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    The Minnie was captained by Uriah B. Scott, who won international fame for building the Telephone, the fastest sternwheeler.

    The Minnie Bay was owned by the Bay Brothers. Her building was completed at Wheeling, West Virginia. She had three boilers and an eighteen foot diameter paddlewheel. Named for Captain George Bay's daughter, the Minnie Bay measure 182'x27'x4'8". She was built for the Portsmouth-Proctorville trade. And later she ran the Parkersburg-Gallipolis trade.

    On November 23, 1871, the launching of the new, faster steamboat the Fannie Dugan was announced. She launched from the Wise's Boat Yard. Her main job was to carry mail from Portsmouth to Pine Creek, Franklin Furnace, Greenup, Ironton, Ashland, Catlettsburg, and Huntington.One of her captains was A. J. "Jack"McAllister who raced the Fannie Dugan against the Chesapeake on St. Patrick's Day 1872. The Fannie Dugan won.

    The Bonanza was owned by the White Collar Line, also known as the Cincinnati, Big Sandy and Pomeroy Packet Company. This steambost mainly ran the Cincinnati-Pomeroy Route.

     Lawrence County, Ohio has seen many wars. Many Lawrence Countians served their country bravely. For those men and women, no sacrifice was too great. In honor of those who have served, this site has a history of how each war affected Lawrence County and how the residents responded.
     At the end of each history are links to residents who served during each war. This list is far from complete. If you know of someone who served, please contact us at lorishafer@briggslibrary.org.

     The first documented mention of the war was on February 9, 1860. On that date, J.W. Dauphin, a local photographer, placed an advertisement in the Ironton newspaper stating, “Get Your Pictures made before the Dissolution of the Union.”
     On January 1, 1861, the Union flag pole was raised in front of the Ironton House with a thirty-three gun salute.
     Four Irontonians had the special honor of attending the Inaugeration of President Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1861.

     On February 15, 1898, the battleship, U.S.S. Maine, was sunk in the harbor at Havana, Cuba. Spain was held responsible for the sinking. The American people were furious. As a result, war was declared on April 25, 1898.

     The “war to end all wars” was first mentioned in the Ironton Tribune in a “extra” on April 6, 1917.
     Lawrence County men between 21 to 31 registered on June 5, 1917. The first bugle sounded on April1 0, 1917 for Company 1 who drilled at the Princess Armory on 3rd Street near Vernon Street. On June 10, 1917, M. Waite Russell was commissioned captain of Company 1. George Kingery was named 1st Lieutenant. Lester Abele replaced Horace N. Hill as 2nd Lieutenant. Horace Hill was transferred to Fort Benjamin Harrison for further training.

     On September 1, 1939, newspaper boys were screaming “Extra” and Hitler had started a war.

     In April 1938, a year after the devastating 1937 flood, Ironton began a $3.85 million flood project. The project was to prevent Ironton from facing destruction by flooding in the future. As a result a flood wall was built to encompass the town. Although flooding still occurs fairly often, Ironton has never been under water as it was in 1937.