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

Waynesfield, Ohio

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1913 and the latest in 1986. It stands in Wayne Township. It lies in ZIP code area 45896. The Survey maps it on the Waynesfield quadrangle. 749 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,063 feet above sea level.

Waynesfield within Auglaize County

Population over time

2 figures

Waynesfield fell from 847 to 749 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	847
2020	749	-98 (-12%)

Then and now

1913 to 1986

The same ground, surveyed 73 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Waynesfield, surveyed 1986

Topographic sheet of Waynesfield, surveyed 1913

Topographic sheets covering this place

17 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

12,567 words on this township

History of Auglaize County, Ohio : with the Indian History of Wapakoneta, and the First Settlement of the County, published 1880 names this settlement in its chapter on Wayne Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Waynesfield, situated in the southwest part of the township, was laid out by B. G. Atkinson, who opened the first store; the first physician was Henry Leaman. It has a good trade, being surrounded by a rich agricultural country, it now has three stores, one hotel, two churches, two physicians, and a steam grist and saw mill.

Passage source: History of Auglaize County, Ohio : with the Indian History of Wapakoneta, and the First Settlement of the County, published 1880.

Byrd Richardson was born in Montgomery County, Va., in 1809. He married Nancy Smiles, and moved to Shelby County, Ohio, in 1830, then moved to St. Johns, this county, in 1831. When they first came to St. Johns, the Indians were still on their reservation. Mrs. Richardson tells ns that she has stayed many nights in the cabins with the Indians, has seen the stakes where it was said they tortured their prisoners. The Chief Blackhoof was buried on Mr. Richardson's farm. All the white people she can remember living near St. Johns, at that time, was James Coleman, Henry Princehonse, and John Rogers. The Indians left for their western homes the ensuing year. Mrs. Richardson could relate many singular incidents connected with the early history, had we the space to give them. They moved to Union township in 1833; from there to Wayne township in the spring of 1834, built a rail pen, and lived in it for six months, when they moved into their house. Mr. Richardson died in 1871. Mrs. Richardson raised a family of seven children, one son and six daughters. The son and one daughter died, leaving five daughters still living in Auglaize County. The father of Mr. Richardson lived to be one hundred and ten years of age, he having come to this county in 1830.

Passage source: History of Auglaize County, Ohio : with the Indian History of Wapakoneta, and the First Settlement of the County, published 1880.

Mrs. Ellen Gossard was born in Ross County, Ohio, in 1828, and came with her father, Moses Ross, to Auglaize County, Ohio, in 1834. She married Philip Gossard in 1851, and raised a family of four children. Her parents were among the first settlers in Wayne township. Her husband enlisted in the 183d regiment O. V. I., in 1864, was wounded, and died at Franklin. Since her husband's death Mrs. Gossard has controlled the home farm. When her husband died there was an indebtedness of $1200 on the land, which she has paid. Her boys were too young to be of much service on the farm. She did the work of a man, viz., ploughing, binding wheat, etc., until her boys were old enough to take charge of the farm.

Passage source: History of Auglaize County, Ohio : with the Indian History of Wapakoneta, and the First Settlement of the County, published 1880.

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 Wayne Township - it names this place 12 more 12 times.

