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Litchfield, Ohio

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1904 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Litchfield Township. It lies in ZIP code area 44253. The Survey maps it on the Lagrange quadrangle.

Litchfield within Medina County

Then and now

1904 to 1986

The same ground, surveyed 82 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Litchfield, surveyed 1986
Topographic sheet of Litchfield, surveyed 1904

Topographic sheets covering this place

6 surveys from 11 printed 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

5,319 words on this township

Pioneer History of Medina County, published 1861 names this settlement in its chapter on Litchfield Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

It appears from early records that the portion of Medina county now called Litchfield was wholly owned by Judge Holmes, of Litchfield, Connecticut, who caused it to be surveyed into lots, and an opening, ©r improvement, of several acres, to be made on the southwest corner of the Center, planted an orchard and erected a cabin. Some time- thereafter, the land reverted to the State of Connecticut, and, under the supervision of Mr. Beers, acting School Commissioner, it was thrown into market. During the time it was under the control of Judge Holmes, it was generally known by the name of Holmestown. When controlled, thereafter, by Mr. Beers, he called it, on his surveyed map, Litchfield, and by that name it was known at the date of its organization.

Passage source: Pioneer History of Medina County, published 1861.

Jonathan Richards, wife and three children, (Charles, Abigal and Jujia,) Thomas Wilcox and wife, George Wilcox and wife, with two daughters, (Lucretia and Abigal,) Eliphalet Howd and wife, Asahel Howd and family, (Henry, Elizabeth, Caroline,) Judah Howd and George Olcott, came from Connecticut and settled iu the township. About the same time, Henry Howd, wife and three sons, (Albert, John and James,) came from Sheffield, Massachusetts, and settled. The Howds began their settlement on the west side of the center road, near the creek, and Richards located on the opposite side of the road, about one mile north from the Center. George Olcott settled on the south-west corner of the present Center, and George Wilcox on west side of road, about one mile south from Center. In the fall of 1830, D. W. C. Dickeson, Jacob Road and Z. Stafford came into the township and became settlers.

Passage source: Pioneer History of Medina County, published 1861.

In May, 1831, Lewis Finiey and Asa Strait, with their families, became settlers, and were soon followed by J. L. Hinman, D. Pickett, O. Niekerson, W. Cole and their families. Mr. Hinman built the first frame house in the township.

Passage source: Pioneer History of Medina County, published 1861.

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 Litchfield Township - it names this place 13 more 13 times.

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 358 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 358 specimens collected within 10 miles of Litchfield between 1884 and 1975: 317 Animalia, 21 Plantae, 18 Fungi, 2 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. M. Evans, A. Roberts, B Zahuranec & party 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 Contopus virens (Linnaeus, 1766)Contopus virens (Linnaeus, 1766)1890not recorded
Specimen of Camptosorus rhizophyllus (L.) LinkCamptosorus rhizophyllus (L.) Link1894Watson, J.R.Medina Co.
Specimen of Nesaea verticillata (L.) KunthNesaea verticillata (L.) Kunth1896Watson,J.R. s.n. [1896-08][label: North Ohio Flora. J.R. Watson, Berea, O.] Liverpool, Medina Co. [Medina County]
A photograph of the species Sciurus niger, not of this specimenSciurus niger Linnaeus, 17581884unknownMedina
A photograph of the species Halictus confusus, not of this specimenHalictus confusus confusus1885H. E. SummersMedina
A photograph of the species Lilium canadense, not of this specimenLilium canadense L.1888E. BarrickChatham
A photograph of the species Aleurodiscus oakesii, not of this specimenAleurodiscus oakesii (Berk. & M.A.Curtis) Cooke1894F. D. KelseyPenfield
A photograph of the species Atrichum angustatum, not of this specimenAtrichum angustatum (Brid.) Bruch & Schimp.1894F. D. KelseyPenfield
A photograph of the species Lobaria amplissima, not of this specimenLobaria amplissima (Scop.) Forssell1894Francis D KelseyPenfield
A photograph of the species Mnium stellare, not of this specimenMnium stellare Hedw.1894F. D. KelseyPenfield
A photograph of the species Mycosphaerella macularis, not of this specimenMycosphaerella macularis (Fr.) J.Schröt.1894Kelsey F. D.Penfield
A photograph of the species Rhodobryum ontariense, not of this specimenRhodobryum ontariense (Kindb.) Paris1894F. D. KelseyPenfield

All 358 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

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
Risley (historical)2.5 miles11
Erhart3.4 miles14
Lester4.6 miles14
Chatham4.7 miles12
Mallet Creek5.2 miles14
River Corners5.7 miles12
Franks Corner6.0 miles14
Geisingers Corners (historical)6.4 miles12

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 LitchfieldAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6647443The 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 1065007. 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.