Editing Butler County, Ohio (section)

==History==
Successive cultures of ancient [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]] occupied areas of the county. They built large [[earthworks (archaeology)|earthworks]], seven of which were still standing and recorded by a Smithsonian survey.<ref name="Squier">{{Cite book |last=Squier |first=E.G. |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4301/view/1/57/ |title=Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]] |year=1848 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=57 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908225841/http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4301/view/1/57/ |archive-date=September 8, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Early French explorers likely passed through the area along the Miami River.<ref name="Bartlow1905">{{Cite book |last=Bartlow |first=Bert Surene |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H283AQAAMAAJ |title=Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio |publisher=B. F. Bowen |year=1905 |access-date=June 22, 2014}}</ref> The gravesites of David and Margaret Gregory indicate they were some of the first white settlers in the area in Liberty Township. White settlers began moving into the area in larger numbers after the 1793 [[Treaty of Greenville]] was signed with the Native Americans of the area.<ref name="Bartlow1905" />

Butler County was formed on March 24, 1803, from portions of [[Hamilton County, Ohio|Hamilton County]]. It is named for General [[Richard Butler (general)|Richard Butler]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Taylor, William Alexander |url=https://archive.org/details/ohiostatesmenan00taylgoog |title=Ohio Statesmen and Annals of Progress |publisher=Press of the Westbote Company |year=1899 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ohiostatesmenan00taylgoog/page/n264 243]}}</ref> Between 1803 and 1823, the townships of the county became officially recognized.<ref name="Bartlow1905" /> Large portions of the county were held by non-resident owners, including 640 acres owned by future [[President of the United States|President]] [[William H Harrison]].<ref name="Bartlow1905" /> Some land that was originally part of Butler County was reassigned to Warren County in the north and Hamilton County to the south. Butler County's original size was 480 sq miles.<ref name="Bartlow1905" />

In 1830, Peter Schrock emigrated from France to live in Butler County.

Around the late 1860s or early 1870s, the community of [[Mauds]] was the sight of an attempt by a local entrepreneur to construct a mill that worked via [[perpetual motion]]. A large crowd gathered to watch the mill start, and when it did not, laughter ensued. Nothing was heard from the unnamed entrepreneur again, and the mill quickly vanished. The local newspapers did not record the event, and the only record of its occurrence was transmitted by elderly residents of Mauds to one [[William Marion Miller]] of [[Miami University]].<ref>Arthur W.J.G. Ord-Hume, ''Perpetual Motion: The History of an Obsession'' (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1977), 208-212.</ref>

The [[Great Flood of 1913]] affected much of the county, particularly the communities of [[Middletown, Ohio]] where approximately 25% of the town was flooded and 6 people died and [[Hamilton, Ohio]], where 46% of the city was flooded, over 300 buildings destroyed, and at least 98 people killed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=United States. Weather Bureau |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_8BGAQAAIAAJ&q=hamilton&pg=PA116 |title=Bulletin: Lettered Ser |publisher=United States. Weather Bureau |year=1913 |pages=54–55}}</ref>

In the 1920s, Butler, Pickaway and Washington counties were central areas of the rural membership of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] in Ohio.<ref name="Giffin2005">{{Cite book |last=Giffin |first=William Wayne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2MCDFaRcD0C&pg=PA115 |title=African Americans and the Color Line in Ohio, 1915-1930 |publisher=Ohio State University Press |year=2005 |isbn=9780814210031 |pages=115– |access-date=June 22, 2014}}</ref>

In 1957, the Ohio Legislature established [[Hueston Woods State Park]], which covers 3,596 acres in Butler and neighboring [[Preble County, Ohio|Preble County]]. In addition to a 625-acre manmade lake, the park contains the 200-acre Hueston Woods, one of the last near-[[Virgin forest|virgin]] growths of [[American beech]] and [[maple]] in Ohio.<ref name="NeyNichols2009">{{Cite book |last=Ney |first=Jason |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-fjVJzgWd0IC&pg=PA154 |title=America's Natural Places: The Midwest |last2=Nichols |first2=Terri |date=November 25, 2009 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9780313353178 |pages=154– |access-date=June 22, 2014}}</ref>