Description: An unidentified covered bridge in Ashtabula County, Ohio. One of many found in Ohio, a covered bridge is a timber-truss structure with a roof and siding; often of historic value. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07522
Subjects: Covered bridges--Ohio; Ashtabula County (Ohio); Bridges; Roads--United States--History
Places: Ashtabula County (Ohio); Ashtabula (Ohio)
 

Description: Harpersfield Bridge over the Grand River, Harpersfield, Ashtabula County, Ohio. Geneva was settled in 1805 by settlers from Charlotte, New York. The bridge is one of the few in Ohio that is still drive able. The northern portion was washed away by the flood in 1936 and was replaced by a steel structure. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 3, 1975. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05996
Subjects: Covered bridges--Ohio; Ashtabula County (Ohio); National Register of Historic Places
Places: Geneva (Ohio); Ashtabula (Ohio)
 

Description: This is the entrance to the Harpersfield Covered Bridge near Geneva. Geneva was settled in 1805 by settlers from Charlotte, New York. The bridge is one of the few in Ohio that is still drive able. The northern portion was washed away by the flood in 1936 and was replaced by a steel structure. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 3, 1975. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06556
Subjects: Covered bridges--Ohio; Ashtabula County (Ohio); National Register of Historic Places
Places: Geneva (Ohio); Ashtabula (Ohio)
 

Description: Produced for the Ohio Guide in 1937, this is a map of Ashtabula County, Ohio, highlighting points of interest, railroads, state routes, and U. S. routes. It was drawn for the Ohio Writers' Program of the Work Progress Administration for possible use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B15F02_064
Subjects: Maps; Books; Ashtabula County (Ohio); Works Progress Administration; Ohio Federal Writers' Project
Places: Ashtabula (Ohio); Ashtabula County (Ohio)
 

Description: Illustration of a train on the Ashtabula Bridge from "The Ashtabula Disaster" by Stephen D. Peet, 1877. On December 29, 1876, a Howe truss bridge near Ashtabula, Ohio, collapsed while a train with three passenger cars was crossing it. The train and its passengers plunged sixty feet into a ravine and creek, and the lamps and stoves used to light and heat the train cars quickly ignited the wreckage. Ninety-two people died either in the accident or as a result of their injuries, and more than sixty of the surviving passengers were injured. Railroad accidents were commonplace during the late nineteenth century, due in part to tracks built quickly and cheaply by companies hoping to make tremendous profits. Railroad companies built thousands of miles of track in Ohio during the late nineteenth century, providing more opportunity for accidents to occur. Even after the Ashtabula Bridge collapse, the Howe truss bridge remained popular, primarily due to its relatively cheap cost. Still, railroad companies began to feel pressure from their customers to provide a safer means of travel. By 1888, more than two thousand iron bridges existed in Ohio. The state had fewer than nine hundred wooden bridges still in use at this time. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: 977_1341_P347_c2_013
Subjects: Transportation--Ohio--History; Trains; Railroad accidents; Railroads--Ohio; Bridges--Ohio;
Places: Ashtabula (Ohio); Ashtabula County (Ohio)
 

Description: 1877 engineering drawing of the Ashtabula Bridge, built by the Cleveland and Erie Railroad Company in 1863. This drawing shows the bridge, designed by Amasa Stone, that was involved with the infamous Ashtabula Train Disaster of 1876. On December 29, 1876, a Howe truss bridge near Ashtabula, Ohio, collapsed while a train with three passenger cars was crossing it. The train and its passengers plunged sixty feet into a ravine and creek, and the lamps and stoves used to light and heat the train cars quickly ignited the wreckage. Ninety-two people died either in the accident or as a result of their injuries, and more than sixty of the surviving passengers were injured. Railroad accidents were commonplace during the late nineteenth century, due in part to tracks built quickly and cheaply by companies hoping to make tremendous profits. Railroad companies built thousands of miles of track in Ohio during the late nineteenth century, providing more opportunity for accidents to occur. Even after the Ashtabula Bridge collapse, the Howe truss bridge remained popular, primarily due to its relatively cheap cost. Still, railroad companies began to feel pressure from their customers to provide a safer means of travel. By 1888, more than two thousand iron bridges existed in Ohio. The state had fewer than nine hundred wooden bridges still in use at this time. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: OVS4265_ashtabulabridge
Subjects: Bridges--Ohio; Railroads--Buildings and structures; Ohio Economy--Architecture and Engineering; Railroad accidents;
Places: Ashtabula (Ohio); Ashtabula County (Ohio);
 

