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

Okeana, Ohio

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1996. It stands in Morgan Township. It lies in ZIP code area 45053. It stands on Buck Run. The Survey maps it on the Harrison quadrangle. It stands 640 feet above sea level.

Okeana within Butler County

Then and now

1915 to 1996

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 Okeana, surveyed 1996

Topographic sheet of Okeana, surveyed 1915

Compare 1915 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

15 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

16,590 words on this township

A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County, Ohio : with Illustrations and Sketches of Its Representative Men and Pioneers, published 1882 names this settlement in its chapter on Morgan Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The first Jand entered in Morgan Township was by Edward Bebb. It was a half-section in Section 27. The first blacksmith, as well as the first miller, in the neighborhood of Paddy's Run was James Nicholas. In 1831 he moved to Allen County, Ohio, and was one of the first settlers in that large and prosperous community of Welsh people. John Vaughn built the first barn and brick house in the settlement in 1816; they are yet standing. During 1805 there settled on Dry Fork and Paddy's Run the families of Jacob Phillis, John and Samuel Harden, Bryson Blackburn, George Drybread, John Howard, and Thomas Milholland. Blackburn was a blacksmith. His customers found their own iron and steel, which he hammered into axes, hoes, butcher-knives, and so on, with a brawny arm and a skillful hand. "A clock-case, now owned by Mrs. Mary Vaughn, made for her father, Edward Bebb, by Stephen Hayden, in 1804, shows the ingenuity and taste of this pioneer cabinetmaker. It is made of cherry slabs, dressed as best he could, overcoming the want of a saw-mill with a whipsaw. or over seventy years it has been been the cozy home of a brass clock which Mrs. Bebb brought from Wales seventy-nine years ago, This venerable clock .was a great curiosity to the Indians, who frequently visited Mr. Bebb's cabin. Captain William D. Jones brought the first stock of goods into the township on a packhorse, and opened a place of business near where the ducted chiefly on the bartering basis, as specie was very scarce. The first physicians were Doctors Sloan, of Fairfield; Millikin, of Hamilton; and Crookshank, of Harrison. They practiced as early as 1806, and were eminent in their profession and useful in the community. In 1808 Maxwell Parkinson officiated as justice of the peace, probably appointed by the Governor."

Passage source: A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County, Ohio : with Illustrations and Sketches of Its Representative Men and Pioneers, published 1882.

Michael McCarty was the first blacksmith in this region. His shop was on the Indiana side, near the foot of the hill. He was here again some ten or twelve years after he first left. Joshua Nye had the second shop, opposite Jeremiah Conn's present residence.

Passage source: A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County, Ohio : with Illustrations and Sketches of Its Representative Men and Pioneers, published 1882.

John Fye, born February 3, 1781; died November 10, 1825. Catharine, his wife, died November 18, 1878, aged 88. These two persons are among the pioneers of this locality. Dr. A. B. James, died May 28, 1871; aged 68. Dr. James was for many years a prominent physician in this neighborhood. James L. Davis, died August 23, 1856; aged 59. Sarah Jane Davis, died March 24, 1869; aged 71. Patrick Blacker, died April 26, 1879; aged 77. Margaret Blacker, died April 27, 1875; aged 72. Robert Blacker, died March 1, 1810; aged 68. Nancy Blacker, died March 18, 1850; aged 88. These two persons were from Ireland, and were the original founders of the Blacker family in this section.

Passage source: A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County, Ohio : with Illustrations and Sketches of Its Representative Men and Pioneers, published 1882.

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 Morgan Township - it names this place 16 more 16 times.

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 84 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 84 specimens collected within 10 miles of Okeana between 1891 and 1974: 68 Animalia, 10 Plantae, 4 Fungi, 2 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. R. Gaufin, A.R. Gaufin, H.H. Ross, Arden R. Gaufin 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
Botaurus Stephens, 1819	1891	J. S. Ligon	Ross Lake
Lampsilis radiata (Gmelin, 1791)	1901	Sterki, Victor	Hamilton
Bacidia inundata (Fr.) Körb.	1909	Bruce Fink
Cottus bairdii bairdii Girard, 1850	1927	Stace, J. B.	Paddys Run, within Morgan township, near Layhigh, Morgan township
Campostoma anomalum anomalum	1928	Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard)	Indian Creek, within Reily township, near Reily, Reily township
Etheostoma flabellare Rafinesque, 1819	1928	Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard) & Foster, R. (Robert)	Indian Creek, just north of Reily, ~0.2 mi N of Reily, Reily township
Etheostoma variatum Kirtland, 1840	1928	Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard)	Indian Creek, within Reily township, near Reily, Reily township
Hybopsis Agassiz, 1854	1928	Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard)	Great Miami River, at Venice, at Ross OH, southern Ross Township
Hybopsis amblops (Rafinesque, 1820)	1928	not recorded	Great Miami River, no more precise locality data, at Ross OH, Colerain Township
Hypentelium nigricans (Lesueur, 1817)	1928	Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard)	Indian Creek, within Reily township, near Reily, Reily township
Pimephales promelas promelas Rafinesque, 1820	1928	Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard)	Great Miami River, at Venice, at Ross OH, southern Ross Township
Rhinichthys atratulus meleagris Agassiz, 1854	1928	Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard)	Indian Creek, within Reily township, near Reily, Reily township

All 84 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Storms near this place

14 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Okeana in 14 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 2 flash flood, 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
December 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeana	$12,000	Trees and power lines were downed across the county.
April 2017	Flash Flood	Okeana	$7,500	Several private bridges were washed out.
October 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeana	$7,000	Minor shingle and trim damage occurred to some homes. A camper was tipped over and recreational equipment was blown over.
September 2018	Lightning	Okeana	$5,000	A barn fire was caused by a lightning strike.
July 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeana	$5,000	no account filed
May 2012	Flash Flood	Okeana	$3,000	Water at least 2 feet deep was reported flowing through portions of Morgan Township.
August 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeana	$3,000	Trees downed.
May 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeana	$2,000	Trees were reported down due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
October 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeana	$2,000	Trees were reported down due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
May 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Okeana	$1,000	A tree was downed on South Weaver and Cincinnati-Brookville Road.
May 2007	Hail	Okeana	$1,000	no account filed
March 2023	Flood	Okeana	-	High water was reported on Race Lane Road and Alert New London Road.
September 2016	Flood	Okeana	-	Residual high water was reported on a few roadways in the area.
February 2017	Hail	Okeana	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Butler 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
Macedonia	1.5 miles	15
Alert	1.6 miles	15
Shandon	3.2 miles	14
Saint Charles	3.3 miles	14
Layhigh	3.9 miles	14
Newkirk	4.1 miles	12
Auburn	4.6 miles	14
Bunker Hill	5.3 miles	14

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 Okeana	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q7081889	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 1065195. 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.

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.