Biohazard Cleanup Near West Deshler Deshler, OH

Deshler is a village in Henry County, Ohio, platted in 1873 and named for John G. Deshler, the landowner who provided the town site and land for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

Deshler was incorporated in 1876, just three years after it was platted.

The village earned the nickname 'Crossroads of the B&O' because the B&O's Toledo-to-Cincinnati line crossed its busy Chicago-to-Washington main line here; both lines are now operated by CSX Transportation.

Some 50 to 70 trains a day still pass through Deshler, and the village maintains Crossroads Park beside the tracks, making it a favorite destination for railfans.

Deshler's street pattern was laid out around its railroad lines rather than around a traditional town grid.

The interlocking tower that once controlled Deshler's diamond crossing was retired in the late 1980s, and its 1931 CTC control machine is now preserved in the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore.

A second town named Deshler, in Nebraska, also honors John G. Deshler, who later moved west.

Deshler had 1,588 residents at the 2020 census; in 2010 it counted 1,799 people in 678 households, making it Henry County's second most populous community.

Deshler children attend the Patrick Henry Local School District, created in 1964 when the Deshler, Hamler, Malinta-Grelton and Richfield school boards consolidated, with Patrick Henry High School located in nearby Hamler.