Wikipedia:WikiProject Ohio townships

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Some Wikipedians have formed a project to better organize information in articles related to Ohio townships. This page and its subpages contain their suggestions; it is hoped that this project will help to focus the efforts of other Wikipedians. If you would like to help, please inquire on the talk page and see the to-do list there.

Contents

[edit] Title

WikiProject Ohio townships

[edit] Scope

This WikiProject aims to create articles on all of Ohio's civil townships, which are listed List of Ohio townships here.

[edit] Participants

[edit] Goals

To improve township articles.

[edit] Model format

[edit] Title

Articles shall have a title in the form "TOWNSHIP NAME Township, COUNTY NAME County, Ohio", e.g. Oxford Township, Butler County, Ohio. Names should be checked against the list at List of Ohio townships. If a township has a unique name and is not similar to any others, then a redirect at "TOWNSHIP NAME Township, Ohio" should be created. Where there are more than one of the same or similar names, a disambiguation page should be created that lists all the variants, e.g. Union Township, Ohio. The DAB page should be entered into the townships category (see below).

Articles on paper townships should be made as redirects unless there is historical value, e.g. Millcreek Township, Hamilton County, Ohio. Townships that incorporated as a city, e.g. Van Buren Township, Montgomery County, Ohio or which merged with a city should be redirects to the city article and the former township status noted in the lead.

Townships that no longer exist and were not incorporated into a city, e.g. Deerfield Township, Hamilton County, Ohio should have articles explaining their status.

[edit] Lead paragraph

This is the lead from the article on Oxford Township:

Oxford Township, also known as the College Township, is one of thirteen civil townships in the county and is located in the northwestern corner of Butler County, where it meets Preble County, Ohio, and Union County, Indiana. The city of Oxford and Miami University are located here. The Census Bureau counted 24,133 inhabitants in 2000, up from 23,092 in 1990. Excluding the city of Oxford and the village of College Corner there are 2,088 residents of the unincorporated portion of Oxford Township. It comprises one full survey township (R1E T5) in the Congress Lands and is thirty-six square miles in area.

Lead paragraphs should contain:

  1. The name of the township
  2. How many townships are in the county
  3. Its position in the county
  4. If it is one of the corners of the county or borders others, this should be stated
  5. Incorporated places within the township should be noted
  6. The population in 2000 and 1990 should be given and if there is a dramatic change (e.g. Deerfield Township, Warren County, Ohio) an explanation should be given. The population outside the corporate limits of municipalities should also be noted
  7. If it is one of the largest or smallest in area or population, this should be noted
  8. The survey that it is in, e.g. Symmes Purchase, Virginia Military District, should be noted. If it corresponds to a survey township, the range and town numbers should be given.
  9. The area
  10. The derivation of the name
  11. Any special things about the township, e.g. Bath Township, Summit County, Ohio is the home of Jeffrey Dahmer or the Ohio Renaissance Festival is in Massie Township, Warren County, Ohio.

This information does not need to be presented in strict order given because that could result in awkward phrasing, but it is given a guide.

[edit] Maps

For every municipality and census designated place in Ohio, maps have been created. If the township contains one of these, just copy the map to the appropriate place unless you are a map wizard and can create maps of the townships. (See note in next paragraph.) If there are no maps available, insert a thumbnail of the county map. Examples of the maps on Oxford Township and Adams Township, Clinton County, Ohio are depicted.

If you do decide to create maps of the townships, a source to do so exists here: www.dnr.state.oh.us/geosurvey/pdf/cotwpmap.pdf This PDF file from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources contains a map showing all of Ohio's townships, along with the location of each of Ohio's 88 county seats. From this source, and using a good image editor, you may create a countywide map of that county's townships, as has been done for Logan County, Ohio. A county map in a somehwat different format, based on U.S. Census maps [1], has been done for Hancock County, Ohio. All townships, cities, and villages in Hancock County now also have versions of this map showing their location in the county (see for example Allen Township, Hancock County, Ohio). PNG would be the file format of choice for these created maps, which can then be uploaded to Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons.

