Ironton, Ohio City of Ironton Ironton, as seen athwart the Ohio River in Russell, Kentucky Ironton, as seen athwart the Ohio River in Russell, Kentucky Location in Lawrence County and the State of Ohio Location in Lawrence County and the State of Ohio Ironton is a town/city in and the governmental center of county of Lawrence County, Ohio, United States. Located in southernmost Ohio along the Ohio River, the town/city includes the Downtown Ironton Historic District.
Ironton is a contraction of "iron town". The town/city has a long history with the iron industry.
The Lawrence County, Ohio courthouse in Ironton, Ohio Ironton was established in 1849 by John Campbell, a prominent pig iron manufacturer in the area.
Interested in expanding his foundry business, and due to the area's rich iron-ore content (particularly in the hills to the north), he became interested in the lands encircling what would later turn into the town/city of Ironton. He chose the locale of Ironton because of its site along the Ohio River, which would allow for water transport of iron ore to markets downriver.
Between 1850 and 1890, Ironton was one of the foremost producers of iron in the world.
Iron produced here was used for the USS Monitor, the United States' first ironclad ship. More than ninety furnaces were operating at the peak of manufacturing in the late 19th century. Owners and supervisors who attained wealth from the pig-iron trade constructed many opulent residences in the city. The Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad was constructed through two states, carrying iron to Henry Ford's automaking plants in Michigan.
The town/city had a street stockyards , the Ironton Petersburg Street Railway, four daily newspapers and a several foreign-language publications. Ironton was also known for its accommodating attitude toward sin and vice associated with the mine and ironworkers.
With its locale on the Ohio River, Ironton became a destination on the Underground Railroad for refugee slaves seeking freedom in the North.
During the American Civil War, small-town military regiments were mustered, quartered, and trained at Camp Ironton, a military post positioned at the county fairgrounds.
Among them was the 91st Ohio Infantry, which was organized at Camp Ironton on August 26, 1862. The downfall of Ironton came as the market for iron changed.
The character of the iron that had once made Ironton one of the dominant producers of pig iron was no longer considered as desirable. All of the easily accessible iron had been mined by 1899, and the continued manufacturing costs began to outweigh the benefit. Also, the country was making the transition from a demand for iron to steel.
The second flood came amid the Great Depression; together with the shift in the iron industry, it devastated the city.
The iron trade declined, affecting other industries as well. As the iron industries closed, Ironton had little with which to replace them.
An industrialized city, Ironton worked to attract other heavy trade to the region.
The region has had difficulty creating an alternate economy. By 2004, both Alpha Portland Cement and Allied Signal were gone, and Ironton had shrunk by nearly 30% from its peak populace in 1950.
Ironton had one of the first experienced football squads in the United States, called the Ironton Tanks.
It earned a record of 85 wins, 19 losses, 14 ties, including an undefeated season in 1922, a state championship in 1926, and dual victories in 1930 over National Football League (NFL) powerhouses the Chicago Bears and New York Giants. The football field previously used by the Tanks is now home to the Ironton High School Football team, the Ironton Fighting Tigers.
Ironton is positioned at 38 31 51 N 82 40 42 W (38.530720, -82.678309). According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town/city has a total region of 4.46 square miles (11.55 km2), of which 4.16 square miles (10.77 km2) is territory and 0.30 square miles (0.78 km2) is water. Ironton is positioned inside the northern limits of a humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cfa) which is typical of southern Ohio and northern Kentucky.
There were 4,817 homeholds of which 28.1% had kids under the age of 18 living with them, 39.0% were married couples living together, 15.3% had a female homeholder with no husband present, 5.5% had a male homeholder with no wife present, and 40.2% were non-families.
In the town/city the populace was spread out with 21.8% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 24.6% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, and 21.2% who were 65 years of age or older.
The town/city is managed by a seven-member town/city council, the current members of which include Chairman Craig Harvey, Bob Cleary, Beth Rist, Dave Frazer, Kevin Waldo, Rich Blankenship, and Chuck O'Leary.
The Downtown Ironton Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Lawrence County, Ohio on January 8, 2009, It includes portions of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, Center Streets, Park Avenue, Vernon Street, and Bobby Bare Boulevard.
The buildings serve commercial trade, government, social, and transit industries, and include businesses, City Hall, financial establishments, meeting halls, United States Post Office buildings, experienced service buildings and railrioad industry-related structures.
There are three enhance and one private elementary schools, one enhance and one private high schools, and a county-wide college campus in Ironton.
Ironton High School 9-12 Sole enhance high school for the city; homes grades 9-12.
Ironton Middle School 6-8 Opened in 2009.
Ironton City School District.
Ironton Elementary School K-5 Opened in 2009.
Ironton City School District.
Saint Joseph Central High School 7-12 Private, Catholic junior high & high school; smallest school in Ohio Saint Lawrence Central Elementary School K-6 Private, Catholic kindergarten & elementary school Lawrence County Board of MR/DD Open Door School All Serves the educational needs all of Lawrence County's MR/DD people.
Ohio University Southern Campus Post-secondary The biggest branch of Ohio University Portions outside of the Ironton town/city limits are served by the Rock Hill Local School District.
The precinct has an Ironton mailing address.
River Valley Health System (formerly known as Lawrence County General Hospital) directed a hospital in Ironton from 1937-2001. Since River Valley's closing, the closest inpatient facility to the town/city of Ironton is Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital in Russell, Kentucky.
Mary's Medical Center in Huntington, West Virginia, in cooperation with the Ironton-Lawrence County Area Community Action Organization, opened its Ironton ground which includes a free-standing emergency department, imaging services and lab services.
Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade Downtown Memorial Day The nation's earliest continuously running Memorial Day parade, it has been a tradition since 1868.
Bob Lutz, former football head coach, all-time winningest coach in Ohio high school football with 381 wins and two state championships in 1979 and 1989 United States Enumeration Bureau.
"Lawrence County, Ohio: Community known for its rich history in iron and for its part in helping slaves escape via the Underground Railroad".
"Modernity Lost: Ironton, Ohio in Industrial and Post-Industrial America".
"Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015".
"Number of Inhabitants: Ohio" (PDF).
"Ohio: Population and Housing Unit Counts" (PDF).
"Incorporated Places and Minor Civil Divisions Datasets: Subcounty Population Estimates: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2012".
City of Ironton, Ohio.
"Ohio (OH), Lawrence County".
Mary's Expands into Ohio With New Campus in Ironton Lawrence County Ohio Genealogical and Historical Website Municipalities and communities of Lawrence County, Ohio, United States
Categories:
Ohio populated places on the Ohio River - Ironton, Ohio - Cities in Lawrence County, Ohio - County seats in Ohio - Populated places on the Underground Railroad - 1849 establishments in Ohio
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