How a Small Hamlet Exemplified Local Industry
HUBBARD – The crossroads at Bell Wick-Campbell and Chestnut Ridge roads in Hubbard Township had its name and destiny written as early as the 1850s.
A map of Trumbull County, printed in 1856, identifies a tract of land in the region just northwest of the city of Hubbard. There, on the property of Hugh Love, is scrawled “Coal Bank” – denoting an outcrop of the industrial fuel that laid the foundation of the boom, and then bust, of this hamlet. Nearly 20 years later, maps show the area had earned a name of its own, replete with its own post office: Coalburg.
More important, the community would exemplify how rapid industrialization in the years following the Civil War laid bare some of the earliest labor tensions in the Mahoning Valley as big business led the drive to cultivate the region’s prized natural resources. READ MORE
Gretchen’s Lock: The Legend Endures
CALCUTTA, Ohio – There is a section of Little Beaver Creek in Columbiana County just north of Calcutta that flattens out, flowing east before meandering southward toward the Ohio River.
Here are remnants of an engineering feat that began nearly 200 years ago.
Some of the abandoned locks along the former Sandy and Beaver Canal – begun in the mid-1830s – are today remarkably preserved.
One lock in particular has become embedded in the DNA of Columbiana County folklore: Gretchen’s Lock, situated along that flat stretch of Beaver Creek and a place shrouded in ghoulish fiction. READ MORE
CLICK HERE FOR MORE WHAT’S IN A NAME? COVERAGE
Video: The Rise and Fall of Trumbull Phalanx
Discover the forgotten legacy of the Trumbull Phalanx, a 19th-century Ohio experiment in social harmony and the remnants that echo its legacy today. WATCH
Video: A Road Trip to the ‘Center of the World’
Discover the quirky charm of Braceville Township’s ‘Center of the World’ in Ohio, where history and humor intersect to create a roadside phenomenon that continues to captivate and intrigue. WATCH
“Our Towns: What’s in a Name” promises to include fascinating human interest stories and videos, published across all our platforms.
This monthly series will examine our Valley and touch upon the most interesting monikers that have identified neighborhoods, small communities and crossroads throughout the region.
Each story will be told through the lens of our talented Business Journal newsroom staff.
With its sponsorship, the Cafaro Company is demonstrating its commitment to instilling pride in the Mahoning Valley and educating residents about its uniqueness and heritage.
