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

Winchester, Ohio

10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1918 and the latest in 1991. It stands in Winchester Township. It lies in ZIP code area 45697. The Survey maps it on the Winchester quadrangle. 987 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 971 feet above sea level.

Winchester within Adams County

Population over time

2 figures

Winchester fell from 1,051 to 987 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	1,051
2020	987	-64 (-6%)

Then and now

1918 to 1991

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 Winchester, surveyed 1991

Topographic sheet of Winchester, surveyed 1918

Topographic sheets covering this place

10 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 Winchester township, The inset identifies its exact source book and publication year.

From A History of Adams County, Ohio, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Including Character Sketches of the Prominent Persons Identified with the First Century of the Country's Growth .., published 1900 - Winchester Township

David Sinton Pioneer Character Sketches 619

studied medicine with Dr. William B. Willson, and had qualified himself for a physician, when death cut him off in his early manhood. He had just begun the practice of medicine at the time of his death. One of David Sinton's sisters never left Ireland, but married there. His other sister, who came with the remainder of the family to this country, married John Sparks, the banker, and died at Union Landing of the cholera, in 1833.

Read the rest of this passage

In the county-history sources

463,438 words on this township

Caldwell's Illustrated Historical Atlas of Adams County, Ohio. 1797-1880, published 1880 names this settlement in its chapter on Winchester Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Was established about 1820, and called Scott, from the name of the township in which it was then situated, Winchester not then being a part of Scott. The office retained this name until April 1, 1880, when it was changed to Winchester.

Passage source: Caldwell's Illustrated Historical Atlas of Adams County, Ohio. 1797-1880, published 1880.

The history of the Winchester public schools extends over a period of seventy-two years, during the first fifty-seven of which it existed as a sub-district, first of Scott, then of Winchester township. A correct chronology of the events of this period would be difficult to obtain. No certain record can be found, and we are forced to rely solely upon the personal recollections of individuals.

Passage source: Caldwell's Illustrated Historical Atlas of Adams County, Ohio. 1797-1880, published 1880.

The history of this church cannot be given as fully as is desirable, owing to the fact that there are several breaks in the records of its earlier transactions; we give, however, its history, with as much regularity and consecutiveness as the records will permit.

Passage source: Caldwell's Illustrated Historical Atlas of Adams County, Ohio. 1797-1880, 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 Winchester Township - it names this place 146 more 146 times.

Fires near this place

19 since 2004

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 19 fires within 5 miles of Winchester between 2004 and 2020, burning about 55 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 2 were 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	11
Equipment and vehicle use	5
Arson/incendiarism	2
Natural	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
30 September 2017	Equipment and vehicle use	25 acres	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	9909
13 September 2007	Equipment and vehicle use	10 acres	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	not named
9 April 2008	Natural	under an acre	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	not named
5 April 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	16059
5 April 2020	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	16057
4 April 2013	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	not named
5 March 2006	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	not named
4 March 2006	Debris and open burning	6.0 acres	Ohio Department of Natural Resources	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Adams County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 49 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 49 specimens collected within 10 miles of Winchester between 1900 and 1975: 39 Animalia, 4 Fungi, 4 Plantae, 2 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by C. H. Krekeler, N. Krekeler, D. L. Donaldson, Dury, R. (Ralph) 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
Puccinia smilacis Schwein.	1900	W.A. Kellerman
Micropterus punctulatus (Rafinesque, 1819)	1928	Trautman, M. B. (Milton Bernard)	West Fork Ohio Brush Creek, within Scott township, near Seaman, Scott township
Plethodon cinereus (Green, 1818)	1930	Dury, R. (Ralph)	Liberty Twp., Adams Co., Ohio
Plethodon glutinosus (Green, 1818)	1930	Dury, R. (Ralph)	Liberty Twp., Adams Co., Ohio
Orconectes rusticus (Girard, 1852)	1938	R. Rhoades	Branch To Cherry Fork, at Harshasville, Oliver Township
Enodia anthedon Clark, 1936	1939	not recorded	Winchester
Pimephales promelas promelas Rafinesque, 1820	1941	Pelton, J. Z. (John Z.)	unnamed water, Adams Co (Mr. Bests farm), n/a, township n/a
Lestes dryas Kirby, 1890	1943	H. Price	Six Mile Creek, Emerald Township
Terrapene carolina (Linnaeus, 1758)	1947	RICHARD KNOTTS	3 MI S E OF MACON
Pseudanophthalmus krameri Krekeler, 1973	1962	C. H. Krekeler, N. Krekeler	Cave Hill Cave, 5 mi NW of West Union
Ambystoma barbouri Kraus & Petranka, 1989	1963	Ledgerwood, C. R., Bubaker, J. A. & Moore, F. J. (Frank J.)	2 mi S of Adams Co. line on SR 247, Scott Twp, Adams Co., Ohio
Desmognathus fuscus (Rafinesque, 1820)	1963	Ledgerwood, C. R., Bubaker, J. A. & Moore, F. J. (Frank J.)	2 mi S of Adams Co. line on SR 247, Scott Twp, Adams Co., Ohio

All 49 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Storms near this place

19 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Winchester in 19 storm reports between 1995 and 2024: 11 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 2 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
April 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Winchester	$500,000	Thunderstorm winds caused significant damage to the town. Trees were downed, sheds destroyed, several roofs blown off, and a church porch was destroyed. The winds were estimated to average 60 to 70 mph with gusts to around 100 mph.
March 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Winchester	$20,000	The frame of a commercial barn was blown fifty feet from the foundation.
December 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Winchester	$10,000	Power lines and trees were blown down due to thunderstorm winds.
June 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Winchester	$10,000	Trees were blown down across western portions of the county.
June 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Winchester	$5,000	A roof was partially torn off an old barn.
September 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Winchester	$4,000	A few trees were downed near State Route 32 and Graces Run Road.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Winchester	$3,000	Trees were downed.
August 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Winchester	$3,000	Trees were downed.
June 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Winchester	$3,000	Trees downed.
August 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Winchester	$2,000	Several trees were reported knocked down.
November 2007	Hail	Winchester	$2,000	no account filed
April 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Winchester	$1,000	A tree was reported down due to damaging thunderstorm winds.
June 2009	Flash Flood	Winchester	-	High water was found on State routes 247 and 41 north of West Union, and on State Route 136 near Cherry Fork.
August 2003	Flash Flood	Winchester	-	Several roads were flooded.
April 2020	Hail	Winchester	-	no account filed
March 2011	Hail	Winchester	-	no account filed
March 2011	Hail	Winchester	-	no account filed
May 2011	Hail	Winchester	-	no account filed
June 2010	Hail	Winchester	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Adams 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
Mount Zion (historical)	3.2 miles	11
Emerald	4.1 miles	14
Seaman	4.2 miles	11
Mount Leigh (historical)	4.2 miles	11
Cherry Fork	4.2 miles	11
Youngsville	4.6 miles	11
Buck Run (historical)	4.8 miles	11
Eckmansville	5.3 miles	9

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 Winchester	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q1095710	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 1049334. 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.