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

McVitty, Ohio

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1905 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Jackson Township. It lies in ZIP code area 45843. The Survey maps it on the Forest quadrangle.

McVitty within Hardin County

Then and now

1905 to 1986

The same ground, surveyed 81 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of McVitty, surveyed 1986

Topographic sheet of McVitty, surveyed 1905

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

15,061 words on this township

The History of Hardin County, Ohio, published 1883 names this settlement in its chapter on Jackson Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

John McVitty was born in Franklin County, Penn., April 25, 1808, of Scotch-Irish descent. He settled here in 1837, entering a quarter section of land in Section 14. He taught, it is believed, the first school in the township, which was on the farm of Thomas Hueston. He died December 11, 1881. He was the father of twelve children, of whom five now survive. Mr. McVitty was one among the best of farmers, and an honorable and worthy citizen.

Passage source: The History of Hardin County, Ohio, published 1883.

As the first settlement was made on the Blanchard, and the first family was Mr. James E. Hueston, so here, on the east side of that stream, on Mr. Hueston's land, near where the cemetery is located, or near where the pike crosses the stream, was erected the first schoolhouse - one of the primitive log houses - and John McVitty is said to have been the first teacher. This schoolhouse was used for school purposes about five years, at the expiration of which anew one was built on Section 12, on land which is now owned by D. Kellogg, and about the same time one was erected on Section 2, near where the District No. 2 Schoolhouse now stands. And thus, as the settlements increased in the various portions over the township, new districts were formed and schoolhouses erected; and finally the old, primitive cabins were supplanted by good frame and brick houses. And now (1882-83), the following is the condition of the schools in the township and in the townsof Forest and Patterson, as shown by the reports of the Boards of Education: Total receipts for school purposes for the schools (excluding those in Forest and Patterson), $5,029.30; total expenditure for the same, $3,- 615.95; balance on hand the 1st of September, 1882, $1,413.35. Number of schoolhouses, 5; number of teachers necessary to supply the same, 5; average wages of teachers - male, $33.93; female, $19.50. Average number of weeks schools were in session, 27; enrollment of scholars - boys, 96; girls, 100; total, 198. Total value of school property, $5,000.

Passage source: The History of Hardin County, Ohio, published 1883.

The town now contains a population of about four hundred, with one general store, by M. C. McVitty, who is doing a large and prosperous trade; one grocery, by J. Swimley; one hotel, by John Perry; one blacksmith shop, by Funk Bros. ; one wagon shop, by William Silverthorn; one shoe shop, by P. Woodard; one drug store, by Mr. Phillips; one billiard room, by D. Wilson; one grist mill, which is the building formerly used as the warehouse, which .was transformed into a mill in 1863 by a joint-stock company, and subsequently bought by Capt, P. C. Boslow, who was succeeded by John Pouch, of Upper Sandusky, the present proprietor; one saw mill, erected b}^ H. G. Harris in 1847, now owned by Funk Bros., and one cooper shop, by D. R. Timmons. There are two churches, Presbyterian and I Methodist, and one good brick schoolhouse with three rooms, erected i n i 1867 at a cost of about 15,000.

Passage source: The History of Hardin County, Ohio, published 1883.

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 Jackson Township - it names this place 3 more 3 times.

Fires near this place

1 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of McVitty between 2002 and 2002, burning about 0 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
Recreation and ceremony	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
2 August 2002	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Hardin County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 92 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 92 specimens collected within 10 miles of McVitty between 1910 and 1973: 74 Animalia, 18 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by Anson A. Hinkley, Bartholomew E., Bartholomew, Elam 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
Ustilago tritici (Bjerk.) Rostr.	1923	W.G. Stover	Kenton
Mycosphaerella dearnessii M.E.Barr	1931	Curtis May	State Forest at Steece
Procambarus blandingii (Harlan, 1830)	1939	J. Pelton	Pond near Kenton
Guignardia bidwellii (Ellis) Viala & Ravaz	1910	Heckathorne H. E.	Kenton
Laestadia bidwellii (Ellis) Viala & Ravaz	1910	Heckathorne H. E.	Kenton
Puccinia asterum (Schwein.) F.Kern	1913	Bartholomew E.	Kenton
Puccinia caricis-solidaginis Arthur	1913	E. Bartholomew	Kenton
Puccinia dioicae Magnus	1913	Bartholomew, Elam T	Kenton
Puccinia extensicola Plowr.	1913	E. Bartholomew	Kenton.
Elimia semicarinata (Say, 1829)	1914	Anson A. Hinkley	Scioto River, Kenton, near headwaters, North America
Eupelmidae	1917	VL Wildermuth	Kenton
Limenitis arthemis astyanax (Fabricius, 1775)	1925	not recorded

All 92 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of McVitty: 2 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Limestone, General, Stone, Stone, Crushed/Broken. 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
Boich Lime and Coal Quarry	Limestone, General	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Boich Lime and Coal Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Standard Pit	Stone	Producer

Every working recorded in Hardin 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
Patterson	1.4 miles	12
Forest	3.1 miles	12
Bridgeport	3.6 miles	12
Grant	3.9 miles	12
Walnut Grove	5.5 miles	12
Dunkirk	5.9 miles	12
Blanchard	6.0 miles	11
Blocktown (historical)	8.2 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.

Wikidata item Q122558788

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 1062884. 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.