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A
TIMELINE
OF
MINGO
JUNCTION,
OHIO
[*Updated Sept. 11, 2010]
| 1700's |
1800's |
1900's |
1950 |
2000's |
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1750 Mingo
Indians,
the
Native
American
tribe
of
the
Six
Nations
group from the
Senecas
live along the Ohio River at the mouth of Cross Creek (called
Shenanjee) in
what becomes known as the Mingo Bottoms; Mingoes were sometimes known
as the
Ohio Senecas and typically migrated. 1755 A
white
girl
Mary Jemison is abducted
from Philadelphia and brought to
Jefferson County
and Mingo Bottoms where two Mingo squaws care for and raise her. 1756 Mingoes
are trading furs at Fort Pitt, later visited by Colonel Cresap. 1758 Confrontation
of Captain Gibson from Fort Pitt with Little Eagle and Mingoes at Cross
Creek. 1770 October, Colonel George Washington
makes a trip to Mingo for the purpose of
inspecting
the lands for locating claims. He travels down from Fort Pitt in
“steady
snow” and surveys the area from Brown's Island to Cross Creek, noting
20 cabins
and 70 inhabitants of the Six Nations. He drinks from Potter Spring and
his
troops sleep in there. He is further guided by two Mingo Indians.
November 1770, Washington returns
for three days and
notes the commercial and nature possibilities of the river area.
They
continue to Fort Pitt when horses are brought to them. 1772 Chief John Logan is village
chief ,
known as a brave
man and peacemaker. 1774 Logan’s
family and others are lured to a tavern, given whisky and murdered by a
group
of settlers, supposedly under direction of Colonel Cresap from Fort
Pitt. Logan and the Mingoes seek revenge
on
settlers from then on. 1780
Chief
Logan continues attacks on settlers until his own murder this year by
other
Native American. 1783 Squatter Joseph Ross and his wife
and sons settle in Mingo Bottoms area on Wells
farm; child Absalom Ross born in Bottoms area. Ross becomes 'first
landlord' in that he issues a "tomahawk" claim over Bottoms land. Ross
becomes friends with frontier scouts Daniel Boone and Lewis
Wetzel, the latter
residing in Mingo Bottoms from 1783 to1786;
Wetzel does the “White Man’s Leap” off of Route 7 area when pursued by
Indians. 1786 Sale
of Jefferson County lands is held in Steubenville, sold at $1 per acre.
Capt. John Hamtramck and First American Reginent explore Mingo Bottoms
area to map Northwest Territory. A fort is
first considered for Mingo Bottoms area then built at Fort Steuben site
3 miles
upriver in Steubenville, subsequently turned over to surveyors and then
destroyed by fire in 1790. |
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1800’s 1800 Presbyterian
missionary, Reverend Lyman Potter and
his son-in-law Jasper Murdock
purchase
600 acres of property
known
as
Potter’s
farm
and
Mean’s
farm.
