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

Rushtown, Ohio

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1915 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Rush Township. It lies in ZIP code area 45652. It stands on Scioto Brush Creek. The Survey maps it on the West Portsmouth quadrangle.

Rushtown within Scioto County

Then and now

1915 to 1991

The same ground, surveyed 76 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Rushtown, surveyed 1991
Topographic sheet of Rushtown, surveyed 1915

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 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

4,640 words on this township

A History of Scioto County, Ohio,, published 1903 names this settlement in its chapter on Rush Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Brush Creek crosses the middle of the township from west to east. Pond Creek enters toward the southwest corner and flows across the southern end and empties its waters at the north end of the Big Island into the Scioto River. Duck Run enters the township from Morgan and flows southeasterly and empties into Brush Creek at Rushtown. The Ohio Canal crosses it from north to south following the border of the hills. The Norfolk & Western R. R. crosses the township along the valley of Brush Creek and the Ohio Canal and has three stations within the township, to-wit: McDermott, Rushtown and Wharton.

Passage source: A History of Scioto County, Ohio,, published 1903.

The Methodist Episcopal Church at Rushtown was organized in 1868. J. D. Baker was the fisrt pastor. The organization remained intact until 1895 and during that time the following is a list of the pastors: E. V. Bing, Samuel Bateman, C. M. Pryor, C. B. Lewis, Thomas Leslie. W. F. Filler, S. A. Crossley, William Donelson and H. Burkstresser, J. H. Rogers, Thomas Hass, J. W. Blair, Rev. Kling and W. A. Hunter. The charge was discontinued in 1895.

Passage source: A History of Scioto County, Ohio,, published 1903.

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 Rush Township - it names this place 1 more 1 time.

Fires near this place

47 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 47 fires within 5 miles of Rushtown between 2002 and 2020, burning about 675 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 2 were 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 burning23
Missing data/not specified/undetermined21
Arson/incendiarism2
Natural1

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
22 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreOhio Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
20 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undetermined57 acresOhio Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
17 September 2003Arson/incendiarismunder an acreOhio Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
3 August 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreOhio Department of Natural Resources15224
23 August 2002Natural60 acresOhio Department of Natural ResourcesTAYLOR LUMBER
2 June 2014Arson/incendiarism180 acresOhio Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
9 April 2014Debris and open burning25 acresOhio Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
6 April 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined8.0 acresOhio Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Scioto County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 1,322 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,322 specimens collected within 10 miles of Rushtown between 1884 and 1975: 1,250 Animalia, 41 Plantae, 23 Fungi, 4 Protozoa, 2 Unrecorded, 2 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by ?, A.P. Morgan, A.P. Morgan; L.V. Morgan 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 Pyganodon grandis (Say, 1829)Pyganodon grandis (Say, 1829)1884H. MoresScioto River
Specimen of Bovistella MorganBovistella Morgan1885A.P. MorganPreston
Specimen of Cylindrocladium scoparium MorganCylindrocladium scoparium Morgan1893A.P. MorganPreston
A photograph of the species Campeloma Rafinesque, not of this specimenCampeloma Rafinesque, 18191885Ch. R. OrcuttScioto River
A photograph of the species Harpographium fasciculatum, not of this specimenHarpographium fasciculatum (Sacc.) Sacc.1887A.P. MorganPreston
A photograph of the species Puccinia recondita, not of this specimenPuccinia recondita Roberge ex Desm.1889Craig M.Franklin Co. "hayden's Falls" on Scioto River
A photograph of the species Myelochroa galbina, not of this specimenMyelochroa galbina (Ach.) Elix & Hale1893Jones, T.H.BOtway
A photograph of the species Hybognathus nuchalis, not of this specimenHybognathus nuchalis Agassiz, 18551894Bean & B. EvermannScioto Creek, Coopersville, New York
A photograph of the species Notropis atherinoides, not of this specimenNotropis atherinoides Rafinesque, 18181894B. W. EvermannCooperville; Scioto Cr
Specimen of Lycogala epidendrum (L.) Fr., 1829Lycogala epidendrum (L.) Fr., 18291896not recordedScioto River
unnamed1897MorganPreston
Specimen of Albugo candida (Pers. ex J.F.Gmel.) RousselAlbugo candida (Pers. ex J.F.Gmel.) Roussel1897F.L. StevensAlum Rock

All 1,322 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Rushtown: 4 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Flagstone, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. 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
Lucasville Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Lucasville Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Taylor Stone QuarryStone, Crushed/BrokenPast ProducerSedimentary
Waller Brothers Stone QuarriesStone, Crushed/BrokenPast ProducerSedimentary
Taylor Stone QuarryFlagstonePast Producer
Waller Bros QuarryFlagstoneProducer
Waller Brothers Stone CompanyFlagstoneProducer

Every working recorded in Scioto County

Storms near this place

5 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rushtown in 5 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 4 flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
February 2021FloodRushtown$10,000Several cars were submerged in high water near State Route 104 by Country Club Drive.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindRushtown$3,000Numerous trees downed.
February 2025FloodRushtown-State Route 104 was closed from State Route 73 to near Rushtown due to high water.
December 2019FloodRushtown-Ohio Route 104 at Country Club Road was closed due to flooding.
September 2018FloodRushtown-State Route 104 was closed due to high water about one mile north of the split with State Route 73.

Every storm recorded in Scioto 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
Owensville1.7 miles13
McDermott2.4 miles13
Coles Park3.2 miles13
Lucasville3.4 miles12
Dry Run3.9 miles13
Rosemount3.9 miles12
Valley View4.2 miles13
Tomlison Addition4.4 miles12

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 RushtownAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q23698497The 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 1045286. 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.

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.