Padua is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in western Washington Township, Mercer County,

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It lies at the intersection of State Route 49 and St. Anthony Road, west of the city of Celina, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Mercer County. Its elevation is 899 feet (274 m), and it is located at .

History

Founded in 1848, Padua is one of the oldest communities in the region.Brown, Mary Ann, ''Ohio Historic Inventory Nomination: St. Anthony Catholic Church, Padua,'' Ohio Historical Society, February 1977. A

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

was established in Padua on July 27, 1882, and operated for approximately twenty years: after it was discontinued on August 31, 1903, the community's mail was sent through the

Fort Recovery Fort Recovery was a United States Army fort ordered built by General "Mad" Anthony Wayne during what is now termed the Northwest Indian War. Constructed from late 1793 and completed in March 1794, the fort was built along the Wabash River, wit ...

post office. The leading building in Padua is St. Anthony's Catholic Church, which is located at the community's central intersection. Other properties in the community include the St. Anthony Cemetery and a former school, which operated from 1940 to 1978.Parish Buildings
, Coldwater Cluster, 2010. Accessed 2010-02-01. Aside from the name "Padua," the community has also been known by the name of " St. Anthony." The

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...

officially ruled in favor of the current name in 1961, although sign posts at either end of town refer to the town as "St. Anthony," and locals refer to the town as St. Anthony.

References

Unincorporated communities in Mercer County, Ohio Unincorporated communities in Ohio {{MercerCountyOH-geo-stub