BlockLuray, Ohio
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1907 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Union Township. It lies in ZIP code area 43025. It stands on Bell Run. The Survey maps it on the Millersport quadrangle.
Then and now
1907 to 1984The same ground, surveyed 77 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
8 surveys from 11 printed 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.
- 1907 USGS Thurston quadrangle1:62500
- 1909 USGS Thurston quadrangle1:62500
- 1947 USGS Columbus quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Columbus quadrangle1:250000
- 1961 USGS Millersport quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1962 USGS Columbus quadrangle1:250000
- 1967 USGS Columbus quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1984 USGS Lancaster quadrangle1:100000
In the county-history sources
111,602 words on this townshipHistory of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, published 1881 names this settlement in its chapter on Union Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
"The public improvements are the Ohio canal, tbe Cumberland road, and the Central Ohio railroad. The first was completed through this township and county in the summer of 1828, the second in 1834, and the third in 1853. These, each in their turn, gave a great impetus to local improvements. These all run entirely through the township, and the canal and National road cross nearly at right angles within its territory, and afford ample facilities for getting its products to market. Hebron, its principal town, and situated at the crossing of the canal and National road, was once a fine business point, and, in the days of its glory, the largest and best grain and pork market in the county, if not in the Licking valley. But since the men that made it such have passed away, and railroad facilities have attracted the commerce to other points, Hebron has lost its prestige as a commercial point, and, with it, much of its moral and religious enterprise. The towns of Moscow and Luray have nearly passed away. There is a small business done at Union station, oa the roilroad. These are the only villages in the township, from which it will be seen that Union is emphatically an agricultural township. Although its villages are on the decline, both as to their population and business, its agricultural interests are improving. The lands are generally owned and occupied by an enterprising class of farmers that are rapidly developing the resources of its rich soil.
Passage source: History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, published 1881.
without notice, for their product was used by nearly everybody and was considered an article of necessity in every bocsebohi Even among the clergy there were some that thought the exhilarating effects of the spirit of the 'still' was quite essential uan effective elucidation of the 'Spirit of the Sacred Writes The importance of the stills may be conceived from the promptness with which they sprang into existence, after the oectics. of the cabin in the wilderness, for the protection of the family from the inclemency of the season, and the production of a little surplus grain for them to operate on. The first dist3i*r» in Union township, so far as we can learn, was erected by , Abram Mouser in 1809, a little east of Thomas Stone's bum d to people of this character is America largely debted for civil liberty, and the present character its free institutions. High historical authority ancroft) says: "The first public voice in America r dissolving all connection with Great Britain, me not from the Puritans of New England, the utch of New York, nor the planters of Virginia, it from the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. "
Passage source: History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, published 1881.
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 Union Township - it names this place 1 more 1 time.
Fires near this place
6 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 6 fires within 5 miles of Luray between 2009 and 2020, burning about 32 acres in total. None started naturally. None 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 | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 June 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 15762 |
| 20 April 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 15708 |
| 15 April 2020 | Smoking | under an acre | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 15709 |
| 1 March 2009 | Debris and open burning | 4.5 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 19 November 2020 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 15969 |
| 4 October 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 15838 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Specimens collected near this place
12 of 2,533 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 2,533 specimens collected within 10 miles of Luray between 1843 and 1975: 2,200 Animalia, 257 Fungi, 47 Plantae, 26 Protozoa, 3 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. Gray; W. S. Sullivant, A. P. M., A. P. Morgan 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Charadrius vociferus vociferus Linnaeus, 1758 | 1884 | F. S. Robinson | |
 | Cylindrosporium Grev., 1822 | 1893 | unknown | Licking Reservoir |
 | Gibberella saubinetii (Durieu & Mont.) Sacc. | 1893 | J.B. Ellis | Granville |
 | Helodium paludosum (Austin) Austin ex Broth. | 1843 | Asa Gray; W. S. Sullivant | in Cranberry Marsh, northern Ohio |
 | Hypnum paludosum (Hedw.) P.Beauv. | 1843 | A. Gray; W. S. Sullivant | in Cranberry Marsh, northern Ohio |
 | Bonasa umbellus (Linnaeus, 1766) | 1853 | Mack, D. (Don) | Eden Twp, Licking, Ohio, USA |
 | Philomachus pugnax (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1872 | Jasper, T. (Theodore) | Buckeye Lake, Ohio, USA |
 | Pelecanus erythrorhynchos Gmelin, 1789 | 1874 | not recorded | Licking Reservoir, Licking, Ohio, USA |
 | Calidris canutus rufa (A.Wilson, 1813) | 1878 | Savage, E. (Ed) | Buckeye Lake Reservoir, Licking, Ohio, USA |
 | Lophodytes cucullatus (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1878 | not recorded | Licking Reservoir, Licking, Ohio, USA |
 | Aix sponsa (Linnaeus, 1758) | 1880 | not recorded | Licking Reservoir, Licking, Ohio, USA |
 | Anas americana J.F.Gmelin, 1789 | 1880 | not recorded | Buckeye Lake Reservoir, Licking, Ohio, USA |
All 2,533 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Storms near this place
5 since 2013Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Luray in 5 storm reports between 2013 and 2025: 3 flood, 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Luray | $20,000 | A barn was destroyed north of Millersport due to thunderstorm winds. |
| July 2025 | Flood | Luray | $5,000 | Several inches of standing water was reported inside of the Buckeye Lake Fraternal Order of Eagles building, causing minor damage. |
| November 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Luray | $3,000 | Several trees were downed near the intersection of State Routes 37 and 79. |
| July 2025 | Flood | Luray | - | High water was reported over the intersection of State Route 37 and State Route 79 on the Licking / Fairfield County line. |
| February 2022 | Flood | Luray | - | Five feet of water was covering Palmer Road just east of Swamp Road. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Har-Win Acres | 0.2 miles | 11 | |
| Canyon Villa Estates | 1.6 miles | 11 | |
| Pinecrest Estates | 1.7 miles | 11 | |
| Wooded Hills | 2.1 miles | 11 | |
| Hebron | 2.2 miles | 14 | |
| Hollywood by the Lake | 2.3 miles | 11 | |
| Sandstone Canyon | 2.8 miles | 11 | |
| Moscow (historical) | 3.4 miles | 14 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1062865. 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.
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.