Editing East Liverpool, Ohio (section)

==History==
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 | image1 = Bird's Eye View of East Liverpool, Ohio Showing Newell Bridge - DPLA - 5c24c2c2bc028c6406d16d4af15aa954 (page 1).jpg
 | caption1 = Bird's eye view of East Liverpool in 1920, with the [[Wayne Six Toll Bridge]] at front
 | image2 = C.C. Thompson Pottery Co. (16255673816).jpg
 | caption2 = C.C. Thompson Pottery {{Circa|1912}}
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[[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] [[petroglyphs]] exist in the area surrounding East Liverpool, including on [[Babbs Island]] and near the [[Little Beaver Creek]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eastliverpoolhistoricalsociety.org/indianrocks.htm |publisher=East Liverpool Historical Society |access-date=January 10, 2022 |title=Indian Mounds & Petroglyphs }}</ref> Before the arrival of European Americans, [[Mingo]], [[Lenape]], and [[Wyandot people|Wyandot]] peoples lived in the area until the [[Battle of Fallen Timbers]] led to the [[Ohio Country]]'s settlement.

The [[Public Land Survey System]] of the United States was established by Congressional legislation in 1785 to provide an orderly mechanism for opening the [[Northwest Territory]] for settlement. The ordinance directed the Geographer of the United States, [[Thomas Hutchins]], to survey an initial east–west baseline. Hutchins began in 1786, using as his starting point a stake on the north bank of the Ohio River placed by a 1785 survey team from Virginia and Pennsylvania to fix their common north–south boundary. Hutchins' work, completed in 1787, established the [[Seven Ranges]]. This survey is believed to be "the first mathematically designed system and nationally conducted [[cadastre|cadastral]] survey in any modern country" and is memorialized by the [[Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey]] monument.<ref name=nrhpinv2>{{cite web |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Beginning Point / Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey|url={{NHLS url|id=66000606}} |format=pdf |date=December 27, 1974 |first1=Joseph S. |last1=Mendinghall |publisher=National Park Service }}</ref>

East Liverpool traces its founding to 1798 when Irish immigrant Thomas Fawcett purchased 1,100 acres of land along the Ohio River in what was then [[Jefferson County, Ohio|Jefferson County]]. In 1802, he platted the town of St. Clair, named for territorial governor [[Arthur St. Clair]].<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ONQyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA286 | title=History of Columbiana County, Ohio and Representative Citizens | publisher=Biographical Publishing Company | author=McCord, William B. | year=1905 | pages=286}}</ref> It was called Fawcettstown for a time before being renamed Liverpool in 1816, after the port city of [[Liverpool]], England. Over its first few decades, a grist mill, multiple stores, and wharves opened in the town.<ref name="EarlyHistory">{{cite web |url=http://www.eastliverpoolhistoricalsociety.org/veryearlyelo.htm |publisher=East Liverpool Historical Society |access-date=January 10, 2022 |title=Very Early East Liverpool, Ohio }}</ref> The first schoolhouse opened in 1820, and the first religious center opened in 1834 when an [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]] was established on a 4th Street site provided by town developers.<ref name="EarlyHistory" /> Liverpool was incorporated as East Liverpool in 1834 to avoid confusion with [[Liverpool Township, Medina County, Ohio]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.eastliverpoolhistoricalsociety.org/veryearlyelo.htm | title=ELHistSoc - Very Early East Liverpool, Ohio }}</ref><ref name="EarlyHistory" />

Although [[Pittsburgh]]-based entrepreneurs invested in the town, it was smaller during this period than the nearby towns of [[Lisbon, Ohio|New Lisbon]] and [[Wellsville, Ohio|Wellsville]]. The arrival of English potter James Bennett in 1839 brought the establishment of the first [[bottle kiln]] site in East Liverpool, launching [[East Liverpool, Ohio#Economy|the town's largest industry]] and bringing in multiple waves of Western European immigration throughout the late 19th century.<ref name="EarlyHistory" /> Another large employer outside of the pottery industry was the [[Crucible Industries|Crucible Steel Company]] in nearby [[Midland, Pennsylvania]]. By 1880, East Liverpool had grown to be the largest city in the county, and it reached over 20,000 residents before 1910.<ref name="GR2" />

In 1905, the first city hospital opened.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eastliverpoolhistoricalsociety.org/memdates.htm |publisher=East Liverpool Historical Society |access-date=January 10, 2022 |title=Memorable East Liverpool Dates }}</ref> As of 1914, East Liverpool was served by the [[Cleveland Line (Norfolk Southern)|Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Beach |editor1-first=Chandler B. |editor2-last=McMurry |editor2-first=Frank Morton |title=The New Student's Reference Work |date=1914 |publisher=F.E. Compton and Company |location=Chicago |page=577 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:LA2-NSRW-2-0095.jpg |access-date=August 31, 2014 }}</ref> On October 22, 1934, local police and FBI agents led by [[Melvin Purvis]] shot and killed notorious bank robber [[Pretty Boy Floyd]] in a cornfield north of town after Floyd fled East Liverpool, and his body was returned to the town for embalming.<ref>{{cite magazine|url        = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,948770,00.html |archive-url = https://archive.today/20120912042530/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,948770,00.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = September 12, 2012 |title = Letters, Nov. 19, 1979 |magazine       = TIME |publisher = Time Inc. |date = November 19, 1979 |access-date = October 27, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url = https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=FL004 |title = Floyd, Charles Arthur (1904–1934) |first = Michael |last = Wallis |publisher = Oklahoma Historical Society |encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |access-date = March 29, 2025 }}</ref>

The western downtown area was cleared in the 1960s to make way for the 4-lane expansion of [[Ohio State Route 11]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eastliverpoolhistoricalsociety.org/HowELgothere.htm |publisher=East Liverpool Historical Society |access-date=January 10, 2022 |title=HOW EAST LIVERPOOL GOT HERE }}</ref> The city reached its peak population of more than 26,000 in 1970, but its pottery industry had already begun to decline by the mid-1960s. As with other industries, production moved to developing countries where labor costs were cheaper. This cost many jobs and, ultimately, population in the [[Upper Ohio Valley]] area, as people moved away in search of work. Many of the city's downtown businesses withdrew to [[strip mall]]s in nearby [[Calcutta, Ohio|Calcutta]] or left the area outright.

In the mid-1990s, the city renovated its downtown district. To improve its urban design, it installed Depression-era lightposts, developed a new center called Devon's Diamond, and reconstructed the old high school's clock tower.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} In 2010, East Liverpool lost its position as the most populous city in the county to [[Salem, Ohio|Salem]] after 130 years and was later withdrawn from being a principal city in the [[micropolitan area]].<ref name="GR2" /> Restoration of two buildings in the [[Diamond Historic District (East Liverpool, Ohio)|Diamond Historic District]] and [[East Fifth Street Historic District (East Liverpool, Ohio)|East Fifth Street Historic District]] began in 2024 as part of a $1.2 million incentive received from the state government.<ref name="jobsohio">{{cite web|url=https://www.salemnews.net/news/local-news/2024/10/dewine-announces-1-2-million-investment-in-east-liverpool/ |title=DeWine announces $1.2 million investment in East Liverpool |author=Garabrandt, Kristi |publisher=Salem News |date=October 3, 2024 |access-date=March 29, 2025 }}</ref>