Lawrence County, Ohio

Lawrence County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Ironton
Year Organized: 1815
Square Miles: 455

Court House:

One Veterans' Square
County Courthouse
Ironton, OH 45638-0000

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Residents named the county in honor of James Lawrence, a hero of the War of 1812.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

On December 21, 1815, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Lawrence County. Residents named the county in honor of James Lawrence, a hero of the War of 1812.

Lawrence County is located in southeastern Ohio. The county’s southern border lies along the Ohio River, and Lawrence County is Ohio’s southernmost county. It is predominantly rural, with three percent of the county’s 455 square miles consisting of urban areas. The county is also in the heart of Appalachia. The county seat is Ironton. With a population of 11,211 people, Ironton was the county’s largest community in 2000. Like many of Ohio’s more rural counties, Lawrence County experienced a decline in population—roughly one percent—between 1990 and 2000, reducing the total number of residents to 62,319 people. The county averages 137 people per square mile.

The largest employers in Lawrence County are government positions and retail businesses. Farming ranks third, with service industries a distant fourth. During the nineteenth century, county residents earned money especially through coal and iron mining. Former slave owner and eventual abolitionist John Means built the first iron blast furnace north of the Ohio River during the early 1820s. It was known as the Union Furnace and was located near Ironton. In 1999, the per capita income in the county was 17,691 dollars, with 20.1 percent of the people living in poverty. This is one of the highest poverty rates in Ohio.

Most voters in Lawrence County claim to be independents, yet in recent years, they have supported Republican Party candidates at the national level.

Sources

Lawrence County, Ohio History Central, July 24, 2008,

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1956&nm=Lawrence-County

Neighboring Counties:

Jackson County (north)
Gallia County (northeast)
Cabell County, West Virginia (southeast)
Wayne County, West Virginia (south)
Boyd County, Kentucky & Greenup County, Kentucky (southwest)
Scioto County (northwest)

Cities and Towns:

- Aid	township
- Athalia	village	Incorporated Area
- Chesapeake	village	Incorporated Area
- Coal Grove	village	Incorporated Area
- Elizabeth	township
- Hanging Rock	village	Incorporated Area
- Ironton (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Proctorville	village	Incorporated Area
- South Point	village	Incorporated Area
- Symmes	township
- Upper	township
- Waterloo	township

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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