Local events in West Manchester
3 events in the next 90 days from 1 public calendar. All local events in West Manchester
Checked October 20; the events page is refreshed daily.
How West Manchester began
West Manchester, in Monroe Township in northern Preble County, grew alongside Eldorado as one of the two principal towns on the Dayton and Western Railroad line through the township, entirely after the railroad was built. Its predecessor was Hagerstown, about a mile northeast, which held the township's first post office from 1832 until the office was moved to West Manchester in 1855. Its population rose from 229 in 1880 to a high of 445 in 1910 before settling into a long, gentle decline; it stood at 415 at the 2020 census. The village today has a branch of the Preble County District Library.
Where the name comes from
No source consulted gives a documented origin for the name West Manchester; it is left open rather than guessed at. The 1881 county history records that the settlement grew up entirely since the building of the Dayton & Western railroad, succeeding an earlier and now nearly vanished settlement called Hagerstown about a mile to the northeast.
Before the town
No mound, village, trail or treaty site specific to West Manchester was found in the sources checked.
Nations recorded here: Miami, Shawnee.
Timeline
- — The first post office in this part of the township was opened at Hagerstown, about a mile northeast of the future West Manchester, with Jacob F. Miller as postmaster.
- — The Hagerstown post office was moved to West Manchester, where it was kept by John Felton; Hagerstown afterward dwindled to almost nothing.
- — West Manchester's population was recorded at 229.
- — West Manchester's population reached 384.
- — West Manchester's population peaked at 445.
- n.d. — West Manchester and Eldorado developed as the two principal towns of their township along the Dayton and Western Railroad.
- — West Manchester's population stood at 415, a 12.4 percent decline from 2010.
Stories
The town that succeeded Hagerstown
Before there was a West Manchester, there was Hagerstown, a small settlement about a mile to the northeast that held the first post office in this part of Monroe Township starting August 29, 1832, under postmaster Jacob F. Miller. When the Dayton & Western Railroad was built through the area decades later, business and population drained away from Hagerstown toward the new rail-line settlements. The post office itself made the move official on December 5, 1855, relocating to West Manchester under postmaster John Felton. By 1881 the county historian could write that Hagerstown was scarcely recognizable and existed 'more in its name than in anything else,' while West Manchester, alongside its twin town Eldorado, grew into the township's commercial center.
Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · genealogytrails.com · en.wikipedia.org · archive.org
Water
Mostly private wells The water here
- West Manchester, Village Of100% of residentsGroundwater wells (3 wells)
Hospitals, fire stations and more
Inside West Manchester's boundary: 1 fire or EMS station and 1 library. Press a pin or a name for its whole record and its source.
Fire and EMS stations (1)
-
West Manchester Fire DepartmentWest Manchester
- Address
- 200 East Scott Street, West Manchester, OH 45382
- Coordinates
- 39.90212, -84.62512
USGS National Map structures (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
Source: USGS National Map structures (most Ohio records last updated 2019 to 2022), checked against the Columbus and Cleveland station lists. The department that answers a call is set by jurisdiction and mutual aid, not by distance.
Public libraries (1)
-
West Manchester BranchBranch · West Manchester
- Address
- 212 S High St, West Manchester, OH 45380
- What it is
- Branch
- Library system
- Preble County District Library
- Open
- 780 hours a year, 52 weeks
- Building
- 960 sq ft
- System's visits, FY2024
- 198,224
- System's loans, FY2024
- 222,960
- People the system serves
- 38,015
- Phone
- (937) 678-8503
IMLS Public Libraries Survey (source) ↗ Street map and directions ↗
Source: IMLS Public Libraries Survey FY2024 (outlets and their systems). Any Ohio resident can get a free card at any Ohio public library.
Its ZIP codes
Each ZIP code that touches West Manchester, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45382 Monroe Township and West Manchester | 35% | Mostly private wells | 6.7 pCi/L average radon | Parcel list only | National Trail Local · 3.5 stars overall | 1.2% of residents in the 1% floodplain |
Local government
Who holds office in West Manchester, how its elections and ballot issues came out, and the state auditor's record.
Money issues on the ballot since 2020: 1 of 1 passed.
Ballot issues
| Date | Issue | For | Against | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-11-03 | Issue 5: Village of West Manchester CoE | 122 | 62 | Passed (66.3% for) |
Auditor of State record
- No fiscal caution, watch or emergency on the Auditor of State's lists.
- Financial Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2025-02-06
The county
Preble County: 12 ZIP codes, 23 cities, villages and townships, 43,242 people.
Nearby places
Rain and snow
How much has actually fallen on West Manchester, day by day, from 1893 to now. Daily totals, not averages.
- rain, last 30 days
- 1.14 in
- 2026-09-30 to 2026-10-29
- rain so far in 2026
- 45.4 in
- 9.8 in above normal for the date
- snow so far in 2026
- 17.1 in
- a normal year brings 16.3 in
- a normal year
- 42.1 in
- average of 30 years, 1991-2020
| Month | Rain (in) | Snow (in) | Days counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2026 | 1.14 | — | 29 |
| September 2026 | 5.06 | — | 30 |
| August 2026 | 10.22 | — | 31 |
| July 2026 | 3.66 | — | 31 |
| June 2026 | 4.88 | — | 30 |
| May 2026 | 7.71 | — | 31 |
| April 2026 | 3.27 | — | 30 |
| March 2026 | 6.19 | 1.3 | 31 |
| February 2026 | 1.44 | 2.6 | 28 |
| January 2026 | 1.83 | 13.2 | 31 |
| December 2025 | 1.98 | 8.5 | 31 |
| November 2025 | 1.88 | 2.3 | 30 |
| Wettest year | 2011 — 61.2 in |
|---|---|
| Driest year | 1960 — 25.1 in |
| Snowiest year | 1951 — 56.3 in |
| Wettest day on record | 25 March 1913 — 3.56 in |
| Heaviest snowfall in a day | 16 February 1910 — 9.84 in |
| Deepest snow on the ground | 9 January 1996 — 17.91 in |
Estimated, not measured. No rain gauge has ever stood inside West Manchester, 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.
48,250 days of records, 1893-06-01 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 West Manchester, Ohio in?
West Manchester is a village in Preble County, Ohio, with 415 residents.
What ZIP code is West Manchester, Ohio?
Most of West Manchester is in ZIP code 45382.
Where does West Manchester, Ohio get its water?
The main water source for West Manchester (West Manchester, Village Of): Mostly private wells.
Cite this page
Cite this page as:
Cracked Buckeye, "West Manchester, Preble County", https://crackedbuckeye.com/place/west-manchester/, built 2026-10-31, accessed [date].
How to cite · Report a correction · Built 2026-10-31
