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

New Paris, Ohio

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Jefferson Township. It lies in ZIP code area 45347. It stands on Rocky Fork. The Survey maps it on the New Paris quadrangle. 1,494 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,037 feet above sea level.

New Paris within Preble County

Population over time

2 figures

New Paris fell from 1,629 to 1,494 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	1,629
2020	1,494	-135 (-8%)

Then and now

1915 to 1986

The same ground, surveyed 71 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of New Paris, surveyed 1986

Topographic sheet of New Paris, surveyed 1915

Compare 1915 against another survey:

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.

What happened here

An account from the chapter on Jefferson township, The inset identifies its exact source book and publication year.

From History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, published 1915 - Jefferson Township

Martyred For His Principles

One of the best remembered of the early citizens of Jefferson township was Thomas Barber, who became martyr to his anti-slavery principles in 1858 or 1859. He emigrated to Kansas about that time, just as the breaking out of the "Kansas troubles,, over the question of the extension of slavery. True to his principles, he took an active part in the contest there and soon became known as one of the hated "abolitionists." He was shot by an assassin.

Read the rest of this passage

In the county-history sources

10,147 words on this township

History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, published 1915 names this settlement in its chapter on Jefferson Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The landscape of Jefferson township is varied and very pleasing in its scenic features. The southeastern half is greatly rolling, and excellent agricultural land, while in the northwestern part, along the course of the larger streams, the surface is more rugged, the hills, in places, being suggestive of a mountainous country, though these hills are not lacking in fertility and produce good crops. Extensive and charming views are obtained from almost any one of the range of hills bordering the Whitewater in the neighborhood of New Paris. North and south may be seen the silvery thread of the stream, winding between the bordering hills, while to the west the horizon loses itself in the beautiful hills of Indiana.

Passage source: History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, published 1915.

In the valley in the vicinity of New Paris there is an outcrop of limestone of the Niagara group, one hundred feet in thickness and of the best quality. From very early days this has been quarried for building stone and hundreds of thousands of bushels of lime have been burned and shipped. Changing conditions, however, within recent years have led to the abandonment of both these industries, and now the stone is quarried and crushed for the market in one of the largest crushing plants of the state.

Passage source: History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, published 1915.

Kentucky Legislature followed him. In the fall of 1809 he was selected to represent Preble and Montgomery counties in the state Legislature and served one term of two years. In 1812, the district having been changed, he was elected to the Senate by the counties of Preble, Darke and Miami, where he served four years. He was in the Senate at the time that Columbus was made the capital of the state. He was instrumental in securing the location of Miami University at Oxford, and for many years was a trustee of that institution. Although coming from a slave state, he was much opposed to the institution of slavery and while in the Ohio Legislature his vigorous support of a bill for the repeal of the "black laws of Ohio" made him, for the time, very unpopular. But he never wavered in his convictions on the subject and his efforts on behalf of the slaves were never relaxed. In 1826 he was again elected and he always took a strong interest in political affairs. In the Legislatures of Kentucky and Ohio together he served fifteen sessions, and he was also on the electoral ticket in 1812 when James Madison was re-elected President. He died in 1848 and lies buried in the old cemetery at New Paris.

Passage source: History of Preble County Ohio: Her People, Industries and Institutions, published 1915.

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 Jefferson Township - it names this place 43 more 43 times.

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 338 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 338 specimens collected within 10 miles of New Paris between 1876 and 1974: 333 Animalia, 4 Plantae, 1 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by Cobbe, Thomas J., Cole, G., F. White 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
Hedwigia ciliata (Hedw.) P.Beauv.	1876	not recorded	New Paris
Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae Schwein.	1928	Mendenhall E. W.	New Paris
Campostoma anomalum anomalum	1930	MB Trautman	Whitewater River, at New Paris, Jefferson Twp
Catostomus commersonnii commersonnii (Lacepède, 1803)	1930	MB Trautman	Whitewater River, at New Paris, Jefferson Twp
Chrosomus erythrogaster (Rafinesque, 1820)	1930	Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard) & Foster, R. (Robert)	East Fork Whitewater River, at New Paris, ~0.4 mi NW of New Paris, Jefferson township
Cottus bairdii Girard, 1850	1930	MB Trautman	Whitewater River, at New Paris, Jefferson Twp
Etheostoma blennioides Rafinesque, 1819	1930	MB Trautman	Whitewater River, at New Paris, Jefferson Twp
Etheostoma caeruleum Storer, 1845	1930	MB Trautman	Whitewater River, at New Paris, Jefferson Twp
Etheostoma nigrum Rafinesque, 1820	1930	MB Trautman	Whitewater River, at New Paris, Jefferson Twp
Etheostoma spectabile (Agassiz, 1854)	1930	MB Trautman	Seven Mile Creek, trib of the Miami River at Gettysburg, Jefferson Twp
Hypentelium nigricans (Lesueur, 1817)	1930	MB Trautman	Whitewater River, at New Paris, Jefferson Twp
Lepomis cyanellus Rafinesque, 1819	1930	MB Trautman	Seven Mile Creek, trib of the Miami River at Gettysburg, Jefferson Twp

