24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Ironton, OH

Ironton is a city in and the county seat of Lawrence County, sitting on the Ohio River in Ohio's southernmost tip within the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area.

Ironton's name is a contraction of “iron town,” and the city was founded in 1849 by John Campbell, a prominent pig iron manufacturer who chose the riverfront site to ship iron to downriver markets.

Between 1850 and 1890, Ironton was one of the foremost producers of iron in the world — England, France, and Russia bought its iron for warships, and Ironton iron was used in the USS Monitor, the U.S. Navy's first ironclad — with more than 90 furnaces operating at the industry's peak.

The Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad was built to carry the region's iron north to Henry Ford's automaking plants in Michigan.

Ironton was a destination on the Underground Railroad, where founder John Campbell and other city leaders sheltered escaping slaves in their homes.

The Ironton Tanks, organized in 1919, were one of the first professional football teams in the United States, and their Thanksgiving Day games started a tradition that eventually became the Detroit Lions' annual Thanksgiving game.

The Ironton–Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade, founded in 1868, is the oldest continuously running Memorial Day parade in the United States.

Ironton had a population of 10,571 at the 2020 census, living in about 4,532 households — down sharply from its 1950 peak of 16,333 after the iron industry collapsed and major floods struck in 1917 and 1937.

Ironton is home to Ohio University Southern Campus, the largest branch campus of Ohio University.

The Ironton High School Fighting Tigers play their home football games on the same field once used by the Ironton Tanks.