Archbold

History

Archbold was founded in 1855 when the railroad was extended to that point. The village was probably named for John Archbald, a railroad promoter, though another tradition is that the name is an amalgamation of Arch and Bald, two other railroad officials. A post office called Archbold has been in operation since 1855. It was designated a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation in 1983. At around 2:30 PM on Sunday, January 4, 1948, a 45-year-old farmer was driving his tractor that was pulling thirteen children that were riding on his lowing-slung farm utility bobsleigh amidst a light snowstorm when he stopped at an unguarded railroad crossing out of precaution. After looking in all directions, he proceeded to cross, when he was halfway over, he "froze stiff" at the sight of an oncoming Chicago-bound New York Central Railroad passenger train that was travelling at an estimated 80 mph (around 125 kph). The engineer of the train stated that he spotted the tractor and attached bobsleigh more than a quarter of a mile away and despite knowing that his response would be too late, he proceeded to activate both the warning whistle and emergency brakes. Ten children were pronounced dead at the scene while the other three survived despite being moderately injured. All of the deceased were siblings from three separate farming families. Two of the three injured passengers were the tractor operator's children. The largest loss of life in Fulton County history sent shockwaves across Ohio and across the country. In an investigation made and concluded by the Fulton County Police Department, the primary cause of the accident was the engineer's failure of judgement.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , of which, is land and is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  939
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  918
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  822
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  798
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  755
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  697
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  685
• Killdeer

  Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  665

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2026-05-04
  8 km N of Maybee, Michigan
• M 2.9 — 2024-12-29
  1 km SSE of Hicksville, Ohio
• M 2.5 — 2024-03-18
  4 km WSW of Millbury, Ohio
• M 2.6 — 2023-05-20
  3 km SSE of Walbridge, Ohio
• M 3.2 — 2020-08-21
  2 km SSE of Detroit Beach, Michigan
• M 3.3 — 2015-06-30
  5 km NNE of Burlington, Michigan