Ironton (Ohio)
Lawrence County
39-37464
Ironton is a city on the Ohio River since 1851 and the administrative seat of Lawrence County in the south of the U.S. state of Ohio. Ironton has around 11,200 inhabitants (as of 2000 census ). Thus Ironton is in this area one of the few cities with a population increase. In Ironton, a campus of Ohio University is (OU ).
History
1826 were discovered deposits of iron ore in the area of today's rich Ironton. At the same timber, coal, limestone and clay were abundant during the Ohio River offered the possibility of cheap transportation by river boats. Ironton was founded in 1848 by the cabin owner John Campbell, to smelt pig iron on the spot. Campbell had the ironworks Mount Vernon Furnace built in 1834 in Mount Vernon, which exploited with a new arrangement of the boiler, the energy of the exhaust gases and opened an innovation of the technique of iron smelting. The railway line, which was founded also in 1849 Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad (DT & I) in 1851 opened to bring ore from the mines of Lawrence County in the port of Ironton, where the smelted iron over the Ohio River was shipped. After the American Civil War, the local ore reserves were running low, but the smelting continued with purer ore from Michigan. At the end of the 19th century, the local iron industry had been urged by the iron production in the region around Pittsburgh and Youngstown in the background. During the Great Depression the last ironworks closed in Ironton.
Personalities
- Henry S. Neal (1828-1906), member of U.S. Congress it and U.S. Ambassador to Portugal
- William H. Enochs (1842-1893), member of the U.S. Congress and Brigadier General in the Army of Northern States
- John K. Richards (1856-1909), United States Solicitor General from 1897 to 1903
- Thomas A. Jenkins (1880-1959), member of the U.S. Congress from 1925 to 1959
- William C. Lambert (1894-1982), a highly decorated fighter pilot of the Royal Flying Corps in World War I
- George McAfee (1918-2009), football player of the Chicago Bears, was added to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
- Bobby Bare ( born 1935 ), country singer and songwriter.
- Butch Miles ( born 1944 ), jazz drummer