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

Olena, Ohio

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Bronson Township. It lies in ZIP code area 44857. The Survey maps it on the Norwalk quadrangle.

Olena within Huron County

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 Olena, surveyed 1986

Topographic sheet of Olena, surveyed 1915

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

1,086 words on this township

History of Huron County Ohio Its Progress and Development, published 1909 names this settlement in its chapter on Bronson Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

In the southeast part of the township, on the Hartland line, is the village of Olena, the first house in which was built by William H. Burras, in 1832. He purchased sixteen acres of land on the southeast corner of the cross-roads, and put up a log house. He married Ruth Palmer, daughter of Abijah Palmer, of Fitchville, September 22, 1835, and moved into his log cabin, previous to which he had occupied with his parents.

Passage source: History of Huron County Ohio Its Progress and Development, published 1909.

Samuel Burras, an older brother of William, came with his family from the state of New York a short time afterward, and first located on the old State road. but soon after bought a short distance southeast of Olena and erected a log house, which was one of the first buildings in the place.

Passage source: History of Huron County Ohio Its Progress and Development, published 1909.

Among the earliest houses built at Olena, besides those mentioned, were those of Joel Wooley, on the southwest corner of the cross-roads; Hiram Allen, on the northwest corner, and John Moore a short distance west of Allen.

Passage source: History of Huron County Ohio Its Progress and Development, published 1909.

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 Bronson Township - it names this place 2 more 2 times.

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 867 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 867 specimens collected within 10 miles of Olena between 1888 and 1975: 483 Plantae, 303 Animalia, 78 Fungi, 2 Unrecorded, 1 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. Woolman, B Zahuranec & party, Baumgartner, L. 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
Puccinia schedonnardi Kellerm. & Swingle	1895	Dr. W.A. Kellerman	Reservoir Park; 41.024222 -82.515171
Rumex verticillatus L.	1896	Stair, L. D.
Enallagma exsulans (Hagen, 1861)	1898	[Not Stated]	[Not Stated]
Cephalanthus occidentalis L.	1888	Shafer, J.A.	W of Brighton near Cleveland
Chrysemys picta (Schneider, 1783)	1893	not recorded	Clarksfield, Vermillion River
Dryopteris carthusiana (Vill.) H.P.Fuchs	1893	Collector(s): Edwin Lincoln Moseley	Milan, Huron River
Etheostoma caeruleum Storer, 1845	1893	not recorded	Vermillion River, Clarksfield, Ohio
Lithobates pipiens (Schreber, 1782)	1893	not recorded	Monroeville, Huron River
Micropterus dolomieu Lacepède, 1802	1893	A. Woolman	Vermillion River, Clarksfield, Ohio
Moxostoma erythrurum (Rafinesque, 1818)	1893	A. Woolman	Vermillion River, Clarksfield, Ohio
Notropis cornutus (Mitchill, 1817)	1893	not recorded	Vermillion River, Clarksfield, Ohio
Bidens laevis (L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.	1894	Collector(s): Edwin Lincoln Moseley	Huron River, Milan

All 867 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Olena: 3 past producers, 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.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Price Sand and Gravel Pit Number 2	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Price Sand and Gravel Pit Number 2	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Riley Stone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Riley Stone Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Huron County

Storms near this place

4 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Olena in 4 storm reports between 2002 and 2025: 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. 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
June 2023	Tornado (EF1)	Olena	$165,000	This tornado began in vicinity of New State Road and Townline Road 131, where it downed a deteriorated barn. The tornado continued southeast toward the village of North Fairfield, intensified, lifted a large portion of a roof off an outbuilding, and downed several trees on Hanville Corners Road. A power pole was separated from power lines with additional tree damage. The tornado entered North Fairfield and caused widespread tree and power line damage in the village. Some roofing material was lifted off residences and some trees fell onto homes. A large sign was ripped off the facade of a building and several light and power poles were leaning along Main Street (OH-162). Damage in the village was at the EF0 to EF1 level and this is where the tornado was widest along its path.\|\|The tornado continued southeastward across Penn Road toward Old State Road and Olive Road, where a large area of snapped and shredded trees fell and additional damage occurred to several barns and outbuildings. The greatest damage occurred near the intersection of Old State Road and Townline Road 12, where the tornado's estimated peak winds reached 110 mph. Several large trees were snapped, a mobile home was damaged heavily, and three power poles were snapped at their bases. As the tornado persisted farther southeast toward Boughtonville Road, several silos were damaged heavily. Near Edwards Road and Boughtonville Road, several roofs were displaced from outbuildings and the second floor of a residence was damaged heavily. The tornado continued toward Greenwich Milan Townline Road, where a large swath of trees were snapped. Minor tree and power pole damage occurred near the intersection of US-224 and Greenwich Milan Townline Road, west of the village of Greenwich, just before the tornado dissipated.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Olena	$20,000	Roof damage to a commercial building, just south of the intersection of Hasbrock Road and Old State Road North, between Olena and Norwalk.
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Olena	$7,500	An outbuilding sustained significant damage on Dublin Road, between Norwalk and Olena. Most of the roof was blown into a nearby field.
September 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Olena	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds downed two very large trees.

Every storm recorded in Huron 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
Hartland	3.0 miles	10
West Hartland	3.4 miles	12
Hanville Corners	4.5 miles	13
Hartland Station	4.7 miles	10
Fitchville	5.0 miles	12
North Fairfield	5.1 miles	13
Branchwood Estates	5.3 miles	13
Peru	5.5 miles	12

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1065200. 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.