Proctorville, Ohio

Lawrence County

39-64766

Proctorville is a village in Lawrence County in the U.S. state of Ohio on the north bank of the Ohio River. According to an estimate in 2007, the town had 623 inhabitants. Proctorville, the first Quaker Bottom called, is named after Jacob Proctor, a shopkeeper, who settled there in 1834.

Geography and History

The village is situated in the extreme south of Ohio on the north bank of the Ohio River in a former floodplain. The predominantly forested area is slightly hilly and reaches at some point about 250 meters altitude. Numerous streams flow south into the Ohio River. The land use is dominated by forestry, only in the valleys of the streams there are pastures for livestock.

In 1797 the first pioneers settled on the banks of the Ohio River and called it Quaker Bottom ( German: Quaker background). Through the introduction of navigation on the river, the area in the early 19th century developed into a commercial center. 1834 built a Jacob Proctor directly on the north bank of the river a shop, which became known as Proctor 's Landing at River boatman soon. The initially modest settlement Quaker Bottom grew rapidly and in 1878, as the place rose to an official church, he received his new name to honor Jacob Proctor. On April 7, 1900, fire destroyed much of the business in 1913 and 1937 caused major flood damage in Proctorville.

Since 1985, the village with the cultural center of the region, Huntington, West Virginia, joined by the East End Bridge. Until then there was only a ferry across the Ohio River. In Proctorville Ohio University maintains a field office.

Demographic information

After the last extensive survey of the U.S. Census Bureau in 2000, the population consisted of 620 persons. 98.1 % of the population are European stocky ( U.S. average 75.1 %), 31 families ( 16.8%) lived below the poverty line in 1999 ( U.S. average of 9.2% ) and the average annual income for a household was $ 22,266 ( U.S. average $ 41,994 ).