Description: Pymatuning Lake in Ashtabula County. Both Ohio and Pennsylvania manage state parks on each side of the reservoir. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06885
Subjects: Ashtabula County (Ohio); Lakes--Ohio
Places: Andover (Ohio); Ashtabula County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dr. Henry Harris (b. 1805) kept a station on the Underground Railroad at Ashtabula, Ohio. After gaining the attention of pro-slavery individuals, Harris was sued by slave-owners in U.S. Circuit Court for aiding and abetting the escape of slaves. Eventually the suit was dismissed. This cabinet card is from Blakeslee and Co. at 97 1/2 Main Street, Ashtabula, Ohio. The image was collected by Ohio State University professor Wilbur H. Siebert (1866-1961). Siebert began researching the Underground Railroad in the 1890s as a way to interest his students in history. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03104
Subjects: Ohio History--Slavery, Anti-Slavery and Civil Rights; Underground Railroad--Ohio; Antislavery movements--Ohio--History--19th century; Abolitionists;
Places: Ashtabula (Ohio); Ashtabula County (Ohio)
 

Description: Coal loading docks and railroad tracks at Ashtabula Harbor, Ashtabula, Ashtabula County, Ohio ca. 1940-1949. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00310
Subjects: Coal mines and mining--Ohio; Ohio Economy--Economy--Labor
Places: Ashtabula (Ohio); Ashtabula County (Ohio)
 

Description: Image of the train involved in the Ashtabula Train Disaster, showing the train at the Ashtabula Railroad Depot and passengers waiting to board. The caption reads: "The Doomed Train, as it left Ashtabula, a few minutes before the Wreck." This illustration comes from a pamphlet titled "The terrible Ashtabula rail road calamity, on the evening of Dec. 29th, 1876, together with a few incidents of P.P. Bliss, the immortal singer," published by A.S. Benner, 1877. While this illustration is identified as the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway cars that plunged into the Ashtabula River, it does not appear to depict the actual train involved in the disaster or the Ashtabula LS&MS station at the time of the incident On December 29, 1876, a Howe truss bridge near Ashtabula, Ohio, collapsed while a train with three passenger cars was crossing it. The train and its passengers plunged sixty feet into a ravine and creek, and the lamps and stoves used to light and heat the train cars quickly ignited the wreckage. Ninety-two people died either in the accident or as a result of their injuries, and more than sixty of the surviving passengers were injured. Railroad accidents were commonplace during the late nineteenth century, due in part to tracks built quickly and cheaply by companies hoping to make tremendous profits. Railroad companies built thousands of miles of track in Ohio during the late nineteenth century, providing more opportunity for accidents to occur. Even after the Ashtabula Bridge collapse, the Howe truss bridge remained popular, primarily due to its relatively cheap cost. Still, railroad companies began to feel pressure from their customers to provide a safer means of travel. By 1888, more than two thousand iron bridges existed in Ohio. The state had fewer than nine hundred wooden bridges still in use at this time. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07759
Subjects: Transportation--Ohio--History; Trains; Railroad accidents; Railroads--Ohio; Bridges--Ohio;
Places: Ashtabula (Ohio); Ashtabula County (Ohio);
 

Description: Portrait of Benjamin F. Wade from Jefferson, Ashtabula County, Ohio, ca. 1894-1912. He served as United States Senator from Ohio from 1859 to 1869. Wade was the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in 1868. Wade died in 1878 and this portrait was produced as a memorial to the Senator after his death. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00785
Subjects: Ashtabula County (Ohio); Ohio History--State and Local Government
Places: Jefferson (Ohio); Ashtabula County (Ohio)
 

Description: The photograph depicts the northeast corner of the town square in Jefferson, the county seat of Ashtabula County. The picture shows, from left to right, the harness shop of J.A. Hervey & Co., the S.D. Dann Store, Talcott Tin and Stove Shop, and the Jefferson House, a hotel. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Jefferson_OH001
Subjects: Ashtabula County (Ohio) -- Photographs; Jefferson (Ohio) -- Photographs
Places: Jefferson (Ohio); Ashtabula County (Ohio)