Key, Ohio
15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1905 and the latest in 1988. It stands in Mead Township. It lies in ZIP code area 43933. It stands on Crozier Ridge. The Survey maps it on the Businessburg quadrangle.
Then and now
1905 to 1988The 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
15 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.
- 1905 USGS Clarington quadrangle1:62500
- 1935 USGS Clarington quadrangle1:62500
- 1935 USGS Clarington quadrangle1:62500
- 1940 USGS Clarington quadrangle1:62500
- 1949 USGS Clarksburg quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Clarksburg quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Clarksburg quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Businessburg quadrangle1:24000
- 1960 USGS Businessburg quadrangle1:24000
- 1960 USGS Businessburg quadrangle1:24000
- 1960 USGS Businessburg quadrangle1:24000
- 1960 USGS Businessburg quadrangle1:24000
- 1961 USGS Clarksburg quadrangle1:250000
- 1984 USGS Moundsville quadrangle1:100000
- 1988 USGS Clarksburg quadrangle1:250000
In the 1903 county history
4,411 words on this townshipThe county history of 1903 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for the smaller places. Its township is covered in full.
The chapter on Mead Township covers col. davtd lockwood, the first settlers, the mining industry, the milling industry, the population and township officials, bethel.
Read the chapter on Mead Township - 4,411 words.
Fires nearby
13 since 2002The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Key between 2002 and 2020, burning about 20 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 1 was 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 | 6 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 July 2002 | Natural | under an acre | Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 16 May 2003 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 9 April 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 15137 |
| 13 April 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 12085 |
| 30 March 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 15559 |
| 23 March 2017 | Other causes | under an acre | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 7609 |
| 23 March 2017 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 7469 |
| 20 March 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 2.0 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 15011 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Specimens collected nearby
12 of 1,406 shownMuseums hold 1,406 specimens collected within 10 miles of Key between 1800 and 1975: 1,016 Plantae, 252 Animalia, 136 Fungi, 2 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. D. Selby, A. D. Selby & E. L. Moseley, A. D. Selby & J. F. Hicks 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Racodium E.M.Fries, 1829 | 1829 | J.R. Paddock | |
![]() | Usnea Dill. ex Adans., 1763 | 1839 | J.R. Paddock | |
![]() | Puccinia malvacearum Bertero ex Mont. | 1905 | J.L. Sheldon | Near Round Bottom |
![]() | Houstonia caerulea L. | 1800 | Guttenberg, G. | near Wheeling |
![]() | Robinia L. | 1829 | Guttenberg, G. | Wheeling |
![]() | Persicaria virginiana (L.) Gaertn. | 1835 | E. Wilkinson | Ohio |
![]() | Carex sparganioides Muhl. ex Willd. | 1837 | B. Frank | Ohio |
![]() | Carex × sullivantii Boott | 1842 | W. S. Sullivant | Ohio |
![]() | Homalothecium subcapillatum (Hedw.) Sull. | 1843 | D. Sullivan | |
![]() | Euphorbia maculata L. | 1844 | S. B. Mead | Ohio |
![]() | Jungermannia sullivantii Austin | 1844 | W. S. Sullivant | |
![]() | Carex gracilescens Steud. | 1847 | G. B. Ashcroft | Ohio |
All 1,406 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Mines and quarries nearby
1 within 5 milesThe federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Key: 1 past producer. None of them still produces. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John D Tonkovich and Son Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms nearby
2 since 1998The National Weather Service names Key in 2 storm reports between 1998 and 2024: 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 1998 | Thunderstorm Wind | Key | $3,000 | Large trees and power lines were blown down by thunderstorm winds. |
| April 2024 | Flash Flood | Key | - | State Road 147 was closed due to flooding. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dunfee (historical) | 1.9 miles | 15 | |
| Jacobsburg | 1.9 miles | 12 | |
| Anvil | 2.2 miles | 15 | |
| Vallonia | 2.4 miles | 15 | |
| Glencoe | 2.5 miles | 17 | |
| Kelsey (historical) | 2.5 miles | 12 | |
| Stewartsville | 2.6 miles | 18 | |
| Businessburg | 3.2 miles | 15 |
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 Key | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q22133884 | 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 1056376. 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.


























