City Of Clairsville Ohio history

According to reports, Newell in 1802 renamed the town in honor of his cousin General Arthur St Clair, who was the first governor of the Northwest Territory, a confidant of George Washington, and President of the First Continental Congress.

St Clairsville has been the county seat of Belmont County since 1804.

The village of Barnesville was platted in 1808 by James Barnes, who took advantage of a Drovers' road that ran through the area from the Ohio River.

The oldest part of the house is said to have been built by Robert Sr. who died in 1814.

Benjamin Lundy settled here in 1815 and started the first abolitionist society known as the Union Humane Society and the first newspaper publication dedicated to the elimination of slavery.

The town was incorporated a second time in 1818.

Lundy left St Clairsville in 1819.

The National Road, the major overland route to the West in the second quarter of the nineteenth century was the crucial factor in Morristown's development. It was built through the village around 1826 and changed the village's main thoroughfare from the "Wheeling Road" (later renamed Church Street) to Main Street.

The Brick Tavern, also known as the "Brick Tavern House," "The Tavern Stand," and "Lentz Tavern" is a Greek Revival example of a roadside inn built circa 1828 by Samuel Robinson.

Wilson Shannon was a resident of St Clairsville who was elected Governor in 1838, the first native Ohioan to serve in that position.

The Great Western School was built by the Clark Construction Company in 1870.

Built in 1878 to house the Ohio Yearly Meeting of Conservative Friends.

Rescued from destruction in the late 1960’s, it was reconstructed on the present site in 1975. It was originally built in 1891 in Fairfield County.

The depot was opened in 1916 and was heralded by the local newspaper as "long needed and greatly desired." The depot was the site of many city events, including troop send-offs during World War I, World War II, and the Korean War, as well as several Farmers' markets held on the site.

The moniker “Paradise on the Hilltop” originated in the early 1920’s and warranted a logo for the town’s first substantial subdivision.

The Brick Tavern was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

The National Road Bikeway was completed in 1998 and has become a regional attraction.