Potter
farm
is
near
the
river,
and Means farm along the rise at Paulman’s Knob. Other
early
farms are owned by Henry Adams (eventually taken by Carnegie Steel
Mill),
Altamont and Hill farms (Northwest), Miller farm (near the ore docks),
and
Peeler farm (including much of Church Hill), also Wells, Jump, and
Wabash
farms. South in George’s Run were Connell, Reese, and Bailie farms. 1801 First visit to Georges Run by Jonathan Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) visits friends. 1803 Ohio becomes a state,
first governor Edward Tiffin; Thomas Jefferson, then President of the
United
States. 1806 Jonathan Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) returns to
visit friends in Georges Run. 1809 Mordecia Bartley, who
will become Ohio’s 18th Governor, settles in Mingo. 1837-1847 Judge Halleck
lives on Means farm, presides on Circuit Court in Steubenville. 1841 First school, Oak
Grove School, is built on land donated by Robert Hill, on
triangle of
land on
Wilson Ave. and Montgomery Lane; the building is enlarged in 1891 and
1938; in
1945 it is incorporated into Mingo Junction School System and renamed
Hills
School. 1853 Steubenville
and
Indiana
Railroad is built, a branch runs from Mingo Bottoms to
Steubenville. 1855 C
& P Railroad, river
division of Penn System, is built. 1856 School opens in
George’s Run on Old Wells Farm, first full-time teacher Jarvis Scott. 1860
Civil War…Mingo
Bottoms area is used for recruiting and training at what was called
“Steubenville Camp.” 1865 Large Peace
Celebration at the end of the Civil War held at Potter’s Grove. 1869
Early marks of move
from agricultural to industrial community: Lyman Potter sells the
“lower locust
grove” to capitalists for an iron works, and another plot to Matthew
Hodkinson
for an oil refinery on the East Side. When Standard Oil Company opposes
his
refinery, Hodkinson turns land into a brick yark, cooper mill, and
plaining
mill. Peeler family has a broom factory on the corner of Clifton and
Peeler
Streets. 1870 First U.S. Post
Office comes to Mingo. 1871 Daniel
Potter
Jr., a
lumber merchant, upon the death of his father, forms a company with a
Mr.
Abrahams, and Mr. Robert Sherrard, bankers from Steubenville, as
executors of
the estate. June 1871, they lay out the land consisting of forty-five
lots. Mr.
Elisha P. Potter next opens up an addition of twenty-five lots.
December, 1872,
Daniel Potter and Mr. R. Sherrard, add a second addition of forty-seven
lots—this making a total of 117 lots for building upon. Railroad
depot
is
erected
and
contains
Western
Union
telegraph
agency,
and
accommodates
passengers
traveling
the
Cleveland and
Pittsburgh or Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroads.
The
station
house
is
used
for
a
post
office
under
Mr.
Robert Turner
1872 Industrialization: Iron Works is
erected and plans
are laid out
for a town. Oil refineries, brickyards, copper mills, planing mills,
coal shafts and coke ovens soon follow.
1873 Chestnut
Ridge
School (later named Franklin
School) is erected at a
cost of $3,000 on the hillside overlooking
Commercial
Street where Central Schools will later be built. It is a two-story
building
with two classrooms; four more are added a few years later. The
building is
sold in 1906 to the Odd Fellows Organization and a portion is moved to
an
adjacent site overlooking Ravine Street.
A
Presbyterian
church
is
erected
at
a
cost
of
$2,500,
Potter Memorial Presbyterian
Church; first
pastor is Rev. T.V. Milligan, early elders Adam Peeler, Sr., John H.
Adams,
Elizha Potter, William M. Hill, J. H. Erwin. A Methodist Protestant church is
built in TheBottoms area.
1874
First Methodist
Episcopal Church
is launched
by Bernard Herron, meetings are held in the Pennsylvania Railroad
Station, then
in a small building on St. Clair Avenue. The building is enlarged in
1929,
first minister Rev. J. A. Rutledge in 1884. 1878 Train wreck west of Cross Creek
stone bridge:
east and west bound trains collide killing 14 and injuring 30-40
passengers.
1880 Iron Works is taken over by Mingo
Iron Works
Company with a 238 foot shaft near the depot, high quality coal.
Coke
ovens and
blast furnace (“Isabelle”) are
constructed;
trestle runs across main street (Commercial) to railroad yard. Iron
works is
later merged into Auction Iron and
Steel Company which expands into the
Mingo
Bottoms area and includes a bar mill and nail factory as well as a
steel plant,
later known as the Laughlin and
Junction Steel Company. Means farm has
a
capital drift mine. A hotel is run by A. Carson. Stores: a dry goods
and notion
house by Mrs. Hirshfield, a grocery and dry goods store by Mr. David
Simpson, and
groceries sold by Mrs. McClusky and P. Goff.
1882 July, shipwreck and sinking of The
Scioto
excursion ship collides with the John Lomas offshore. of Mingo.