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 598 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 598 specimens collected within 10 miles of Waynesfield between 1896 and 1973: 562 Animalia, 31 Plantae, 5 Fungi. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by C. Clark, Clark, C. (Clarence), Clark, C. F. (Clarence F.) 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
Bovista pila Berk. & M.A.Curtis	1896	Lloyd C. G.	Mt. Lookout
Poria tulipiferae (Schwein.) Cooke	1896	Lloyd C. G.	Mt. Lookout
Irpex Fr.	1897	Lloyd C. G.	Mt. Lookout
Polyporus adustus (Willd.) Fr.	1897	Lloyd C. G.	Mt. Lookout
Dryocampa rubicunda Fabricius, 1793	1916	not recorded	Muchinippi Creek, Myers Rd RM 4.8, 2.2 miles southwest of Lakeview OH, Stokes township
Pedicularis lanceolata Michx.	1926	Genevieve M Leonard; Emery C. Leonard	Chippewah Park, Indian Lake
Percina caprodes (Rafinesque, 1818)	1928	Wickliff, E. L. (Edward L.)	Indian Lake, Hatchery Pond, 0.5 mi N of Lakeview, Stokes township
Ambystoma maculatum (Shaw, 1802)	1929	Franks, R. W. (Roscoe W.)	1 1/2 mi S of Harrod, Allen Co., Ohio
Ambystoma texanum (Matthes, 1855)	1929	Franks, R. W. (Roscoe W.)	1 1/2 mi S of Harrod, Allen Co., Ohio
Etheostoma nigrum Rafinesque, 1820	1930	Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard) & Foster, R. (Robert)	Little Muchinippi Creek, within Stokes township, near Lakeview, Stokes township
Hybopsis biguttatus (Kirtland, 1840)	1930	Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard) & Foster, R. (Robert)	Little Muchinippi Creek, within Stokes township, near Lakeview, Stokes township
Ictalurus natalis (Lesueur, 1819)	1930	Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard) & Foster, R. (Robert)	Auglaize River, within northwest Union township, near Uniopolis, Union township

All 598 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Mines and quarries near this place

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Waynesfield: 2 producers, 1 past producer. 2 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.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Joseph Sand and Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Joseph Sand and Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Wapakoneta Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Auglaize County

Storms near this place

19 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Waynesfield in 19 storm reports between 1996 and 2023: 9 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 flood, 1 tornado. 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 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Waynesfield	$50,000	A newly constructed pole barn was completely destroyed.
May 2019	Tornado (EF0)	Waynesfield	$10,000	The tornado was captured on video from Waynesfield Goshen High School. The tornado snapped a few small trees with trunk diameters approximately 3 inches or less, located around the front parking lot of the high school near North Westminster Street. The tornado then crossed over the main building in the video and emerged behind the school. The tornado was last seen on the video moving east-southeast away from the school, and no further damage was observed nearby. Since small trees sustained the only visible damage, this tornado was classified as a low-end EF0 with winds of approximately 65 mph.
May 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Waynesfield	$10,000	A brick chicken house sustained major damage. A semitruck was overturned on State Route 117 just north of Waynesfield. Numerous trees were downed with penny size hail.
August 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Waynesfield	$5,000	One tree fell and took down a power pole that then hit the corner of a house due to thunderstorm winds.
July 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Waynesfield	$5,000	Numerous trees downed.
April 2009	Hail	Waynesfield	$5,000	no account filed
June 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Waynesfield	$3,000	Several very large trees were knocked down.
April 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Waynesfield	$1,000	Large tree limbs were broken due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
September 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Waynesfield	$1,000	Large branches were reported down due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
April 2019	Flood	Waynesfield	-	Numerous roads were closed across much of the county.
April 2019	Flood	Waynesfield	-	Four roads were closed due to flooding.
July 2017	Hail	Waynesfield	-	There were several reports of dime to quarter sized hail in the Wapakoneta and Waynesfield areas.
September 2015	Hail	Waynesfield	-	no account filed
July 2013	Hail	Waynesfield	-	no account filed
March 2012	Hail	Waynesfield	-	no account filed
September 2010	Hail	Waynesfield	-	no account filed
June 2006	Hail	Waynesfield	-	no account filed
May 1998	Hail	Waynesfield	-	no account filed
May 1996	Hail	Waynesfield	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Auglaize 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
Rineharts (historical)	3.0 miles	14
New Hampshire	3.3 miles	17
Holden	5.0 miles	17
Uniopolis	5.9 miles	14
Saint Johns	6.5 miles	14
Gutman	6.7 miles	14
Slater	7.2 miles	14
Geyer	7.9 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 Waynesfield	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1807210	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 1047633. 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.