For more detailed maps you can use the Mapit-US-cityscale template in the External Links section. This will provide links to road and topographic maps as well as satellite images. To use this template put the line

{{Mapit-US-cityscale|latitude|longitude}}

in your external references. Don't put an asterisk in front, the template will create it. The only tricky part is replacing the words "latitude" and "longitude" with the coordinates. The discussion for the template article includes advice on finding coordinates. Another way is to use maps.google.com. Search for the location and double click on the center of the township. This centers the township on the map. This also puts the coordinates into the link that "Link to this page" produces. Right-click on that phrase and copy the link location. Paste it into the township editing window in some space where you can work with it. You will get something like this:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=bath,+ohio&ll=41.168701,-81.636582&spn=0.104736,0.206608&hl=en

The ll parameter has the latitude and longitude. Copy them into the corresponding locations in the Mapit-US-cityscale line and delete the Google URL you just pasted in.

Sample for Bath Township, Ohio:

[edit] Demographics

Bots have been used to create articles on all the cities and villages in Ohio by mining the U.S. Census Bureau data. Thus each municipality's article has detailed information on its population. This data does exist for townships as well and it is the founder's hope to find someone to run a bot to similarly create articles for our townships. See the information here. Where it says "United States" pull down to "County subdivision" and select Ohio. A list of counties will come up. Choose one and the townships will be identified.

An easier source is from Ohio State, here. Click on a county on the map and data can be obtained, including the population figures in each city and township. Clicking on the line "Subcounty data" under demographics, allows one to obtain all sorts of data on each township.

[edit] Historic population figures

If they can be obtained, previous Census data should be listed. If there are data for the township and municipalities within it, create a table to list the data, otherwise display it in a bulleted list. See Marion Township, Clinton County, Ohio for an example of a table, Liberty Township, Butler County, Ohio for an example of a list.

[edit] Creation

The date the township was created should be noted along with who created it. In nearly all cases it will be the county commissioners, but not always. If the township was one of the original ones of the county, this should be noted. The original and subsequent boundaries should be noted. St. Clair Township, Butler County, Ohio's article contains these paragraphs:

One of the original five townships of Butler County, it was erected by the Butler County Court of Quarter Sessions on May 10, 1803, with these boundaries:
Beginning on the west bank of the Miami at the southwest corner of the fractional township No. 1 of the fourth range west of the Miami; thence north to the northern boundary of the county; thence west to the northwest corner of the county; thence south to the southwest corner of the township No. 4 of the first range west of the Miami; thence east to the Miami; thence northeasterly and northwestwardly up the Miami to the place of beginning.

If the township was originally included within another or was divided to form more townships, these facts should also be noted. Again, St. Clair Township says:

The area of the township has been significantly reduced from the original boundaries. Four new townships were created from it: Milford Township and Wayne Township, both on December 2, 1805; Reily Township on December 7, 1807; and Hanover Township (from parts of St. Clair and Ross Townships) on December 2, 1811. What is now Oxford Township was originally within the bounds of St. Clair Township, Oxford having been erected from Milford Township in 1811.
From these reduced borders, which consisted of nineteen whole and nine fractional sections, a substantial area has been withdrawn from the township because of annexations by the city of Hamilton. Most of the area of Hamilton west of the Great Miami River, the township's southern boundary, was originally included in St. Clair Township. In 1857, a paper township, Hamilton, was erected from parts of St. Clair and Fairfield Townships.

[edit] Neighbors

The townships that border should be noted, starting in the south and proceeding clockwise. Again, quoting St. Clair Township:

The southeastern border is the Great Miami River. East of it is Madison Township to the northeast and to the southeast Fairfield Township (but most of this territory has since been incorporated into the cities of Hamilton and Fairfield) and . Ross and Hanover Townships are to the west, Milford Township is to the northwest, and Wayne Township is to the north.

