Lawrence County, Ohio

Lawrence County, Ohio
Lawrence County Courthouse
Seal
Location in the state of Ohio
Ohio's location in the U.S.
Founded	March 1, 1817
Named for	James Lawrence
Seat	Ironton
Largest city	Ironton
Area
• Total	457 sq mi (1,184 km2)
• Land	453 sq mi (1,173 km2)
• Water	3.9 sq mi (10 km2), 0.9%
Population
• (2010)	62,450
• Density	138/sq mi (53/km²)
Congressional district	6th
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Website	.org.lawrencecountyohiowww

Lawrence County is a

Huntington–Ashland, WV–KY–OH, Metropolitan Statistical Area Principal cities Ashland Huntington Ironton Municipalities with population over 5,000 Flatwoods Hurricane Nitro Pea Ridge CDP Teays Valley CDP Municipalities with population 1,000-5,000 Barboursville Buffalo Burlington Catlettsburg Ceredo Coal Grove Culloden CDP Eleanor Greenup Grayson Hamlin Kenova Lesage CDP Milton Olive Hill Raceland Russell Rush CDP South Point South Shore Wayne Westwood CDP Winfield Worthington Wurtland Municipalities with population under 1,000 Athalia Bancroft Bellefonte Chesapeake Fort Gay Hanging Rock Lavalette CDP Poca Proctorville West Hamlin West Virginia counties Cabell Lincoln Putnam Wayne Kentucky counties Boyd Carter Greenup Ohio counties Lawrence

• Lawrence County Sheriff
• Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce
• Lawrence Register

External links

References

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Lawrence County, Ohio

See also

• Etna
• Kitts Hill
• Pedro
• Rock Camp
• Scottown
• Waterloo
• Willow Wood

Unincorporated communities

• Burlington

Census-designated place

Townships

• Athalia
• Chesapeake
• Coal Grove
• Hanging Rock
• Proctorville
• South Point

Villages

• Ironton (county seat)

City

Map of Lawrence County, Ohio with Municipal and Township Labels

Communities

• County Commissioners: Bill Pratt (R), Les Boggs (R), and Freddie Hayes, Jr. (R).^[16]

Lawrence County has a 3-member Board of County Commissioners that oversee the various County departments, similar to all but 2 of the 88 Ohio counties. Lawrence County's elected commissioners are:

Government

The median income for a household in the county was $29,127, and the median income for a family was $35,308. Males had a median income of $30,622 versus $20,961 for females. The per capita income for the county was $14,678. About 15.10% of families and 18.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.30% of those under age 18 and 12.90% of those age 65 or over.

In the county, the population was spread out with 24.50% under the age of 18, 8.60% from 18 to 24, 28.00% from 25 to 44, 24.50% from 45 to 64, and 14.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 92.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.40 males.

There were 24,732 households out of which 32.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.00% were married couples living together, 11.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.00% were non-families. 24.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 2.96.

As of the census^[15] of 2000, there were 62,319 people, 24,732 households, and 17,807 families residing in the county. The population density was 137 people per square mile (53/km²). There were 27,189 housing units at an average density of 60 per square mile (23/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 96.55% White, 2.09% Black or African American, 0.18% Native American, 0.19% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.11% from other races, and 0.88% from two or more races. 0.57% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Demographics

• Wayne National Forest (part)

National protected area

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

Adjacent counties

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 457 square miles (1,180 km²), of which 453 square miles (1,170 km²) is land and 3.9 square miles (10 km²) (0.9%) is water.^[9] It is the southernmost county in the state of Ohio.

Geography

When first settled, Lawrence County was rich in natural resources such as iron, timber, coal, natural gas, oil, and salt. By the beginning of the twentieth century, many of these had been depleted.

Citizens from Lawrence County served in the Mexican-American War with at least one having died during that conflict. About 3200 of Lawrence County's men were soldiers in the Union Army by 1862 in the American Civil War.^[7] World War I saw 2200 of Lawrence County's men serving the U.S.A. of which 99 died.^[8]

The earliest settlers, Luke Kelly, his family and May Keyser, settled at Hanging Rock, along the Ohio River in 1796.^[6] Lawrence County was formed on December 20, 1816 from parts of Gallia and Scioto Counties, with the county seat being at Burlington.^[6] In 1851 the county seat was moved from Burlington to Ironton. A new court House was built at that time but it burned in 1857. The present Lawrence County Courthouse was built in 1908.

History

Lawrence County is part of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Charleston-Huntington-Ashland, WV-OH-KY Combined Statistical Area.^[5]

^[4], the naval officer famous for the line "do not give up the ship".James Lawrence for named It is [3]