Call your local Ohio State Extension office for information. They will explain the birch trees can be very short lived, that’s their role in nature. They are also highly susceptible to borers, a type of beetle that bores into the wood, effectively killing them in a pretty short time.

Scroll down to the County Offices section on the attached fact sheet for contact information. Ohio State used to have one of the best Extension programs in the country…..hopefully they still do!

OSU Extension….County Offices

As noted, unlikely to be a climate issue - paper birch are even native to my very mild climate zone. Much more likely to be the effects of BBB (bronze birch borers), which are decimating these trees across much of the midwest.

Are you sure they were native paper birch (Betula papyrifera) and not European white birch (Betula pendula)? Paper birch dislikes heat and drought, but is relatively resistant to BBB compared to other white birches, and is actually native in the Toledo area and the far tip of NE Ohio. As you go farther south in Ohio it becomes more susceptible to BBB. See this fact sheet from OSU: Betula papyrifera - Canoe Birch or Paper Birch

"Paper Birch is probably the best of all the white bark birches for Ohio."

Yes I’m sure, it was papery and not smooth

BBB certainly could have been the cause, but other stress factors may have predisposed the trees to being attacked. As the following article from the BYGL (6/13/22) notes, "However, the outbreaks occurred on trees that were stressed primarily by drought. BBB takes advantage of weakened native trees that have dropped their defense."

Bronze Birch Borer Remains a Threat (scroll down to "The Hosts with the Most")