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

Old Town, Ohio

15 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1909 and the latest in 1994. It stands in York Township. It lies in ZIP code area 44663. It lies in Possum Hollow. The Survey maps it on the New Philadelphia quadrangle.

Old Town within Tuscarawas County

Then and now

1909 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 85 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Old Town, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Old Town, surveyed 1909

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

106,314 words on this township

The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, published 1884 names this settlement in its chapter on York Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The surface of York Township is hilly. Its principal stream is Stone Creek, which traverses the township from southwest to northeast and divides it almost equally. Old Town Creek flows in an almost parallel course through the southeastern part, and both streams enter the Tuscarawas in Goshen Township, scarcely more than a mile from their exit from York, the latter stream at a point almost opposite the site of the Moravian Mission, Schonbrunn, whence the name Old Town was probably derived. These two streams, with their many little branches, drain the entire surface of the township. Oak, hickory, poplar, sugar, beech, elm, and in fact nearly all varieties of timber indigenous in this latitude, including a little cottonwood, have been found in York.

Passage source: The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, published 1884.

The Congress land in the little valleys of Stone Creek and Old Town Creek were the first settled portions of the township, and among the first Congress lands entered in the county. When it was located, the price of land was 12 per acre, and tracts less than a quarter- section, or 160 acres, could not be entered. The earliest settlers were principally Pennsylvanians, and of German origin. They were a thrifty, contented and well-to-do class of people, for quite a number of them entered two or more quarters, and very few of the earliest pioneers removed from the farms which they had here wrested from the wilderness, and their descendants still inhabit the land. The hills of the township were settled slowly, and before all the land was occupied, fortyacre farms could be entered for $1.25 per acre. Many indigent Swiss and* German emigrants thus procured homesteads at little expense, and now compose the larger portion of the population. They are an economical and industrious people.

Passage source: The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, published 1884.

Henry Ankiiey emigrated from Somerset County, Penn., in 1815, and settled on the southeast quarter of Section 25, which had been entered by Frederick Shull. In 1826, he died on this farm, which is now occupied by his grandson, Francis Ankney. About the same time, or a little earlier, Eli Barton, an Englishman, settled on a 100-acre lot in the western part of the township. He raised a large family and afterward removed to Old Town Valley, where he died at the residence of his son.

Passage source: The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, published 1884.

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 York Township - it names this place 7 more 7 times.

Fires near this place

16 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 16 fires within 5 miles of Old Town between 2005 and 2020, burning about 33 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 burning8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Equipment and vehicle use1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
20 May 2016Debris and open burningunder an acreOhio Department of Natural Resources4905
18 April 2005Debris and open burning2.0 acresOhio Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
17 April 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreOhio Department of Natural Resources4531
17 April 2005Misuse of fire by a minor1.0 acresOhio Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
12 April 2018Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreOhio Department of Natural Resources10306
9 March 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresOhio Department of Natural Resources15470
9 March 2020Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreOhio Department of Natural Resources15496
26 March 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresOhio Department of Natural Resources4130

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Tuscarawas County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 561 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 561 specimens collected within 10 miles of Old Town between 1851 and 1973: 458 Animalia, 85 Plantae, 16 Fungi, 2 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. Cibula, A. Cobula, A. Perry 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 Pisidium cruciatum Sterki, 1895Pisidium cruciatum Sterki, 18951894G. MarstonTuscarawas River, New Philadelphia
Specimen of Pisidium fallax Sterki, 1896Pisidium fallax Sterki, 18961894G. MarstonTuscarawas River, New Philadelphia
Specimen of Pisidium noveboracense Prime, 1858Pisidium noveboracense Prime, 18581895G. Marstonfrom spring - brook lat. 4 miles south of New Philadelpia (Sterki)
A photograph of the species Amelanchier arborea, not of this specimenAmelanchier arborea (F.Michx.) Fernald1851Wolle, J.Canoe Down [Canal Dover]
A photograph of the species Anemone canadensis, not of this specimenAnemone canadensis L.1851Wolle, J.Canoe Down [Canal Dover]
A photograph of the species Cardamine douglassii, not of this specimenCardamine douglassii Britton1851Wolle, J.Canae Docus [??] [Canal Dover]
A photograph of the species Conopholis americana, not of this specimenConopholis americana (L.) Wallr.1851Wolle, J.Canoe Down [Canal Dover?]
A photograph of the species Delphinium tricorne, not of this specimenDelphinium tricorne Michx.1851Wolle, J.Canoe Down [Canal Dover]
A photograph of the species Erythronium americanum, not of this specimenErythronium americanum Ker Gawl.1851Wolle, J.Canal Dover
A photograph of the species Hydrophyllum appendiculatum, not of this specimenHydrophyllum appendiculatum Michx.1851Wolle, J.Tuscarawa City
A photograph of the species Hydrophyllum virginianum, not of this specimenHydrophyllum virginianum L.1851Wolle, J.Canoe Down [Canal Dover]
A photograph of the species Silene virginica, not of this specimenSilene virginica L.1851Wolle, J.Canal Downs [Canal Dover]

All 561 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of Old Town: 4 producers, 3 past producers, 1 occurrence. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Iron, Coal. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Arrow Head PitClay, CoalProducer
Jessie Simmon ProspectIronOccurrence
Clay MineClayProducer
Kimble Clay PitClayPast Producer
Midvale PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Spring Brothers Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Spring PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Stewart and Reichman PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Tuscarawas 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.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Joyce2.3 miles15
Wainwright2.4 miles15
South Side2.5 miles15
Yorktown2.8 miles15
Goshen2.8 miles15
Odbert (historical)2.9 miles15
Schoenbrunn3.1 miles15
New Philadelphia3.4 miles15

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1063515. 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.