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

Van Wert, Ohio

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1914 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Pleasant Township. It lies in ZIP code area 45891. The Survey maps it on the Van Wert quadrangle. 11,092 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 778 feet above sea level.

Research this city

This curated hub for Van Wert County, Ohio brings together the page's documented record links, visible map or image evidence where published, and routes to related local records.

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Van Wert within Van Wert County

Population over time

2 figures

Van Wert grew from 10,846 to 11,092 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.

Year	People	Change
2010	10,846
2020	11,092	+246 (+2%)

Then and now

1914 to 1986

The same ground, surveyed 72 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Van Wert, surveyed 1986

Topographic sheet of Van Wert, surveyed 1914

Compare 1914 against another survey:

Topographic sheets covering this place

14 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.

Photographs

1 photograph,

Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.

Town Creek Truss-leg Bedstead Bridge, Spanning Town Creek at County Route 82, Van Wert, Van Wert County, OH
Unattributed, . Library of Congress

Specimens collected nearby

12 of 140 shown

Museums hold 140 specimens collected within 10 miles of Van Wert between 1837 and 1965: 132 Animalia, 4 Fungi, 3 Plantae, 1 Chromista. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by Adler, K. K., Bonnewitz L. R.; Stevenson J. A., Bonnewitz Lee R. 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
Geranium maculatum L.	1837	Frank	Van Wert Co., Ohio
Cerastium glomeratum Thuill.	1850	not recorded	Ohio City.
Carpiodes cyprinus (Lesueur, 1817)	1893	P. Kirsch	Hoaglin Creek, Oakwood, Ohio
Hybopsis amblops (Rafinesque, 1820)	1893	P. Kirsch	Hoaglin Creek, Oakwood, Ohio
Lepomis megalotis (Rafinesque, 1820)	1893	P. Kirsch	Hoaglin Creek, Oakwood, Ohio
Albugo platensis (Speg.) Swingle	1921	Stevenson, John A.	Van Wert
Cladosporium paeoniae Pass.	1921	Stevenson John A.	Van Wert
Puccinia iridis Wallr.	1921	Stevenson J. A.	Van Wert
Charadrius vociferus vociferus Linnaeus, 1758	1922	Price, H. (Homer)	Van Wert, Ohio, USA
Dendrocopos pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766)	1922	Price, H. (Homer)	near Paulding Co line, Blue Creek Banks, Van Wert, Ohio, USA
Sialia sialis sialis (Linnaeus, 1758)	1922	not recorded	No specific locality recorded.
Bubo virginianus (J.F.Gmelin, 1788)	1926	Price, H. (Homer)	Van Wert, Ohio, USA