[edit] Government

Virtually all of Ohio's townships are governed on the basic plan descibed in this paragraph, which should be copied and added to all articles:

The township is governed by a three-member board of trustees, who are elected in November of odd-numbered years to a four-year term beginning on the following January 1. Two are elected in the year after the presidential election and one is elected in the year before it. There is also an elected township clerk, who serves a four-year term beginning on April 1 of the year after the election, which is held in November of the year before the presidential election. The trustees and clerk are all chosen in non-partisan elections. Vacancies in the clerkship or on the board of trustees are filled by the remaining trustees.

Townships have recently gained the option to expand to five trustees but few if any have done so. In 2002, Deerfield Township, Warren County, Ohio's voters rejected this idea. Some townships have adopted "home rule" status. If this is the case this should be noted. Special features of a township's government, e.g. having a full-time administrator to run its affairs, operating police and fire departments, handling its own zoning (many let the county do this), should also be noted.

Listing the current officers of a township should be done with a sentence that begins "As of 2005, the officers were . . . "

[edit] History

Details on the township's history can be noted. Famous people who have resided there can also be noted.

[edit] Communications

Details on what post offices and telephone exchanges serve the township should be noted, e.g. Harlan Township, Warren County, Ohio. Try to be specific, such as saying most of the township is in a certain exchange but the southwest corner of the township is in another exchange. Major roads should be noted, e.g. interstates, U.S. and state highways. If an interstate highway passes through, any exits or the lack thereof should be listed. Airports and navigable waterways should be noted too. See the PUCO's page here for detailed maps of the service territories of electric, gas, water, and telephone companies.

[edit] Schools

The school districts that cover the township should be noted. Be specific, as with the post offices and telephone exchanges.

See the excellent maps of school districts on the PUCO's site, herem which are PDF files and very detailed. (However, some are outdated, e.g. the Butler and Warren maps do not include the recently created Monroe Local School District.)

Another way to learn what districts cover each township is to consult the "rates of taxation" each County Treasurer is required by law to issue. For example, here are the Warren County rates for 2004. Under the first township, Clearcreek, we see that parts of it are in the Springboro Community City, Lebanon City, Franklin City, and Wayne Local School Districts.

A list of all districts in a county should be posted on the county article, as has been done with Warren, Clinton, and Butler Counties.

Note: No official position has been rendered on titling articles on school districts. My proposed form is DISTRICT NAME DISTRICT TYPE School District, COUNTY NAME County, Ohio, e.g. Springboro Community City School District, Warren County, Ohio. See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Ohio school districts) for a discussion.

[edit] External links

As most townships will are sparsely populated, few have web-sites. Those that do should be listed. All should link to the county home page, if any, and other sites relevant to the township or the county in general. If a city or village is within its bounds, its site should be noted.

[edit] References

Try for print sources. Many counties in the 19th century had comprehensive county histories printed, e.g. Josiah Morrow's 1883 history for Warren County. Many county historical or genealogical societies have reprinted these volumes or compiled more recent collections, e.g. Clinton County. Some of these, e.g. the Warren County history, have been transcribed and posted on-line. Citations to atlases and maps are also appropriate, e.g. Vernon Township, Clinton County, Ohio and Milford Township, Butler County, Ohio.

[edit] Categories

Every township should be listed in Category:Townships in Ohio and its county's category, e.g. Category:Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

[edit] Counties started

These counties have had articles manually created for all their townships. Butler, Clinton, and Warren were done by PedanticallySpeaking. Logan and Portage were done by SwissCelt. Hancock was done by Ruhrfisch.

  • Butler
  • Clinton
  • Hamilton (stubs created for all)
  • Hancock (stubs for all)
  • Logan
  • Portage (includes previously existing articles for Aurora, Brimfield, and Streetsboro)
  • Warren

There are articles on some other townships, but not on an organized county-wide basis.

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