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Wards

Ghost town · Putnam County, Ohio

Ottawa quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1908, 1:62,500)
Ottawa quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1908, 1:62,500) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Wards is a ghost town in Putnam County, Ohio. It is one of 9 former communities in Putnam County on the federal names register. That ranks the county 26th among the 87 Ohio counties with a vanished settlement on record.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Wards as a historical populated place on the Ottawa topographic quadrangle: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 41.1031° N, 84.0658° W.

Key facts

USGS quadrangleOttawa
Elevation746 ft
Nearest living townMiller City, OH
Distance to it3.3 miles
GNIS feature ID1050096
Coordinates41.10311, -84.06578

Open the location on a map

Then and now

Drag the slider: the old USGS map on the left, the same ground from the air today on the right. Both cover the same 1.9-mile square centred on the recorded location.

Wards today, aerial view
Ottawa quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1908, 1:62,500)

Left: Ottawa quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1908, 1:62,500), U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection. Right: The same ground today: NAIP aerial imagery, USDA Farm Service Agency, National Agriculture Imagery Program (via USGS). Both public domain.

What's there now

Wards is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Miller City, OH (population 141), about 3.3 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 746 feet above sea level. The aerial view above shows what covers the ground today. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Questions

Where is Wards?

Wards is in Putnam County, Ohio, at 41.1031, -84.0658.

How many ghost towns are in Putnam County?

Putnam County, Ohio has 9 ghost towns on record at Wayfarrow.

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-06.