Local events in Melrose
Nothing is posted for Melrose itself yet; here is what is on within 20 miles. All local events in Melrose
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Checked October 20; the events page is refreshed daily.
How Melrose began
Melrose, in the southwest of Brown Township, Paulding County, sits on the NKP railroad and State Route 613 near the old Miami and Erie Canal. Its post office opened in 1882 and ran until 1984. The village recorded its nineteenth-century peak of 430 residents in 1890, hosted a reunion of the 38th Ohio Volunteer Infantry on September 13, 1889, and graduated its first high-school class in 1919. The 1913 flood and a 1915 fire hit the village, and the canal aqueduct south of town was removed in 1938. It has held about 190 to 320 residents since 1900 and counted 233 in 2020.
Where the name comes from
Not documented in the sources checked.
Before the town
No Native American village, mound, or treaty site specific to Melrose is documented in the sources checked. The village sits in Brown Township, which also holds the documented Ottawa Oquanoxa Reserve and the community of Charloe. Charloe was Paulding County's original county seat, laid out about 1840 on the Auglaize River and the Miami Extension Canal, and stood on the site of a village belonging to an Ottawa leader named, per Henry Howe's 1888 travelling notes, "Ockenoxy" (Oquanoxa); the community was later renamed for Charloe Peter, a separate Ottawa chief remembered for his eloquence.
Nations recorded here: Odawa (Ottawa).
Timeline
- — A post office named Melrose opens; it will operate until 1984.
- — Veterans of the 38th Ohio Volunteer Infantry hold a reunion at Melrose, recorded in a photograph.
- — Melrose records its nineteenth-century peak population of 430.
- — A telephone line is in operation between Melrose and Oakwood.
- — Melrose records 383 residents.
- — The Great Flood of 1913 hits many Paulding County communities, especially Oakwood and Melrose.
- — A fire in Melrose destroys a hardware store, livery stable and residence; residents and a delegation from Oakwood keep it from spreading.
- — The new Melrose School opens.
- — Melrose High School holds its first commencement, with graduates including Lenora Shirley, Iva Essex and Esther Zeigler.
- — Melrose High School loses its charter, and its students are transferred to Oakwood High School.
- — Population falls to a low of 188.
- — Work crews remove the Miami and Erie Canal aqueduct south of Melrose.
- — The Melrose post office, open since 1882, is discontinued.
- — The census records 233 residents.
Stories
A Village Between the Canal and the Rail
Melrose grew up beside two lines of travel and lost both. The Miami and Erie Canal ran just south of the village, with an aqueduct south of the village, while the NKP track crosses State Street (now Route 613) in the middle of town. The post office opened in 1882 and the population hit 430 in 1890. In 1913, according to the Paulding County Progress's Visions timeline, the Great Flood hit many county communities, 'especially Oakwood and Melrose.' A 1915 fire took a hardware store, a livery stable and a house until neighbors and a delegation of Oakwood men stopped it. The village built a new school in 1916 and graduated its first high-school class in 1919, but the high school lost its charter in 1921 and its students were sent to Oakwood. In 1938 work crews took out the canal aqueduct south of town, and the post office closed in 1984.
Photographs
Photo: Brycesteiner (Bryce Steiner), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Nyttend, public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Nyttend, public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · archive.org · en.wikipedia.org · postalhistory.com · commons.wikimedia.org · archive.org · commons.wikimedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · west2k.com
Water
Mostly private wells The water here
- Oakwood Village100% of residentsGroundwater wells (4 wells)
Its ZIP codes
Each ZIP code that touches Melrose, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45861 Melrose | 97% | Mostly private wells | Too few radon tests | Appraisal records without year built | Paulding Exempted Village · 3.5 stars overall | 0.0% of residents in the 1% floodplain |
| 45873 Brown Township and Oakwood | 1% | Mostly private wells | Too few radon tests | Appraisal records without year built | Paulding Exempted Village · 3.5 stars overall | 13% of residents in the 1% floodplain |
Local government
Who holds office in Melrose, how its elections and ballot issues came out, and the state auditor's record.
Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 5 of 6 passed; of those asking for new or higher taxes, 0 of 1.