All 140 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Storms nearby

60 since 1994

The National Weather Service names Van Wert in 60 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 45 thunderstorm wind, 12 hail, 2 tornado, 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.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$50,000	Twelve power poles down between Stripe Rd and Mendon Rd near the Vantage Career Center.
April 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$50,000	Winds of 65 mph were reported in Van Wert at 0230 EST. At 0240 EST trees were reported downed, one on a car. A tractor-semitrailer was blown over on route 30.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$40,000	Emergency management officials reported a 12-inch diameter tree down onto a car. The roof was blown off the Brookside Dairy Convenience Building. Damage is estimated at $40,000.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$30,000	Several trees and power lines down around town, including a tree on a house.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$30,000	Bell tower collapsed at St Marys Church in Van Wert.
June 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$25,000	Barn blown over. Several trees and power lines down.
December 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$25,000	no account filed
January 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$15,000	Seven power poles were reported blown down southeast of Van Wert by emergency management officials.
June 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$10,000	Emergency management officials reported a power pole down 2 miles southeast of Van Wert.
June 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$10,000	Barn destroyed. Trees down.
August 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$6,000	Law enforcement officials reported tree limbs were broken off by the winds and fell onto a transformer, causing some damage. Damage is estimated at $6,000.
July 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$5,000	A wind gust to 68 mph was measured in Van Wert. A small portable trailer was flipped over.
July 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$5,000	Numerous trees downed.
July 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$3,000	no account filed
May 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$2,000	Amateur radio reported a semi truck blown over in Van Wert.
June 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$2,000	Trees reported down in the city of Van Wert.
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	$1,000	Tree down on US Route 127 south of Van Wert.
April 2025	Hail	Van Wert	$1,000	no account filed
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	A few trees limbs were down on Jefferson Street.
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	A trained spotter reported a tree was blown down.
May 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Two three foot diameter trees and several limbs were snapped along with some shingles blown off a home along a one mile stretch. Damage consistent with straight line winds.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	EM reports numerous trees and power lines down. Location approximate. Time estimated from radar.
September 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Emergency management officials reported 10 to 12 inch diameter tree limbs down.
May 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Emergency management officials reported a tree fell onto a car with some other minor structural damage occurring in town. Numerous other trees were blown down.
May 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Emergency management officials reported numerous trees were blown down in the city of Van Wert.
August 2016	Tornado (EF0)	Van Wert	-	Damage found from aerial survey by Emergency Management of mainly crop damage to corn and beans. Tornado skipped once in middle of this path. Maximum winds were estimated at 65 mph.
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Emergency management officials reported a large tree down across the road on the north side of Van Wert. Several large tree limbs and phone lines were also down as a result of thunderstorm winds.
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	The public reported several trees and tree limbs down within the city limits of Van Wert. Diameters ranged from three to six inches with one measuring about a foot in diameter. The larger one did have some rot in it.
July 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Emergency management officials reported a power line fell onto a car in Van Wert. No injuries were reported.
November 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	A 62 mph wind gust was recorded at the Van Wert Middle School.
June 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Emergency management officials reported hundreds of trees down across the county. Widespread power outages as a result of major transmission poles, numbering at least 443, between Van Wert and Ottawa being blown down or snapped. Roofs were reported damaged on many homes, with cars and trucks flipped in portions of the county.
August 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Emergency management official recorded a 58 mph wind gust in Van Wert.
August 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Emergency management officials reported a two and one half foot diameter tree, with signs of some rotting, snapped at the base on the east side of Van Wert.
May 2011	Hail	Van Wert	-	Emergency management officials observed ping pong size hail at the Van Wert County Emergency Operations Center.
May 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	A 58 mph wind gust was recorded at the Emergency Operations Center in Van Wert.
October 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Emergency management officials reported a semi was rolled on US 30.
March 2009	Hail	Van Wert	-	A trained spotter reported dime to nickle size hail covering the ground in Van Wert.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Emergency management officials reported trees and tree limbs down in the city of Van Wert.
May 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Numerous large tree limbs down.
May 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Emergency management reported a telephone pole down in Van Wert.
July 2004	Flash Flood	Van Wert	-	Westwood drive flooded in the city of Van Wert, with water 2 to 3 feet deep. One truck was stranded in the flood waters. Several other roads in flooded in the city.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Emergency management reported trees and power lines down in Van Wert.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Sheriff dispatch reported trees down west of Van Wert.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Emergency management reported trees down in Van Wert.
September 2002	Tornado (F0)	Van Wert	-	County Emergency Management reported the tornado touched down at 300 yards north of Kear Road in the city of Van Wert and 300 yards east of John Brown Road. It continued on the ground for around 4 miles, causing roof damage to 3 homes, as numerous trees twisted and snapped. A barn was also damaged by the tornado. The tornado lifted 1 mile east of US-127 and 1/2 mile north of Convoy Rd. There was another brief touchdown at US-127 and 1/2 mile north of Fife Road, where the tornado traveled roughly 100 yards before dissipating.
July 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Trees down.
July 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	Trees down.
June 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	An observer measured a thunderstorm wind gust of 67 mph.
March 2020	Hail	Van Wert	-	no account filed
May 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Van Wert	-	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Van Wert	-	no account filed
April 2003	Hail	Van Wert	-	no account filed
June 2002	Hail	Van Wert	-	no account filed
July 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	no account filed
May 2000	Hail	Van Wert	-	no account filed
May 2000	Hail	Van Wert	-	no account filed
June 2000	Hail	Van Wert	-	no account filed
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Van Wert	-	no account filed
June 1999	Hail	Van Wert	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Van Wert 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
Briarwood Court	0.8 miles	15
Richey	3.8 miles	14
Cavett	5.3 miles	15
Buena Vista (historical)	6.5 miles	14
Shasta (historical)	6.8 miles	14
Ohio City	7.0 miles	14
MacAdam (historical)	7.0 miles	14
Convoy	7.1 miles	14

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 Van Wert	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1012164	The 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 1058096. 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.

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.