Editing Ashtabula, Ohio (section)

== History ==
[[File:Center St. Looking Towards Main St. (39997064455).jpg|thumb|left|Center Street, 1915]]
This area had long been inhabited by indigenous peoples. After the American Revolutionary War, the United States mounted the [[Northwest Indian War]] to push Native American peoples out of what it then called the Northwest - the area of the Midwest south of the [[Great Lakes]] and west of the [[Appalachian Mountains]]. The success of this military effort resulted in more European Americans entering Ohio and nearby territories.

The site of Ashtabula was settled by such European Americans beginning in 1803. The city was incorporated in 1891.<ref name=Brit>"Ashtabula" in ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica|The New Encyclopædia Britannica]]''. Chicago: [[Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.]], 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 627.</ref> Located directly on Lake Erie and developed as a port for trade, the city contained several [[Safe house|stops]] on the [[Underground Railroad]]. This informal, secret system was the means by which anti-slavery supporters helped escaped [[African-American]] [[slavery|slaves]] reach freedom in [[Canada]] in the years before the [[American Civil War]]. While Ohio was a free state, many refugee slaves still felt at risk of slavecatchers here, particularly after the [[Fugitive Slave Law of 1850]] was passed. It required enforcement and cooperation by residents of free states to return escaped slaves and was biased toward slavecatchers, requiring little documentation of their claims. Among the Underground Railroad sites in Ashtabula is Hubbard House, one of the handful of former surviving termination points. Refugee slaves stayed in a basement of the house adjacent to the lake and then left on the next safe boat to Canada, gaining their freedom once they arrived in [[Ontario]].

The city's harbor has been important as a large ore and coal port since the end of the 19th century, and integral to the steel manufacturing that was developed around the Great Lakes. Lake steamers and barges, built at shipyards along the Great Lakes and setting new records for size and tonnage, delivered cargoes of iron ore from the [[Mesabi Range]] in [[Minnesota]]. This continues as a coal port; a long coal ramp is visible in the harbor. Ore shipments are unloaded from 'lakers' (Great Lakes freighters) and shipped to surviving steel mills in Pennsylvania. Industrial jobs have declined since the late 20th century with much steel manufacturing moved offshore.

An electric street railroad was built by Captain John N. Stuart in 1883. However, in July 1890, the city council dispossessed him of the street railroad and associated franchises via a disputable court decision. Shortly after, 600-700 men started to tear up and remove the tracks under the cover of darkness.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/streetrailwayrev01amer/streetrailwayrev01amer#page/138/mode/1up ''The Ashtabula Horror.''] Street Railway Review, 1891, p. 138.</ref>

Many European immigrants, particularly from [[Finland]], [[Sweden]], and [[Italy]], were attracted to the industrial jobs in Ashtabula in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as they could learn and accomplish tasks without having a great command of English. Ethnic rivalries among these groups were once a major influence on politics and daily life in Ashtabula.

In 1915, Ashtabula became the first city in the United States to adopt a form of voting called [[proportional representation]]. This was an addition to the [[Council–manager government|council-manager]] charter, originally passed in 1914, and served as a model for the [[National Civic League|National Municipal League]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hatton|first=Augustus R.|date=January 1916|title=The Ashtabula Plan: The Latest Step in Municipal Organization|journal=National Municipal Review|language=en|volume=5|issue=1|pages=56–65|doi=10.1002/ncr.4110050107|issn=0190-3799|hdl=2027/uiug.30112101748264|hdl-access=free}}</ref> Twenty-four more cities would go on to use this [[Single transferable vote|single-transferable-vote]] (STV) system, with five in total in Ohio. Ethnic rivalries were one reason for the city's switch, as STV enabled minorities to win political office.<ref name="pr">[[Kathleen L. Barber]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20161222184320/https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/polit/damy/OrderDesk/barber.htm ''PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION AND ELECTION REFORM IN OHIO'' (excerpt)], Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1995, pp. Introduction</ref><ref name="amy">[https://www.fairvote.org/a_brief_history_of_proportional_representation_in_the_united_states Douglas J. Amy, "A Brief History of Proportional Representation in the United States"], revised version of "The Forgotten History of the Single Transferable Vote in the United States," in ''Representation'' 34, number 1 (Winter 1996/7), accessed August 14, 2022</ref> Another factor was disunity in the incumbent Republican Party. Voters repealed the system in 1929, using it for the last time in 1931. Despite two failed repeal campaigns in 1920 and 1926,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Santucci|first=Jack|date=November 10, 2016|title=Party Splits, Not Progressives|journal=American Politics Research|language=en|volume=45|issue=3|pages=494–526|doi=10.1177/1532673x16674774|s2cid=157400899|issn=1532-673X}}</ref> political bosses and parties that lost power under STV eventually restored [[plurality voting]], otherwise known as 'winner take all.'<ref name="amy"/>

A substantial percentage of the current residents are descended from those early 20th-century immigrants. The population in the City of Ashtabula grew steadily until 1970 but has declined in recent years due to industrial restructuring and loss of jobs. Since the late 20th century, the city has become a destination for Hispanic or Latino immigrants, who by the 2010 census made up 9.3% of the population. (See 'Demographics' section below.)

===Tragedies===
[[File:Ashtabula Bridge disaster.jpg|thumb|left|Depiction of the 1876 [[Ashtabula River railroad disaster]]]]
Construction of railroads connected Ashtabula to a national network that contributed to its success as a port. On December 29, 1876, one of the nation's most notorious rail accidents occurred, known as the [[Ashtabula River railroad disaster]], Ashtabula Horror, or Ashtabula bridge disaster. As [[Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway]] Train No. 5, ''The Pacific Express,'' crossed the Ashtabula River bridge, the [[Howe truss]] structure collapsed, dropping the second locomotive and 11 passenger cars into the frozen creek {{convert|150|ft|m}} below. A fire was started by the car stoves, and of the 159 people on board, 92 were killed and 64 were injured.

A [[Train ferry|rail ferry]], also named ''[[Ashtabula (ferry)|Ashtabula]],'' used to run from Ashtabula to [[Port Burwell, Ontario]].<ref name=MaritimeHistoryAshtabulaFerry>
{{cite news
| url         = http://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/61623/data?n=1
| title       = Ashtabula (Ferry), U203071, sunk by collision, 18 September 1958
| publisher   = [[Maritime History of the Great Lakes]]
| access-date  = November 14, 2011
| quote       = Sunk in collision with steamer BEN MORELL in harbor at Ashtabula, Ohio, September 18, 1958.
}}
</ref> The ferry was launched in 1906 and operated successfully for many decades. It collided with the steamer [[Ben Moreell (steamer)|''SS Ben Morell'']] in September 1959, causing the ferry to sink.<ref name=MaritimeHistoryAshtabulaFerry/>

On August 10, 1958, a natural gas leak was ignited by electrical equipment or lighting in Andover, Ohio a neighboring town. The resulting explosion destroyed a restaurant and five other buildings. 21 people were killed, and 15 injured.<ref name="google21">{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5y1kAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5XsNAAAAIBAJ&pg=6842,1721328&dq=gas+main+fire&hl=en|title=The Calgary Herald - Google News Archive Search|access-date=October 18, 2014}}</ref>