![]() What is now Indian Ripple Road began as an agricultural road frequented by horses sometime in the 19th century, and its route gradually shifted to accommodate the landowners of the time. The Little Miami River features many riffles and runs throughout its stretch in Greene County, but there’s an illustration captioned “The Indian Riffle” in a 1908 collection of writings on the history of the county-suggesting that one Greene County riffle in particular might have been the “Indian Riffle.” A riffle is a shallow area in which rocks break the water’s surface, while a run is a chute of fast water where rocks don’t reach the surface. Rivers are made up primarily of two formations: riffles and runs. The river is key to explaining the second part of the road’s name: riffle/ripple. Parts of the old Indian Riffle road used to run alongside the Little Miami River, and the road now crosses the river at just one point. In 1832, the Shawnee were forced from their land in Ohio as part of the Indian Removal Act and were relocated to Oklahoma. Their settlement stretched from Old Town, north of Xenia, to where Indian Ripple Road is today. Although the Little Miami River takes its name from the Miami tribe, the Shawnee, famously led by Chief Tecumseh, were the predominant Native Americans living along the Little Miami River from the 15th to 19th centuries. The “Indian” part of the road name presumably comes from the Native American tribes that lived in Greene County. After skimming atlases that documented Greene County property owners throughout the 19th century, WYSO found there’s no apparent connection between the name Indian Ripple/Riffle and an individual or family name. Many roads in the Miami Valley are named for people, either those who originally owned the land or in honor of a person’s accomplishments (think Patterson and Colonel Glenn). The “Indian Riffle” may have even been a named location near the road at some point in the past.Ī 1908 illustration of "Indian Riffle" by John Davidson from a collection of essays called Greene County 1803-1908, edited by Committee of the Home Coming Association and publish in Xenia in 1908. “And when I looked at my atlas, there was no obvious Indian Creek or Ripple Creek, and it doesn’t seem like the name a developer would give, like Pleasant Hills."Īlthough no one WYSO located could say precisely who decided to call it Indian Ripple/Riffle Road and why, what we know about this part of Greene County’s geography and history points to the conclusion that it was named both for our stretch of the Little Miami River, and for the Native Americans who lived there centuries ago. “I did a Google search, and nothing showed up on the first page,” he said. Griffith moved to the Miami Valley last August and said that a WYSO traffic report made him notice the name. To the east, the road curves slightly, heading over the Little Miami River and eventually intersecting with Upper Bellbrook road in a more rural part of the county. At that intersection, it becomes Dorothy Lane heading west into Montgomery County. Indian Ripple Road stretches through the lower half of Greene County, connecting Beavercreek to Kettering at County Line Road. Not many clear records exist, but we’ve been able to draw several conclusions. This question and subsequent questions about the difference between Indian Ripple and Indian Riffle, an older name for the road, turned out to be quite a mystery for the local and statewide experts we consulted. When Converse Griffith’s question, How did Indian Ripple road get its name? won our April WYSO Curious vote, the investigation seemed simple enough. ![]()
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