Local events in Corwin
Nothing is posted for Corwin itself yet; here is what is on within 10 miles. All local events in Corwin
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Checked October 20; the events page is refreshed daily.
How Corwin began
Corwin is a small village in Wayne Township, Warren County, on the Little Miami River directly across from Waynesville. It was laid out in 1844 by John Johnson and Joel W. Johnson in anticipation of the Little Miami Railroad, which reached the site in 1845, and was named for Thomas Corwin of nearby Lebanon, Ohio governor, U.S. senator and Treasury secretary, rather than the originally proposed name "Johnstown." As a railroad depot town it grew its own grain elevators, a canning company, a coal yard, lumberyard, hotel, school and post office (1898-1918), staying a separate community and government from Waynesville across the river. Today the old rail bed through the village is part of the Little Miami Scenic Trail, and the 2020 census counted 484 residents.
Settled 1844, platted 1844, by John Johnson and Joel W. Johnson.
Where the name comes from
The name "Johnstown" was considered for the new depot village, after founders John and Joel Johnson, but it was named "Corwin" instead for Thomas Corwin of Lebanon, Ohio, who had served as Warren County prosecuting attorney (1818-1828), U.S. congressman, Governor of Ohio (1840-1842), U.S. Senator (1845-1850) and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1850-1853).
Before the town
No source found records a Native village, camp, trail or treaty line specific to the small depot site of Corwin itself; the village was platted in 1844, decades after the Treaty of Greenville (1795) opened this part of the Little Miami valley to American settlement. The broader Little Miami valley in Warren County has substantial mound-builder evidence, most prominently the Hopewell-era Fort Ancient earthworks about seven miles southeast of Lebanon and the Stubbs Earthwork near the confluence of the Little Miami River and Bigfoot Run, both well outside Corwin's immediate site. The Shawnee were the historic nation most associated with the Little Miami and Scioto headwaters region into the early 1800s, under reservations following the Treaty of Greenville (1795) and later treaties. For fuller county-level detail on prehistoric cultures, historic nations and treaty cessions across Warren County, see the county history file rather than this village-level entry.
Nations recorded here: Shawnee, Hopewell culture, Adena culture, Fort Ancient culture.
- Fort Ancient (earthwork) — Washington Township, Warren County, on the Little Miami River, about 7 miles southeast of Lebanon, Hopewell culture (1st century BC - 6th century AD); later occupied by the Fort Ancient culture (11th-15th centuries) (en.wikipedia.org)
- Stubbs Earthwork (earthwork) — Warren County, Ohio, at the confluence of the Little Miami River and Bigfoot Run, Hopewell culture (earthworks.site)
Timeline
- — The Treaty of Greenville, ending the Northwest Indian War, cedes most of the future state of Ohio, including the Little Miami valley around the future Corwin site, opening it to American settlement.
- — The Little Miami Railroad is chartered to connect Cincinnati and Xenia, Ohio, the line that would later create the village of Corwin.
- — John Johnson and Joel W. Johnson lay out the village on the Little Miami River opposite Waynesville, anticipating the railroad, and name it Corwin for Thomas Corwin of Lebanon.
- — The Little Miami Railroad is completed through Corwin to Xenia, and the Waynesville depot of the line is built on the Corwin side of the river, making it one of the busiest depots on the railroad for passengers and freight.
- — On February 13, president-elect Abraham Lincoln's inaugural train passes through Corwin on the Little Miami Railroad en route from Cincinnati to Xenia and on to Washington.
- — A post office named Corwin is established in the village.
- — The Waynesville Canning Company, specializing in sweet corn, is established at Corwin, later opening a second factory in Yellow Springs.
- — The Corwin post office closes.
- — The Corwin Council House and Jail, at 946 Harveysburg Road in the village, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 30.
Stories
A railroad depot town, not a suburb of Waynesville
When the Little Miami Railroad reached the Little Miami River across from Waynesville in 1845, the new settlement founders John and Joel Johnson had platted the year before did not simply become an extension of the older village on the far bank. Corwin built its own depot, grain elevators, coal yard, lumberyard, blacksmith shop, stockyards and hotel, and by the turn of the twentieth century was, together with Waynesville, a thriving shipping point for canned corn, hogs and tobacco. Corwin kept its own school system, post office and municipal government rather than being annexed into Waynesville, and local historians describe the two villages as "sister" communities separated only by the river. The name itself marks that independence: early residents considered calling the place "Johnstown" after its founders, but chose to honor Thomas Corwin of Lebanon instead.
Lincoln's train through Corwin
On February 13, 1861, president-elect Abraham Lincoln rode the Little Miami Railroad from Cincinnati toward Xenia on his roundabout journey to his Washington inauguration, passing through Corwin among the line's stops. The village bore the name of Thomas Corwin, the Warren County lawyer and politician who by then had already served as Ohio's governor, a U.S. senator and Treasury secretary. Telegraph poles that once carried news up and down the line still stand along the rail bed, now the Little Miami Scenic Trail, as one of the few physical traces of that 1861 passage.