Ship
was returning to East Liverpool overloaded with 400 passengers; 75
passengers drown in 15-20 feet ofwater, many trapped in lower
deck.
1883 Mingo Junction is
incorporated as a village. First
mayor William C. Loyd; Chester A.
Arthur is then
President of the United States. 1885 Catholic Mission in
Mingo is linked to St. Francis Church in Toronto, Ohio. 1886 Logan School is
opened on the East Side, Mingo Bottoms, to accommodate over-enrollment
at
Franklin School; eventually it is purchased by Carnegie-Illinois Steel
Company
and torn down around 1943 when Wheeling Steel buys Bottoms land. 1889
St. Agnes Catholic
Church small structure and rectory is opened by Father Walter
Ross; Rev. Daniel
A. Coffey is pastor during 1904-1916, and has a book about his time
in Mingo in A Mill Town Pastor:
The Story of a Witty and Valiant Priest by Rev. Joseph
Conroy. 1890 Wheeling
and
Lake
Erie Railroad opens, running from Steubenville, through Mingo,
to
Martins
Ferry, Ohio, later opened into Pittsburgh in 1905. First brick pavement
laid in village. 1893 Lincoln School is
built on 36 acres on North Hill, four room, two-story; in 1926 four
more rooms
are added. Building is closed then demolished in 1962. 1894 Aetna
Standard
Iron and Steel
Company purchases Laughlin and Junction Steel Company which
adds
continuous and
finishing mills.
January heavy river flood waters
cover The Mingo Bottoms. 1895 Slovak
Presbyterian
Church is begun when a group of immigrants from Austria come to
the
area to
work; first meetings are held in the basement of First Methodist then
Potter
Memorial Church. Early minister is Rev. William Regnemer. 1896 Second
Harmony
School
is built. 1898 St. Agnes Catholic School opens its doors in a two-story wood frame building on St. Clair and Steuben Streets. Classes are conducted by the Sisters of Charity from Nazareth, Kentucky. In 1902 the Franciscan Sisters of Charity begin conducting the classes. |
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1900 National
Steel
Company buys plant in Mingo. Brettell
Coal
Company is formed by Thomas
and
Edward Brettell to supply coal and also ice. Coal field north of city
along
Route 7 is purchased and a modern steel tipple is erected; a drift mine
is
opened by the Brettells and they begin selling their own coal. 1901 Entire mill works is bought
by the Carnegie Company,
Carnegie-Illinois Group, a subsidiary of U. S.
Steel
Corporation producing 8” and 10” sheet bars for hot mills, and slabs
and
billets.
Ohio
Valley
Traction
Company
builds
first
trolley
lines
over
scenic
Altamont hills between Mingo and.
Workers at Mingo
Carnegie plant join union
of
Amalgamated
Association
of
Iron
and
Steel
Workers
but
withdraw again
in
1903. 1905 Trolley
line
is
reorganized under Steubenville and Wheeling Traction Company and runs
along the
river road to Steubenville. Wabash Railroad opens to Pittsburgh.
St. Andrew
Russian Orthodox and Greek Catholic Church organized in
meetings; first
church
erected 1906, Lincoln and Stanton Avenues; pastor Father Alexis Toth;
early
organizers Stephen Kundrat, Michael Olexia, John Halechak, John Sabol,
Michael
Andrachak. 1906 Holy
Resurrection
Serbian Eastern Orthodox Church begun, purchase Methodist Church
located in
Mingo Bottoms, members coming from Columbus, Pittsburgh, Parkersburg,
Toronto;
first priest Rev. Father Savo Voyvodich; after Wheeling Steel buys
lands in
Mingo Bottoms, in 1947, the congregation moves to a new church in
Steubenville. 1907
First Central School
Building is constructed of brick and stone on former site of
Franklin
School
facing Commercial Street. Oakland Cemetery is opened. 1910 First
Slovak
Presbyterian
Church is opened, eventually raised in 1960 to make
way
for new
Route 7 highway.
