Mount Vernon, Ohio
city in Knox County, Ohio, United States
Mount Vernon is a city in Knox County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Kokosing River, 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Columbus. The population was 16,956 at the 2020 census.
History
The community was platted in 1805, and named after Mount Vernon, the estate owned by George Washington.
In May 1953, the telephone exchange for the entire city was destroyed by fire, disrupting calls for months.
In January 1959, a severe flood caused 500 homes to be evacuated and caused $5 million in damage.
Historic sites
The Woodward Opera House, the oldest opera theater of its kind in the United States, is located downtown. The theater, after many years of renovation and restoration, has been transformed into a local cultural and performing-arts center.
The Knox County Historical Society, with a building and extensive exhibits, makes its headquarters on Harcourt Road in Mount Vernon. Exhibits feature information about Daniel Decatur Emmett, Paul Lynde, The Cooper Company and other subjects.
The public source identifies “Mount Vernon, Ohio” as city in Knox County, Ohio, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Mount, Vernon and Ohio.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Mount Vernon, Ohio”, the useful work is to connect “city in Knox County, Ohio, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q998575. VIAF identifies the subject as 137267989. The Library of Congress control number is n85081573. Authority coordinates are 40.393, -82.481. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1805, 1953 and 1959.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Mount Vernon, Ohio”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Mount Vernon, Ohio primary sources, Mount Vernon, Ohio archive and Mount research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Mount Vernon, Ohio”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Mount Vernon, Ohio” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.