Local events in Pleasant Plain
Nothing is posted for Pleasant Plain itself yet; here is what is on within 10 miles. All local events in Pleasant Plain
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Checked October 20; the events page is refreshed daily.
How Pleasant Plain began
Pleasant Plain is a tiny farming village in Harlan Township, Warren County, Ohio, on the former Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad line. It was laid out by Samuel Craig on November 13, 1852 as New Columbia, and a post office opened there in 1851; the village's name was later changed to Pleasant Plain to match the post office designation, with sources disagreeing on whether that happened about 1860 or in 1876. It grew slowly through small platted additions in the 1850s-1870s and briefly supported a steam flour mill, two churches, a hotel, and general stores, but has remained agricultural and very small ever since, with a 2020 census population of 129. This is the Warren County Pleasant Plain (not the similarly named place sometimes confused with Clermont County), in Harlan Township with ZIP code 45162, per the official Warren County government site.
Platted 1852-11-13, by Samuel Craig, as "New Columbia," 32 lots.
Where the name comes from
The 1882 county history says the village was laid out by Samuel Craig on November 13, 1852 and originally named New Columbia by him; the name was changed to Pleasant Plain by an act of the legislature about 1860, matching the post office name. No reason for the name Pleasant Plain is given.
Before the town
No source found that names a specific Native village, trail, mound, or encounter at Pleasant Plain or in Harlan Township. Warren County as a whole holds documented prehistoric earthwork activity, most notably the Fort Ancient hilltop enclosure (built by the Hopewell culture) elsewhere in the county, and the part of the county east of the Little Miami River lay within the Virginia Military District opened to settlement after the Treaty of Greenville (1795), which ceded most of the future southern and eastern Ohio to the United States by Wyandot, Shawnee, Lenape (Delaware), Miami, and other nations party to it. None of this is tied to Harlan Township or Pleasant Plain specifically in any source consulted.
Timeline
- — The Goshen, Wilmington and Columbus Turnpike, incorporated in 1837, is completed through Harlan Township; it is a toll road until it is declared forfeited in 1879 and made free in 1880.
- — A post office began operating at Pleasant Plain (predating the village's platting under that name).
- — The Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad is built through Harlan Township in 1851-52, making Pleasant Plain its principal station in the township and the chief shipping point.
- — Samuel Craig laid out the village as New Columbia, in Harlan Township, Warren County, with 32 lots.
- — Samuel Craig platted an addition to New Columbia in October 1854.
- — The Muskingum Valley Railroad, from Cincinnati to Zanesville, is built about now and touches the township's north at Hicks; Pleasant Plain is not on that line.
- — Peter C. Spurling is commissioned postmaster of Pleasant Plain on June 29; in 1882 he keeps the village's general store.
- — The village's name was changed from New Columbia to Pleasant Plain to match its post office designation; the 1882 county history says it was changed by act of the legislature about 1860 (a later source gives 1876).
- — W.H. Greeley erected the only steam flour mill in Harlan Township at Pleasant Plain; it was later operated by Mr. Stewart.
- — Thomas Hill added eleven lots on the east side of the village, January 23, 1872.
- — Ira Dudley added seven lots on the south side of the village, December 5, 1873.
- — The county history's census table lists Pleasant Plain village at 151 inhabitants, with Butlerville at 167.
- — Pleasant Plain has two churches, a hotel kept by J. M. Fox, a general store, a drug store and a grain warehouse, and the township's only steam flouring mill.
Stories
New Columbia on the railroad
Samuel Craig laid out the little town of New Columbia on November 13, 1852, just as the new Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad was being finished across Harlan Township, and it quickly became the township's chief shipping point, ahead of the older turnpike towns of Butlerville, Osceola, Black Hawk and Middleborough that had been laid out in 1838 and the 1840s along the Goshen and Wilmington pike. The county history says the legislature changed the name to Pleasant Plain about 1860 to match the post office. W. H. Greeley's steam flour mill of about 1861 was the only one in the township, and in the 1870s Thomas Hill and Ira Dudley added eleven and seven lots to a village that numbered only 151 in 1880.
