BlockBefore

Semples, Ohio

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1908 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Rochester Township. It lies in ZIP code area 44851. The Survey maps it on the Nova quadrangle.

Semples within Lorain County

Then and now

1908 to 1986

The same ground, surveyed 78 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Semples, surveyed 1986
Topographic sheet of Semples, surveyed 1908

Compare 1908 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

5 surveys from 11 printed 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 Rochester township. The inset identifies its exact source book and publication year.

From History of Lorain County, Ohio, published 1879 - Rochester Township

Game

Game of the smaller kinds was very abundant before the hunters became too numerous. It cannot be positively stated that any old bears were killed in the township after the settlement was begun; but there is a vague tradition to the effect that Solomon Root and Joseph Ross once found two in a whitewood tree in the southwest part of the town, and killed them.

Read the rest of this passage

In the county-history sources

31,365 words on this township

History of Lorain County, Ohio, published 1879 has no passage naming this settlement, which was common for smaller places. Its township is covered in full.

The chapter on Rochester Township covers the township.

Read the chapter on Rochester Township - 31,365 words.

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 606 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 606 specimens collected within 10 miles of Semples between 1892 and 1975: 566 Animalia, 38 Plantae, 2 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by B Zahuranec, B Zahuranec & party, B.J. Zahuranec and M.B. Trautman 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
A photograph of the species Abutilon theophrasti, not of this specimenAbutilon theophrasti Medik.1892Phillips, E.W.Rochester
A photograph of the species Alisma subcordatum, not of this specimenAlisma subcordatum Raf.1892Phillips, E.W.Rochester
A photograph of the species Amphicarpaea bracteata, not of this specimenAmphicarpaea bracteata (L.) Fernald1892Phillips, E.W.Rochester
A photograph of the species Asclepias incarnata, not of this specimenAsclepias incarnata L.1892Phillips, E.W.Rochester
A photograph of the species Campanula americana, not of this specimenCampanula americana Mill., 17681892Phillips, E.W.Rochester
A photograph of the species Circaea lutetiana, not of this specimenCircaea lutetiana subsp. canadensis (L.) Asch. & Magnus1892not recordedHuntington
A photograph of the species Coreopsis palmata, not of this specimenCoreopsis palmata Nutt.1892Phillips, E.W.Rochester
A photograph of the species Coreopsis tinctoria, not of this specimenCoreopsis tinctoria Nutt.1892Phillips, E.W.Rochester
A photograph of the species Dryopteris carthusiana, not of this specimenDryopteris carthusiana (Vill.) H.P.Fuchs1892Phillips, E.W.Rochester
A photograph of the species Ambloplites rupestris, not of this specimenAmbloplites rupestris rupestris (Rafinesque, 1817)1928Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard)West Branch Black River, within Brighton township, near Rochester, Brighton township
A photograph of the species Bufo americanus, not of this specimenBufo americanus Holbrook, 18361928Walker, C. F. (Charles F.)Along Black River, Brighton Twp., Lorain Co., Ohio
A photograph of the species Cottus bairdii, not of this specimenCottus bairdii bairdii Girard, 18501928Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard)West Branch Black River, within Brighton township, near Rochester, Brighton township

All 606 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Semples: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Clay. 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
BiglowClayProducer

Every working recorded in Lorain County

Storms near this place

1 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Semples in 1 storm report in 2008: 1 flash 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2008Flash FloodSemples$100,000Very heavy rainfall of 3 to 5 inches in less than two hours in southern Lorain County produced flash flooding across a large area. Cars were submerged in Wellington, with at least 3 vehicle rescues. Another rescue took place along Quarry Road just north of Griggs Road in Rochester Township. Widespread basement flooding from the runoff was also reported in Rochester, where floodwaters reached up to the base of the first floor joists in the Rochester Baptist Church. The Findley State Park was particularly hard hit, with many roads closed by high water and numerous trees washed away by the high flows.

Every storm recorded in Lorain 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
Rochester2.7 miles11
Huntington4.5 miles12
Brighton5.8 miles11
Wellington7.3 miles12
Camden10.4 miles11
Penfield11.2 miles11
Pittsfield11.3 miles12
Pheasant Run Village11.5 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.

Wikidata item Q122558347The 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 1071125. 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.