All 338 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of New Paris: 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, 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.

Where	Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
	New Paris Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
	Springfield Limestone Quarry #223	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Producer

Every working recorded in Preble County

Storms near this place

26 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names New Paris in 26 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 18 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 2 hail, 2 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
March 2023	Tornado (EF0)	New Paris	$200,000	The first sign of tornadic damage appeared near the intersection of Hawley Mills Road and New Paris Twins Road, where uprooted trees and a significant loss of roof panels from a barn occurred. The tornado continued to uproot trees off of New Paris Twins Road and caused some walls of an older barn building to collapse before traveling further northeastward through some open fields.\|\|The next points of damage were observed near the intersection of New Paris Twins Road and Rawley Road. Here, multiple barns had an observed loss of metal roof panels, with one barn in particular showing more extensive damage with some bent/collapsed barn doors. One of the residential homes also displayed some paneling damage on the back side of the building.\|\|Near the end of its path, the tornado uprooted multiple trees and caused another barn door to cave inwards. The final damage noted from this tornado occurred off of Gettysburg Darke Rd, where significant loss of a barn roof occurred and pieces of the sheet metal were tossed into the yard and nearby trees. The tornado is believed to have dissipated shortly after this location.
July 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$10,000	A few trees and power poles were downed in the New Paris area.
June 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$10,000	Numerous trees and large limbs were downed due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
June 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$8,000	Trees were downed across the northern and central portions of the county.
June 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$7,000	Several large trees were uprooted and power lines downed. Roof damage was reported by dispatchers.
July 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$5,000	Multiple trees were downed across the northwest part of the county.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$5,000	Trees were reported down. Several power poles were reported across a roadway. These occurrences were due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
April 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$5,000	Trees and power poles were downed.
November 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$3,000	Trees were downed.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$3,000	Several trees were knocked down.
July 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$3,000	Trees and power lines knocked down.
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$3,000	Trees knocked down.
May 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$3,000	Numerous trees downed.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$3,000	Trees downed.
June 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$3,000	A local television station reported a few large trees downed.
April 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$2,000	Two to four-inch diameter tree limbs were knocked down.
March 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$1,000	A tree was downed.
June 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$1,000	A tree was knocked down across the road in the 11,000 block of U.S. 35.
July 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	New Paris	$1,000	A tree was blown onto State Route 320.
June 2014	Flash Flood	New Paris	$1,000	High water was reported across multiple roadways in New Paris due to heavy rainfall.
April 2024	Flood	New Paris	-	High water was reported on New Paris-Hillsboro Road and State Route 121.
July 2018	Flood	New Paris	-	High water was reported over a roadway.
May 2004	Flash Flood	New Paris	-	A couple roads were flooded and impassable.
January 1999	Flash Flood	New Paris	-	Heavy rainfall caused roads to be closed and washed out. Evacuations occurred due to high water entering houses.
August 2015	Hail	New Paris	-	no account filed
November 2004	Hail	New Paris	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Preble 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
Cedar Springs	1.3 miles	12
Belfast (historical)	1.6 miles	12
New Westville	2.4 miles	12
Orangeburg (historical)	2.8 miles	8
Brinley	3.8 miles	9
Gettysburg	4.0 miles	8
Campbellstown	5.1 miles	12
Ebenezer	5.2 miles	8

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 New Paris	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1975566	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 1065129. 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.

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.