Photographs
Photo: Nyttend (Wikimedia Commons), public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · waynesgenhis.blogspot.com · warren.ohgenweb.org · en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · philadelphiabuildings.org · corwinohio.us · en.wikipedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · littlemiamistatepark.org · littlemiamistatepark.org · en.wikipedia.org · earthworks.site · britannica.com
Water
Mostly private wells The water here
- Waynesville Village94% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
- Western Water Company3% of residentsLittle Miami River valley wells (51%) plus Cincinnati Ohio River water (49%)
- Greene County - southwest Reg Water2% of residentsGroundwater wells (2 wells)
Its ZIP codes
Each ZIP code that touches Corwin, with the share of its residents who live here and the same headline figures as the ZIP page.
| ZIP | Share | Water | Radon | Home value | Schools | Flood |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45068 Wayne Township and Waynesville | 4% | Mostly private wells | 4.7 pCi/L average radon | Appraisal records without year built | Wayne Local · 4.5 stars overall | 3.6% of residents in the 1% floodplain |
Local government
Who holds office in Corwin, how its elections and ballot issues came out, and the state auditor's record.
Elections for office
| Date | Office | Candidates and votes |
|---|---|---|
| 2017-11-07 | Member of Council | Scott Fitzsimmons 78, 100.0% |
| 2017-11-07 | Mayor | Dennis Oszakiewski 8, 33.33% |
Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.
Auditor of State record
- Fiscal emergency: declared 1998-11-12, released 2005-09-29. source
- Fiscal watch: declared 1998-04-20, released 1998-11-12. source
- Basic Audit, 2023 to 2024, released 2025-04-22
The county
Warren County: 12 ZIP codes, 24 cities, villages and townships, 222,825 people.
Nearby places
Rain and snow
How much has actually fallen on Corwin, day by day, from 1893 to now. Daily totals, not averages.
- rain, last 30 days
- 0.72 in
- 2026-09-30 to 2026-10-29
- rain so far in 2026
- 46.8 in
- 9.8 in above normal for the date
- snow so far in 2026
- 18.7 in
- a normal year brings 20.2 in
- a normal year
- 43.8 in
- average of 30 years, 1991-2020
| Month | Rain (in) | Snow (in) | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | 0.72 | — | 29 |
| September 2026 | 6.06 | — | 30 |
| August 2026 | 9.24 | — | 31 |
| July 2026 | 3.51 | — | 31 |
| June 2026 | 4.64 | — | 30 |
| May 2026 | 7.06 | — | 31 |
| April 2026 | 3.94 | — | 30 |
| March 2026 | 7.81 | 0.6 | 31 |
| February 2026 | 2.40 | 5.2 | 28 |
| January 2026 | 1.43 | 12.8 | 31 |
| December 2025 | 2.54 | 10.4 | 31 |
| November 2025 | 3.19 | 3.3 | 30 |
| Wettest year | 2011 — 62.2 in |
|---|---|
| Driest year | 1953 — 25.4 in |
| Snowiest year | 1920 — 48.0 in |
| Wettest day on record | 6 October 1910 — 4.47 in |
| Heaviest snowfall in a day | 17 February 1910 — 10.00 in |
| Deepest snow on the ground | 14 January 1982 — 22.01 in |
Estimated, not measured. No rain gauge has ever stood inside Corwin, so every figure here is worked out from the gauges around it - the nearest ones weighted most. Treat them as close estimates rather than readings.
48,875 days of records, 1893-01-01 to 2026-10-29. Source: NOAA NCEI GHCN-Daily, 3,240 gauges in and around Ohio. A day is "gauged" when a gauge standing inside the boundary reported it, and the value is the mean of those gauges. Otherwise it is interpolated by inverse distance from every gauge reporting within 50 miles. Nothing is carried forward, back-filled or smoothed. Against NOAA nClimDiv county monthly precipitation over 136,848 complete county-months (checked 2026-10-31): correlation 0.9515, median absolute difference 0.217 in a month. Built 2026-10-31 from the Cracked Buckeye precipitation archive. Snow is the softer number — snowfall is measured by hand with a ruler, no agency publishes a gridded county snowfall series, and blowing snow defeats every observer.
Quick answers
What county is Corwin, Ohio in?
Corwin is a village in Warren County, Ohio, with 484 residents.
When was Corwin, Ohio founded?
Corwin was settled 1844; laid out 1844. Founders on record: John Johnson and Joel W. Johnson. Source
How did Corwin, Ohio get its name?
The name "Johnstown" was considered for the new depot village, after founders John and Joel Johnson, but it was named "Corwin" instead for Thomas Corwin of Lebanon, Ohio, who had served as Warren County prosecuting attorney (1818-1828), U.S. congressman, Governor of Ohio (1840-1842), U.S. Source
What ZIP code is Corwin, Ohio?
Most of Corwin is in ZIP code 45068.
Where does Corwin, Ohio get its water?
The main water source for Corwin (Waynesville Village): Mostly private wells.
Cite this page
Cite this page as:
Cracked Buckeye, "Corwin, Warren County", https://crackedbuckeye.com/place/corwin/, built 2026-10-31, accessed [date].
How to cite · Report a correction · Built 2026-10-31
