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Columbiana County, Ohio Genealogy Trails |
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Columbiana County, Ohio Cities |
Columbiana
Columbiana is a suburb south of Youngstown, Ohio. Columbiana was the home of an early settler by the name of Joshua Dixon. He came to Fairfield Township in 1798, Dixon laid out the village of Columbiana on August 21, 1803. Columbiana had a railroad and three stores by 1831. The Elementary school in the city is named in his honor. The Village of Columbiana became The City of Columbiana in 2000.
Columbiana was the birthplace of Harvey S. Firestone, who founded the Firestone rubber company in Akron, Ohio. There is still a Firestone tractor-tire test facility a few miles northeast of the city, and many town facilities are named after him. Columbiana is also known for the Shaker Woods Festival, held annually in August, which features some of the best crafters and artisans in the country. Another major town event is the Columbiana Street Fair, a civic festival hosted by American Legion Post #290. It is held the Thursday - Saturday following Labor Day.
East Liverpool
East Liverpool was originally named St. Clair by Thomas Fawcett, one of the earliest land owners, in 1800 after Arthur St. Clair, who at that time was Governor of the Northwest Territory. It was called Fawcettstown for a time by the residents. It was incorporated as East Liverpool in 1834 when a Liverpool in western Ohio (now defunct) protested the use of its name by this newer town.
James Bennett, an English potter, established the pottery industry in East Liverpool, and it became the community's leading employer. East Liverpool became known as "The Crockery City." East Liverpool once produced more than half of the United States's annual ceramics output. Throughout East Liverpool's ceramics history there were more than 300 potteries. Of these, three remain: The Hall China Company, the Homer Laughlin China Company (located across the Ohio River in Newell, West Virginia) and Pioneer Pottery.
Among the most famous of East Liverpool's ceramics was the porcelain known as Lotus Ware. Produced by Knowles, Taylor & Knowles in the 1890s, this Moorish- and Persian-influenced artware swept the competition at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. It is generally considered to be the finest porcelain ever produced in the US. The Museum of Ceramics in downtown East Liverpool has the country's largest public display of Lotus Ware.
Since the mid-1960s or so, East Liverpool's pottery industry has steadily declined. This has been because pottery workers in less-developed countries-among them China, South Korea and Taiwan--are paid a small fraction of the wage of American workers.
In the mid-1990s, the city renovated its downtown district, with Great Depression-era lightposts, a new center of town called Devon's Diamond, and the reconstruction of the old High School's clocktower, which is now home of the East Liverpool High School Alumni Association.
East Palestine
The town was founded in 1828 and incorporated as a city in 1875. Nearby clay pits supported a pottery industry; the W. S. George Pottery Company was formed in 1909 from the East Palestine Pottery Company and operated in the town until the 1950s. Formerly, East Palestine was called Mechanicsburg, but was changed to "East Palestine" as part of a religious nomenclature in that area such as New Galilee, Pennsylvania, Enon Valley, Pennsylvania, etc. Mechanicsburg is today a name given a village in Champaign County, Ohio, near the opposite border of the state from East Palestine.
Salem
History
Origins and settlers
Salem was founded by a Pennsylvanian potter, John Straughan (Strawn) and a New Jersey clockmaker, Zadok Street, in 1806. The city's name comes from "shalom" and "salaam," and means "peace."
Early settlers to the city included the Religious Society of Friends ("Quakers"), which the school system's sports teams honor by referring to themselves collectively as the "Quakers."
Contributions to American history
Active in the abolitionist movement of the early- to mid-19th century, Salem acted as a hub for the American Underground Railroad, with several homes serving as "stations." Salem retained many of these homes, but none are open to the public at present.
In April 1850, Salem hosted the first Women's Rights Convention in Ohio, the second such convention in the United States. J. Elizabeth Jones delivered an address, and men were refused attendance for the two-day proceedings.
While radio DJ Alan Freed was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, he grew up in Salem. While working at a radio station in Cleveland, he coined the phrase "Rock & Roll."
Prosperity through industry
Over its history, Salem thrived on an industrial-based economy, advantageously located between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. For several decades, the largest corporations located in Salem were American Standard, Eljer, Mullins Manufacturing Corp, Deming Pump and Salem China. Today, American Standard and several tool-and-die manufacturers remain.
National recognition of historic resources
Two sections of the city are designated National Register historic districts: the "Salem Downtown Historic District" (bounded by Vine Avenue, Ohio Avenue, East Pershing Street, South Ellsworth Avenue, and Sugar Tree Alley, designated 1995), and the "South Lincoln Avenue Historic District" (designated 1993), which includes several of the town's monumental and architecturally distinctive homes.
Other city properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places include: the Burchfield Homestead (home to Charles Burchfield from ages five to twenty-eight), Daniel Howell Hise House (home of local Quaker abolitionist and Underground Railroad station), the (Former) Salem Methodist Episcopal Church|First United Methodist Church of Salem, and the John Street House (Underground Railroad station and home to descendant of city founder).
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