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1-44 The Hanging Rock Iron Region / The Blast Furnaces of Lawrence County

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Front Text: To furnish the needs of the early settlers, then to furnish ordnance for a nation at war, and finally to furnish merchant iron to the steel mills, 100 iron producing blast furnaces were built within these 1,800 square miles of the lower coal measures to become known as the Hanging Rock Region. Lawrence County, centrally located within the Region, had 23 blast furnaces constructed between 1826 and 1909. Back Text: 1. Union 2. Pine Grove 3. Aetna 4. Vesuvius 5. Buckhorn 6. Mt. Vernon 7. Hecla 8. Lawrence 9. La Grange 10. Centre 11. Olive 12. Washington 13. Oak Ridge 14. Pioneer 15. Monitor 16. Belfont 17. Grant 18. Etna-Alice 19. Etna-Blanche 20. Maggie 21. Sarah 22. Hamilton 23. Ironton
Address: Lawrence County Courthouse, 111 S. 4th Street, Ironton
Location: NE corner of Park Avenue and S 4th Street
2-44 The Waterloo Wonders / Waterloo's Historic Wonder Five 1934 and 1935 Class B State Champions

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Front Text: Waterloo was home to the legendary Waterloo Wonders. Coach Magellan Hariston and his Wonder Five captured consecutive Ohio state high school Class B basketball championships in 1934 & 1935, winning 94 out of 97 games, and defeating many Class A and college teams. The 91st Ohio House of Representatives honored the Waterloo Wonders with a resolution following their second Class B State Championship win. The Wonders, known for their colorful passing show, entertained fans with their scoring ability, defense, trick passes, and hardwood antics. Hailing from a small village with a school male enrollment of only 26, the Waterloo Wonders were considered one of the greatest basketball teams ever assembled on the Ohio high school athletic scene. After high school, four of the Wonder Five played professionally as the Waterloo Wonders, ranking among the best basketball squads in the country. Back Text: Curtis McMahon, Team Captain, 5'11", Greasy Ridge; Beryl Drummond, 5'8", Flag Springs; Orlyn Roberts, 5'11", Waterloo; Wyman Roberts, 5'11", Waterloo; Steward Wiseman, 5'7", Sheritts; Magellan Hairston, Coach and Principal of Waterloo High School; Other Team Members: Carl Adams, Edgar Griffith, Burkie Brumfield, Owen Knox, Lee Drummond, Forest Malone, Kenneth McCauley, Team Statistician. Cheerleaders: Kathryn (Bradshaw) McMahon, Blanche (Vermillion) Spears. School Colors: Black and White. School Cheer: A basket, a basket, a basket, boys. You make the basket, we'll make the noise. Yea black, Yea white, Yea team, win tonight!
Address: OH 141, Waterloo
Location: At residence across Ford street, to the left of the Post Office
3-44 Tanks Memorial Stadium / Ironton Tanks

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Front Text: Opened in 1926, Tanks Memorial Stadium became the home of the Ironton Tanks semi-professional football team. The Tanks were formed in 1919 and through the years played other semi-professional teams as well as teams from the American Professional Football Association that became the National Football League in 1930. In twelve seasons the Tanks had a record of 85 wins, 19 losses, and 14 ties, including wins against the Chicago Bears and New York Giants. The Tanks disbanded in 1931, but five players moved on to the Portsmouth Spartans, which became the Detroit Lions, and other NFL teams picked up four other players. Tanks Memorial Stadium is one of the few remaining roofed high school football stadiums in the country. Back Text: Semi-professional football began in Ironton in 1893 with a team known as the Irontonians. The Ironton Tanks, founded in 1919, was a combination of two Ironton cross-town rival football clubs known as the Irish Town Rags and the Lombards. The Ironton Tanks, perhaps one of the most appropriate athletic nicknames of the period and one that evidently no other team in the nation adopted, is fitting because team members returning from World War I and new players likened themselves to battlefield tanks that flattened the opposition. Ironton, a city heavily dependent on the iron industry, adopted the Tanks name with gusto. On April 16, 1926, a group called the Beechwood Stadium Corporation was formed to raise money to build the Tanks a permanent home. Six months later, the stadium was completed. The Tanks innovative plays in 1930, looping and angle charges, are still being used today by teams of the National Football League.
Address: 1701 S. 7th Street, Ironton
Location: Ironton High School
4-44 Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church