Harmony Methodist
Church is begun under lay leaders; then under guidance of Rev.
D. B.
Cope;
church is razed during highway construction and moved to new site in
George’s
Run. 1913
January, heavy river
flood waters cover much of The Mingo Bottoms. 1915 Brettell
Coal
Company
begins
supplying
Carnegie-Illinois
with
coal. 1916
Rev. Father Joseph F.
Dooley comes to St. Agnes Catholic Church parish and is there
during
construction of the new brick structure begun in 1921. He serves from
1916-1953. 1917 Dec.
10,
Central
Building burns; classes are held in Odd Fellows Hall and
basement of
Methodist
Church.
St. John the
Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church is begun by a group of Slovakian
people meeting
in houses, then a church erected in 1927, administered by Rev. John
Sokol of
Toronto. 1919 End of World
War I, veterans return home to
welcome parades. 1920 Central
School
#2
opens in October. It contains a school building housing all
grades and
an
Auditorium which seats 565 people on the main floor and balcony. School
building consists of four floors including the board of education and
superintendent’s offices and a gymnasium. 1921 April 21, cloud burst
loosens hillside and tumbles earth and water and Brettell Coal Company
tipple
down the hillside. New mine is begun on McLister Avenue, one mile west
of city. 1923 Brettell
Coal
Company
opens its modern coal tipple, now employing 150 men. The First Baptist
Church begins meeting at the corner of State Street and
Cleveland Ave.
in Mingo
Bottoms area; in 1929 the Rev. S. J. Bridges becomes pastor and serves
for 32
years; in 1935 because of mill expansion, congregation moved to 428
State
Street, then in 1965 under leadership of Rev. Roosevelt Suggs; they
purchase the former Potter Memorial
Presbyterian Church
at 113 Schoolway. 1926 Harmony
School
K-8 is
built in George’s Run, principal Wilbert Brown. 1929 Central
High
School
building is constructed and opened the following year. It
consists of
three
floors, and all four years of high school classes are conducted there.
New
gymnasium is added in 1957. 1935-1936 Famed Ohio State
football coach Woody Hayes
begins his teaching and coaching career at
Mingo
High School under John Muth. 1937 Great
Ohio
River
Flood hits town, waters rise up Commercial Street to city
building. 1941-1945 During WW II,
Carnegie-Illinois Mill produces deck plates for war ships and
submarines, and
is commended by the U.S. Government for record breaking production. 1944 Brettell Coal Company
begins strip mining. 1945 End of WW II.
Wheeling
Steel
purchases
Mingo
plant
from
Carnegie-Illinois
and
buys
up
surrounding lands in Mingo Bottoms. 1947 Brettell Coal Company
opens third coal tipple on South Commercial Street. 1948 Native youth, Joe
Fortunato wins recognition as football player and a scholarship
to
Mississippi
State University, signing and playing for the Chicago Bears 1955-1966. 1949 St. Bernadette Catholic Church begins with chapel and rectory at 2107 Commercial Street in George’s Run; church building is dedicated in 1950. |
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1950 Huge
snow
storm
blankets town and Ohio Valley.
Annunciation
Catholic
Church
is
established
in
Hillsboro
area
on
former
farm of William Bloomer; barn is converted into a small church
under
leadership of Rev. Father Francis J. Bruckman; in 1958, a church
building is
begun by Father Francis Brown, dedicated in 1960. 1955 St.
Agnes
Memorial Elementary
School opens its doors in new brick building on corner of
Murdock and
Peeler
Streets, adjacent to the church.
The singing group The
Antones record pop
ballads, members included Joey Pizzoferrato
[Joey Farr], Pauly Visyak,
Petey Graceffa and one Steubenville member Anthony”Chatta”Johnson,
later
replaced by Sammy Ciafradone.
