Block
Watertown, Ohio
16 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Watertown Township. It lies in ZIP code area 45786. It stands on Painter Run. The Survey maps it on the Watertown quadrangle.
Then and now
1902 to 1994The same ground, surveyed 92 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
Compare 1902 against another survey:
Topographic sheets covering this place
16 sheetsMatched 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.
- 1902 USGS Parkersburg quadrangle1:62500
- 1904 USGS Parkersburg quadrangle1:62500
- 1904 USGS Parkersburg quadrangle1:62500
- 1904 USGS Parkersburg quadrangle1:62500
- 1904 USGS Parkersburg quadrangle1:62500
- 1904 USGS Parkersburg quadrangle1:62500
- 1949 USGS Clarksburg quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Clarksburg quadrangle1:250000
- 1956 USGS Clarksburg quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Watertown quadrangle1:24000
- 1960 USGS Watertown quadrangle1:24000
- 1960 USGS Watertown quadrangle1:24000
- 1961 USGS Clarksburg quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Parkersburg quadrangle1:100000
- 1988 USGS Clarksburg quadrangle1:250000
- 1994 USGS Watertown quadrangle1:24000
In the county-history sources
18,496 words on this townshipHistory of Washington County, Ohio, published 1881 names this settlement in its chapter on Watertown Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.
WATERTOWN in extent of territory is the largest township in Washington county. From the southeastern corner to the northwestern is a distance of twelve miles, and forty-two and one-half miles of area lie within its boundaries. About one-third of this area was originally Ohio company land, and was laid out in one hundred and sixty acre lots; the remaining two-thirds was a part of the donation tracts set apart by the Ohio company for the encouragement of settlement. Rainbow allotment, South Branch allotment, North Branch allotment, are included in this township. A part of Between Rain-
Passage source: History of Washington County, Ohio, published 1881.
Watertown is chiefly drained by Wolf creek, the two branches of which unite in the northern part. The east branch, which rises in Warren township, takes almost a direct northward course in Watertown. The hills along its valley are not as abrupt as those in most other parts of the county. Back from the creek valley the surface is comparatively level except along the tributaries, where the hills reaching to the plain are steep, but not abrupt. The west branch flows into Watertown from Morgan county, and joins the east branch near the Waterford line. This stream flows alternately between regular and picturesque hills and through beautiful valleys, which spread out into fertile bottoms. The part of the township drained by the west branch is the most hilly and broken. Rainbow creek carries off the waters of the northeastern part of the township.
Passage source: History of Washington County, Ohio, published 1881.
This township is generally finely situated for agricultural purposes, but the soil is not as fertile as that in some other portions of the county. The rock strata, by the disintegration of which soil is mostly formed, is shale and sandstone with very little limestone. The heavy stratum of limestone in the bed of the west branch of Wolf creek does not crop out anywhere on the hills, and can only be made available by artificial methods. A seam of slaty coal appears near the village of Watertown.
Passage source: History of Washington County, Ohio, published 1881.
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 Watertown Township - it names this place 60 more 60 times.
Fires near this place
19 since 2013Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 19 fires within 5 miles of Watertown between 2013 and 2020, burning about 35 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 burning | 12 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 September 2020 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 15839 |
| 25 June 2016 | Smoking | under an acre | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 5045 |
| 7 April 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 15177 |
| 27 April 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4.0 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | not named |
| 20 April 2016 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 4612 |
| 9 March 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 15509 |
| 27 March 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 15105 |
| 24 March 2019 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Ohio Department of Natural Resources | 15103 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Specimens collected near this place
12 of 690 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 690 specimens collected within 10 miles of Watertown between 1888 and 1974: 653 Animalia, 32 Plantae, 5 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. D. Selby, Adams, N.; Adams, S., Albaugh, D. W. (Douglas W.) 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 | Species | Year | Collected by | Where, as recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Petrova houseri Miller, 1959 | 1954 | W. Miller | Veto |
 | Medicago lupulina L. | 1961 | Robert Gray; Charles O. Wingo Jr. | Route 21, 3 miles north of Marietta. |
 | Vicia villosa Roth | 1961 | Robert Gray; Charles O. Wingo Jr. | Route 21, 3 miles north of Marietta. |
 | Ammocrypta pellucida (Putnam, 1863) | 1888 | C. Gilbert & J. Henshall | Beverly, Ohio, Muskingum River. |
.jpg) | Crystallaria cincotta Welsh & Wood, 2008 | 1888 | Gilbert, C. & Henshall, J. A. (James A.) | Muskingum River, dst Beverly dam RM 24.8, 0.6 miles west of Beverly OH, Waterford township |
 | Hypentelium nigricans (Lesueur, 1817) | 1888 | C. Gilbert & J. Henshall | Beverly, Ohio, Muskingum River. |
 | Notropis whipplei (Girard, 1856) | 1888 | C. Gilbert & J. Henshall | Beverly, Ohio |
 | Percopsis omiscomaycus (Walbaum, 1792) | 1888 | C. Gilbert & J. Henshall | Beverly, Ohio, Muskingum River. |
 | Pimephales vigilax (Baird & Girard, 1853) | 1888 | C. Gilbert & J. Henshall | Beverly, Ohio, Muskingum River. |
 | Eragrostis hypnoides (Lam.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb. | 1896 | A. D. Selby | Rainbow. |
 | Cylindrosporium padi P.Karst. | 1910 | W. T. Mitchell & Son | Beverly |
 | Ustilago residua G.P.Clinton | 1912 | Hauser J. W. | Washington Co. |
All 690 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Storms near this place
6 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Watertown in 6 storm reports between 1994 and 2026: 3 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. The reports record 2 injuries. 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 2001 | Lightning | Watertown | 2 hurt | Two men were stuck by separate lightning bolts. One was in Muskingum Township, the other was from Waterford Township. They were treated and released from Marietta hospitals. |
| September 1994 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | $5,000 | ,,,,,,,,,Hail (1.25) Trees were downed. Some crops were damaged by large hail. |
| April 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Watertown | $1,000 | Large branches were blown down. |
| April 2026 | Hail | Watertown | - | no account filed |
| February 2023 | Hail | Watertown | - | no account filed |
| February 2023 | Hail | Watertown | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Churchtown | 4.5 miles | 16 | |
| Barlow | 4.9 miles | 16 | |
| Fleming | 5.3 miles | 16 | |
| Waterford | 5.3 miles | 14 | |
| Wolf Creek | 5.3 miles | 16 | |
| Beverly | 5.7 miles | 14 | |
| McAvan | 6.0 miles | 16 | |
| Layman | 6.5 miles | 16 |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1049298. 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.
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.