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

Sugar Grove, Ohio

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1907 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Berne Township. It lies in ZIP code area 43155. It stands on Rush Creek. The Survey maps it on the Lancaster quadrangle. 429 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 781 feet above sea level.

Sugar Grove within Fairfield County

Population over time

2 figures

Sugar Grove grew from 426 to 429 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010426
2020429+3 (+1%)

Then and now

1907 to 1984

The same ground, surveyed 77 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Sugar Grove, surveyed 1984
Topographic sheet of Sugar Grove, surveyed 1907

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

2,331 words on this township

A Complete History of Fairfield County, Ohio, published 1877; Pioneer Period and Pioneer People of Fairfield County, Ohio, published 1901 names this settlement in its chapter on Berne Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

It is said that Berne Township was named in honor of the Canton of Berne, in Switzerland, by Samuel Carpenter, at the time of its organization, a citizen. There are two post-offices in the township - Sugar Grove, eight miles below Lancaster,

Passage source: A Complete History of Fairfield County, Ohio, published 1877.

Judge Joseph Stukey built a grist-mill on Rush Creek, just at the foot of what is now Sugar Grove, at a very early period. Mr. Stukey will be remembered as having been one of the Associate Common Pleas Judges for Fairfield County. He served a number of years, embracing the year 1840. He died several years ago.

Passage source: A Complete History of Fairfield County, Ohio, published 1877.

One of the very first settlers in Berne township was Gen. Jonathan Lynch, as early as 1798 or 1799. He lived on what is now the Baldwin farm. He operated a small tan-yard, the first in the county. Here a son was born, December, 1799; one of the first, at least the second, to be born in the county. Gen. Lynch was a very prominent man. He commanded a brigade in the war of 1812. He spent his small fortune in caring for his men, and his children state that he was never

Passage source: Pioneer Period and Pioneer People of Fairfield County, Ohio, published 1901.

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 Berne Township - it names this place 5 more 5 times.

Fires near this place

24 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 24 fires within 5 miles of Sugar Grove between 2003 and 2020, burning about 86 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 burning9
Power generation/transmission/distribution5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Smoking2
Recreation and ceremony2
Equipment and vehicle use1

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
4 May 2017Debris and open burning1.0 acresOhio Department of Natural Resources8111
5 April 2017Recreation and ceremony1.0 acresOhio Department of Natural Resources7765
5 April 2015Power generation/transmission/distribution7.0 acresOhio Department of Natural Resources742
20 April 2017Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresOhio Department of Natural Resources7937
15 April 2017Debris and open burning1.0 acresOhio Department of Natural Resources7867
14 April 2017Debris and open burning2.0 acresOhio Department of Natural Resources7850
9 March 2012Debris and open burningunder an acreOhio Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 March 2017Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreOhio Department of Natural Resources7326

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Fairfield County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 2,470 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 2,470 specimens collected within 10 miles of Sugar Grove between 1839 and 1975: 1,806 Animalia, 395 Fungi, 255 Plantae, 7 Protozoa, 5 Unrecorded, 2 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. Schrader, Angerman, C. (Carl) & Triplehorn, C. A. (Charles A.), Asa Gray; W. S. Sullivant 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.

All 2,470 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Sugar Grove: 3 past producers, 3 producers. 3 still produce. What was taken out: 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
Alley PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Blazer Plant A-1 & PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Febus Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Morris Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Morris Sand and Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Stump Hollow PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in Fairfield County

Storms near this place

19 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sugar Grove in 19 storm reports between 2000 and 2025: 14 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 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 2025Thunderstorm WindSugar Grove$5,000Several trees were downed in the Sugar Grove area.
May 2022Thunderstorm WindSugar Grove$5,000Six trees were downed in Berne Township.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindSugar Grove$4,000Multiple large trees were uprooted out of saturated soils. The trees fell onto communication and power lines.
August 2020Thunderstorm WindSugar Grove$3,000A couple of trees and several large limbs were reported knocked down.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindSugar Grove$3,000Trees were downed.
May 2015Thunderstorm WindSugar Grove$2,000Several trees were downed.
June 2012Thunderstorm WindSugar Grove$2,000Trees were downed due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindSugar Grove$2,000Trees were reported down due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
June 2003Thunderstorm WindSugar Grove$2,000Large limbs were downed.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindSugar Grove$1,000A couple of large limbs were knocked down.
November 2011Thunderstorm WindSugar Grove$1,000Two trees were reported down due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
June 2007HailSugar Grove$1,000no account filed
October 2021Thunderstorm WindSugar Grove$250Several large branches were downed.
June 2025Flash FloodSugar Grove-Water was flowing over Chicken Coop Hill Road.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindSugar Grove-A large tree limb was downed.
June 2012Thunderstorm WindSugar Grove-Numerous trees were downed along Horns Mill Road due to damaging thunderstorm winds. The road was closed as a result.
May 2018HailSugar Grove-no account filed
July 2017HailSugar Grove-no account filed
July 2000HailSugar Grove-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Fairfield 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
Blue Valley Acres1.1 miles13
Horns Mill1.7 miles13
Swartz Mill2.9 miles13
Pine Lake Estates3.6 miles13
Pleasant Hill3.8 miles13
Revenge5.7 miles13
Whites5.9 miles13
North Berne6.1 miles13

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 Sugar GroveAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2657262The 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 1049225. 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.