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Front Text: The present structure for the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church was built in 1849 on Macedonia Ridge north of Burlington, an abolitionist sanctuary for escaped and freed slaves since 1799. It was built by the existing Baptist congregation and a group of 37 freed slaves who had arrived in Burlington from Virginia. The Baptist congregation in Macedonia had organized in 1811-1813 and practiced their faith in their homes and later in a small building with a bell tower made of sticks. The 1849 church was the religious and social focal point for the black community and became the "Mother Church" for approximately eight Baptist churches that exist in Ohio and West Virginia. The Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Back Text: Same
Address: Lawrence Cty Rd 144 & Cty Rd 120, South Point
Location: Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church
5-44 John Campbell Memorial Home

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Front Text: John Campbell (1818-1891), founder of Ironton, was an ironmaster and president of the Ohio Iron & Coal Company, a Presbyterian, and an abolitionist. This house and barn, which he built in 1850, became a stop on the Underground Railroad for slaves crossing the Ohio River from Kentucky. Fugitives were concealed here and furnace wagons transported the escapees northward by way of Campbell's furnaces in Lawrence and Jackson counties. Back Text: Same
Address: 305 N. Fifth Street, Ironton
Location: John Campbell Memorial Home, NE corner of N 5th Street and Lawrence Street
6-44 City of Ironton - Founded 1849

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Front Text: In 1849, the city of Ironton was founded by local ironmasters, railroaders, and financiers associated with the Ohio Iron and Coal Company. They saw the city as a manufacturing and shipping point for their products. As a young industrial city, Ironton prospered when river transportation facilitated the development and export of Lawrence County's natural resources and manufactured items. The Iron Railroad Company was also established to transport pig iron and manufactured goods from nearby towns to Ironton, to awaiting steamboats on the Ohio River. Steamboats, in the form of towboats, packet boats, and showboats, traveled the river providing the city with goods, services, and entertainment. The Ironton wharf and boat landing once served the community as a gathering place to greet incoming passengers, receive mail, and hear the latest news. Back Text: Same
Address: Junction of Center Street & Ohio Riverbank, Ironton
Location: At top of a small amphitheater along the river
7-44 Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade

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Front Text: Since 1868, Ironton's annual Memorial Day parade has recognized those in Lawrence County who died while defending our country's freedom. This was the same year in which the Grand Army of the Republic established May 30 as Decoration Day. Originally established to commemorate soldiers who died during the Civil War, the parade now honors those who served during all the nation's wars. Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress in 1971. The Ironton event is recognized as the oldest Memorial Day parade in Ohio and the oldest continuing Memorial Day observance in the nation. Back Text: Same
Address: Lawrence County Courthouse, 111 S. 4th Street, Ironton
Location: SW corner of Center Street and S 5th Street
8-44 Olive Furnace

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Front Text: Olive Furnace in Lawrence County was one of 83 blast furnaces in the Hanging Rock iron-making region of southern Ohio and northern Kentucky. John Campbell (1808-1891), the â€œFather of Ironton,â€ and others established the furnace in 1846. The base of the furnace is carved out of rock and supported by Roman style arches. Only one of these arches remains some 170 years later. The furnace became a stop on the Underground Railroad. Conductors ushered escaping slaves through the area to points further north. The Olive Furnace was the last charcoal furnace to operate in Lawrence County. After seven decades of service, the furnace was sold and dismantled for scrap in 1915. Olive Furnace was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. Back Text: Same
Address: OH 93, Pedro
Location: NW corner of OH 93 and Township Road 239, almost across from the Mount Olive Community Church

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