Photographs
Photo: Nyttend, public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Photo: Nyttend, public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · blanchesterhistoricalsociety.org · warren.ohgenweb.org · commons.wikimedia.org · commons.wikimedia.org · en.wikipedia.org · archive.org · en.wikipedia.org · wcgsohio.org
Water
Ohio River intake at the plant's riverfront on Kellogg Ave in the California neighborhood, east Cincinnati The water here
- Western Water Company100% of residentsLittle Miami River valley wells (51%) plus Cincinnati Ohio River water (49%)
Its ZIP codes
Each ZIP code that touches Pleasant Plain, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45162 Harlan Township and Pleasant Plain | 2% | Ohio River intake at the plant's riverfront on Kellogg Ave in the California neighborhood, east Cincinnati | 4.4 pCi/L average radon | Appraisal records without year built | Little Miami Local · 4.5 stars overall | 3.4% of residents in the 1% floodplain |
Local government
Who holds office in Pleasant Plain, 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 | Bruce Goodwin 4, 57.14%; Judy Whitacre 3, 42.86% |
| 2015-11-03 | Member of Council | John Baker 24, 100.0% |
| 2015-11-03 | Mayor | P. Dale Groppenbacher 27, 100.0% |
Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.
Auditor of State record
- No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
- 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 Pleasant Plain, day by day, from 1893 to now. Daily totals, not averages.
- rain, last 30 days
- 1.02 in
- 2026-09-30 to 2026-10-29
- rain so far in 2026
- 45.1 in
- 5.7 in above normal for the date
- snow so far in 2026
- 16.3 in
- a normal year brings 17.4 in
- a normal year
- 46.4 in
- average of 30 years, 1991-2020
| Month | Rain (in) | Snow (in) | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | 1.02 | — | 29 |
| September 2026 | 7.87 | — | 30 |
| August 2026 | 6.44 | — | 31 |
| July 2026 | 3.86 | — | 31 |
| June 2026 | 5.22 | — | 30 |
| May 2026 | 6.29 | — | 31 |
| April 2026 | 4.18 | — | 30 |
| March 2026 | 7.34 | 0.3 | 31 |
| February 2026 | 1.21 | 5.0 | 28 |
| January 2026 | 1.64 | 11.1 | 31 |
| December 2025 | 2.85 | 11.1 | 31 |
| November 2025 | 3.85 | 2.5 | 30 |
| Wettest year | 2011 — 65.2 in |
|---|---|
| Driest year | 1934 — 21.6 in |
| Snowiest year | 1977 — 45.4 in |
| Wettest day on record | 18 July 2001 — 4.90 in |
| Heaviest snowfall in a day | 23 December 2004 — 12.52 in |
| Deepest snow on the ground | 25 January 1894 — 20.00 in |
Estimated, not measured. No rain gauge has ever stood inside Pleasant Plain, 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.
48,119 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 Pleasant Plain, Ohio in?
Pleasant Plain is a village in Warren County, Ohio, with 62 residents.
When was Pleasant Plain, Ohio founded?
Pleasant Plain was laid out 1852-11-13. Founders on record: Samuel Craig, as "New Columbia," 32 lots. Source
How did Pleasant Plain, Ohio get its name?
The 1882 county history says the village was laid out by Samuel Craig on November 13, 1852 and originally named New Columbia by him; the name was changed to Pleasant Plain by an act of the legislature about 1860, matching the post office name. Source
What ZIP code is Pleasant Plain, Ohio?
Most of Pleasant Plain is in ZIP code 45162.
Where does Pleasant Plain, Ohio get its water?
The main water source for Pleasant Plain (Western Water Company): Ohio River intake at the plant's riverfront on Kellogg Ave in the California neighborhood, east Cincinnati.
Cite this page
Cite this page as:
Cracked Buckeye, "Pleasant Plain, Warren County", https://crackedbuckeye.com/place/pleasant-plain/, built 2026-10-31, accessed [date].
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