
Recreation and ceremony	4
Power generation/transmission/distribution	2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 August 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	15805
21 August 2020	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	15815
14 August 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	15810
5 July 2017	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	8446
20 July 2017	Equipment and vehicle use	3.0 acres	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	8566
11 July 2017	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	8508
3 May 2015	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	1104
1 May 2015	Recreation and ceremony	1.0 acres	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	1094

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Knox County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 249 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 249 specimens collected within 10 miles of Howard between 1877 and 1975: 204 Animalia, 24 Fungi, 21 Plantae. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by C F WALKER, C. G. Lloyd, C. Stein, R. Johnson & J. Jenkinson 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.

Species	Year	Collected by	Where, as recorded
Nummularia microplaca (Berk. & M.A.Curtis) Cooke	1883	Dr. W. A. Kellerman
Pestalotia De Not., 1841	1883	W. A. Kellermann	No locality on label
Phyllosticta pyrina Sacc.	1883	Dr. W. A. Kellerman
Sturnella magna magna (Linnaeus, 1758)	1877	not recorded	unspecified
Accipiter striatus velox (A.Wilson, 1812)	1879	Willard L. Maris
Gallinula chloropus (Linnaeus, 1758)	1879	Porter, J.B.
Phyllosticta verbenae Sacc., 1879	1883	Prof. Kellerman
Ramularia arvensis Sacc.	1883	Kellerman
Sphaerella polystigma Ellis & Everh.	1883	Dr. W. A. Kellerman
Septoria E.M.Fries, 1819	1888	Kellerman
Lampetra aepyptera (Abbott, 1860)	1890	Parker, J. B.	Big Jelloway Creek, within in Knox County OH no other locality info coordinates approximate
Aesculus hippocastanum L.	1892	Collector unspecified

All 249 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Howard: 3 producers, 2 past producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, 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.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Briar Hill Martinsburg Pit	Flagstone	Producer
Darr and Hart Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Millwood Sand Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Millwood Sand Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer
Sandusky Dock	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Knox County

Storms near this place

11 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Howard in 11 storm reports between 1996 and 2019: 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail. The reports record 1 death and 4 injuries. 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 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Howard	1 killed, 4 hurt, $50,000	Thunderstorm winds downed many trees near Apple Valley Lake in northeastern Knox County. A vehicle travelling on U.S. 36 just west of Howard was struck by a falling tree. A two year old female inside the car was killed and four other occupants were seriously injured.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Howard	$15,000	Thunderstorm winds downed several tress in the Apple Valley and Danville areas. Trees were reported down along Apple Valley Road, Danville-Amity Road and Jonathon Drive.
April 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Howard	$5,000	Several trees were blown down across Hill Road which made the roadway inaccessible. There was minor damage to a house.
May 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Howard	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds downed two trees and a few large limbs in Apple Valley.
August 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Howard	$2,000	no account filed
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Howard	$1,000	Thunderstorm winds downed a large tree.
May 2014	Hail	Howard	-	Quarter sized hail was observed.
June 2004	Hail	Howard	-	Penny size hail was observed northwest of Howard at Apple Valley.
June 1998	Hail	Howard	-	no account filed
July 1997	Hail	Howard	-	no account filed
August 1996	Hail	Howard	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Knox 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.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Monroe Mills	2.2 miles	12
Apple Valley	2.6 miles	12
Millwood	2.7 miles	12
Pipesville	4.0 miles	12
Gambier	4.3 miles	13
Buckeye City	4.4 miles	12
Hollisters (historical)	4.5 miles	12
Danville	4.5 miles	12

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 Howard	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3473010	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 1064870. 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.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

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.