Alpha, Ohio

{{short description|Unincorporated community in Ohio, U.S.}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}

{{Coord|39|42|42|N|84|01|24|W|type:city_region:US-OH_source:GNIS-enwiki|display=title}}

File:OHMap-doton-Alpha.png

File:Alpha, Ohio.jpg

Alpha is an unincorporated community in Greene County, Ohio, in the United States. It is located on the eastern side of the Dayton metropolitan area. A post office is located in Alpha, with the ZIP code of 45301.[http://www.zipinfo.com/cgi-local/zipsrch.exe?cnty=cnty&zip=45301 Zip Code Lookup]

A post office called Alpha has been in operation since 1850.{{cite web | url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=OH&county=Greene | title=Greene County | publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | accessdate=13 January 2016}} The community is one of the oldest in the area.{{cite book|last=Overman|first=William Daniel|title=Ohio Town Names|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015015361465;view=1up;seq=19|year=1958|publisher=Atlantic Press|location=Akron, OH|page=3}} Alpha was named for the first letter of the Greek alphabet because it was at, or on the site of, the first mill in the county.[http://www.heritagepursuit.com/Greene/GreeneIndex.htm History of Greene County Together with Notes on the Historic Northwest and the State of Ohio], Dayton: Odell and Mayer Publishers, 1881. Accessed 2010-08-17. 578.

It was the location of a Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad railway station stop, of a railway that has been shut down and turned into a bike path.{{cite web|title=STATIONS OF THE PAST|url=http://www.west2k.com/ohstations/greene.shtml|accessdate=September 13, 2013}}

Alpha has also been known in the past as Harbine or Harbines.{{GNIS|1056971}}{{cite web | url = http://beavercreektownship.org/174/Township-History | title = Township History | last = Zink | first = Frank B. | quote = Taken from Robinson’s 1961 Rural Directory | publisher = Beavercreek Township, Greene County, Ohio | accessdate = June 4, 2020 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200604125537/http://beavercreektownship.org/174/Township-History | archive-date = June 4, 2020 }}