New City Building is constructed on old site with new offices
and Community Center. 1957 Salk Polio vaccine is distributed
locally to
Mingo school children by Drs. Riney and Albaugh. 1958 Joey Farr joins with members
of
rock
group The Savoys to record hit
songs as The Mingo Men,
consisting of
Robert
Cutri, Dan Pizzoferrato, Bill Mitchell and Ronnie Morris. 1959 April 27, fire
damages old gymnasium in Central Building.
George Otis sings
with The Stereos who record
several hit songs. 1960 Potter Memorial
Presbyterian Church and Slovak Presbyterian Church merge to form First
United
Presbyterian Church of Mingo Junction; new building is opened on
McLister Ave.
and Legion Drive in 1963. 1961 Raynes Methodist
Church is erected in Hillsboro area and named after founder
Rev. Ernest
Raynes. 1966 After protests and
law suits filed by the citizens of Mingo Junction, the Ohio State Board
of
Education forces a consolidation of
three school districts, Mingo,
Cross Creek,
and Wayne into a new Indian Creek School District. First
superintendent
is Troy
F. Penner, followed in 1967 by William Merryman, former principal of
Mingo High
School, with Martha Sisler as secretary. High school students are bused
to
Wintersville High School building. 1968 Merger of Wheeling Steel and Pittsburgh
Steel
Corporations into Wheeling-Pittsburgh
Steel Corporation, ninth largest
steelmaker in U.S.
New Hills School opens on 157 acres. 1970
Mingo
Junction,
Ohio
celebrates
Bicentennial...Pagent
and
release
of
book Bicentennial
History
of Mingo
Junction, Ohio. 1971 Mingo
Community Days...Teen Sing Out Celebration coordinated by Mingo
Women's Club
1976 Pageant Play "Echoes in the
Valley," script by Nancy Kenny and Mary Visnic, presented in
Mingo High
School Stadium with townspeople as Frontiersmen, Indians, and
characters Mary Jamison, George Washington, Chief
Logan; performed annually for a time.
Robert
Parissi
of
rock
music group Wild
Cherry records national hit “Play that Funky Music.”
1977 Filming of The Deer
Hunter with Robert DeNiro and Meryl Streep and others begins
in Mingo Junction; film is released in 1978 and wins r Academy Awards
including for
Best
Picture.
1978 Snow storm hits town and whole
Ohio Valley.
1979 Old Central Building is closed,
vacant for
year, and eventually torn down, along with Auditorium.
1981 Filming of All
the
Marbles
with Peter Falk is done in Mingo and elsewhere.
1983 Filming of Heart of
Steel with Peter Strauss is done for HBO Films.
1984 Filming of Reckless
with Adrian Quinn and Daryl Hannah is done in part in
Mingo. 1985 Wheeling
Pittsburgh
Steel
Corporation
is
forced
into
Chapter
11 bankruptcy.
Mingo Women's Club
initiates Clean Up Program. 1986 Mingo
Beautification Committee headed up
by Mingo Women's Club coordinates
program
of street and highway
clean-up through volunteers. New Welcome to Mingo sign erected, and
$30,000 renovation of Potter's Memorial Spring site. 1988 Filming of documentary film James Wright’s Ohio is
done
primarily in
Mingo (Koba and Smith Productions, funded by Ohio Humanities Council);
premiers locally at St. Agnes School Auditorium, shown on PBS channels.
1991 Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel
Corporation
emerges from bankruptcy.
1995 Web Page “Mingo Junction: The
Hottest Town
on the Internet” is launched by Nial Pashke.
1996 United Steel Workers of America strike Wheeling-Pitt Steel Mill; it lasts 300+ days, ends summer of 1997. |
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2005
Mingo receives $400,000 Community
Development Block Grant for infrastructure and
street
landscaping. Mingo Womens Club assists in landscaping of Oakland
Cemetery and
Aracoma Park. 2008 August, Severstal Corporation (Russian based company) purchases Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel plant in Mingo; shuts down all production.
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