Ballot issues
| Date | Issue | For | Against | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-11-05 | 7: 7. Proposed Tax Levy (Renewal) - Village of Melrose | 54 | 19 | Passed (73.97% for) |
| 2024-11-05 | 8: 8. Proposed Tax Levy (Renewal) - Village of Melrose | 56 | 18 | Passed (75.68% for) |
| 2024-11-05 | 9: 9. Proposed Tax Levy (Renewal) - Village of Melrose | 55 | 19 | Passed (74.32% for) |
| 2020-11-03 | 4: 4 Proposed Tax Levy (Renewal, 0.6 mill, 2020-2024, 5 yrs, Fire) Melrose Village (0.6 mills, renewal) | 41 | 31 | Passed (56.94% for) |
| 2020-11-03 | 5: 5 Proposed Tax Levy (Renewal, 1.2 mills, 5 yrs, 2020-2024, Fire) Melrose Village (1.2 mills, renewal) | 39 | 32 | Passed (54.93% for) |
| 2020-11-03 | 16: 16 Referendum on Ordinance No.19-05 (By Petition, Parking Regulations) Melrose Village | 35 | 37 | Failed (48.61% for) |
| 2019-11-05 | Issue: Melrose Vill,additional,CE,2 mills,5 years,19-23 (2.0 mills, additional) | 14 | 27 | Failed (34.15% for) |
Elections for office
| Date | Office | Candidates and votes |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-11-02 | Member of Council | Angie Pease 22, 40.0%; James Smith 7, 12.73%; Write-In: Dustin Dotson 13, 23.64%; Write-In: Bradley W. Pease 13, 23.64% |
| 2019-11-05 | Member of Council | Tammy L. Dotson 23, 37.1%; Shawn Gribble 21, 33.87%; John L. Guyton 18, 29.03% |
| 2019-11-05 | Mayor | Janet Stroup 23, 100.0% |
| 2015-11-03 | Mayor | Janet Stroup 44, 100.0% |
| 2015-11-03 | Council | John L. Guyton Sr. 46, 100.0% |
Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.
Auditor of State record
- Fiscal emergency: declared 2008-12-17, released 2013-05-09. source
- Basic Audit, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-04-09
- Basic Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-10-15
The county
Paulding County: 9 ZIP codes, 21 cities, villages and townships, 17,637 people.
Nearby places
Rain and snow
How much has actually fallen on Melrose, day by day, from 1893 to now. Daily totals, not averages.
- rain, last 30 days
- 0.89 in
- 2026-09-30 to 2026-10-29
- rain so far in 2026
- 33.0 in
- about normal for the date
- snow so far in 2026
- 14.7 in
- a normal year brings 25.1 in
- a normal year
- 38.1 in
- average of 30 years, 1991-2020
| Month | Rain (in) | Snow (in) | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | 0.89 | — | 29 |
| September 2026 | 3.93 | — | 30 |
| August 2026 | 5.32 | — | 31 |
| July 2026 | 3.46 | — | 31 |
| June 2026 | 2.93 | — | 30 |
| May 2026 | 3.25 | — | 31 |
| April 2026 | 7.63 | — | 30 |
| March 2026 | 3.67 | 0.6 | 31 |
| February 2026 | 0.61 | 2.9 | 28 |
| January 2026 | 1.30 | 11.2 | 31 |
| December 2025 | 1.59 | 6.2 | 31 |
| November 2025 | 1.43 | 6.4 | 30 |
| Wettest year | 2011 — 53.5 in |
|---|---|
| Driest year | 1963 — 23.6 in |
| Snowiest year | 2014 — 60.7 in |
| Wettest day on record | 21 August 2007 — 5.18 in |
| Heaviest snowfall in a day | 28 February 1900 — 10.92 in |
| Deepest snow on the ground | 9 February 1982 — 24.56 in |
Estimated, not measured. No rain gauge has ever stood inside Melrose, 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.
48,689 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 Melrose, Ohio in?
Melrose is a village in Paulding County, Ohio, with 233 residents.
How did Melrose, Ohio get its name?
Not documented in the sources checked. Source
What ZIP code is Melrose, Ohio?
Most of Melrose is in ZIP code 45861.
Where does Melrose, Ohio get its water?
The main water source for Melrose (Oakwood Village): Mostly private wells.
Cite this page
Cite this page as:
Cracked Buckeye, "Melrose, Paulding County", https://crackedbuckeye.com/place/melrose/, built 2026-10-31, accessed [date].
How to cite · Report a correction · Built 2026-10-31
