Irondale

How Irondale began

Irondale, in Saline Township along the North Fork of Yellow Creek, began as Pottsdale, named for Samuel Potts, whose salt well of about 1806 produced six barrels of brine a day. Coal mining began in 1861 under manager John Hunter, a railroad carried the coal, and the settlement was laid out as Huntersville; in 1869 the Pioneer Coal Company's rolling mill, followed in 1870 by the Morgan Coal and Iron Company's blast furnace, made it Irondale and, by the 1910 county history, 'the most flourishing community in the county,' with an estimated 1,500 people before the panic of 1873. Mills closed, the census fell to 399 in 1880, and fire clay and brick works carried the village back to 1,136 in 1900. Wikipedia credits its tin mill as the first commercially successful in the United States. The 2020 census counted 326.

Settled c. 1806 (Samuel Potts's salt operation, as Pottsdale), platted 1861 (Huntersville laid out, per the 1910 county history); Wikipedia says Morgan & Hunter replatted it as Hunterville in 1869, incorporated not recorded, by Samuel Potts (as Pottsdale); Morgan & Hunter (1869 replat).

Where the name comes from

Named Pottsdale for Samuel Potts, an early salt manufacturer, around 1806. The 1910 county history says a new village named Huntersville was laid out in 1861 and that the town was enlarged and renamed Irondale after the Pioneer Coal Company's rolling mill of 1869; Wikipedia says the settlement was renamed Hunterville in 1869 when Morgan & Hunter laid out a new plat, and renamed Irondale after iron ore and tin-related minerals were found nearby.

Before the town

No specific Native American village, mound or documented encounter within Irondale itself is recorded. The village lies within Saline Township, whose 1880 county history documents the 1774 killing of the Mingo leader Logan's family at the nearby mouth of Yellow Creek and a Native travel trail running along Yellow Creek generally.

Nations recorded here: Mingo (Seneca-Cayuga).

Timeline

1. 1806 — Joshua Downer finds salt water on the site, Samuel Potts sinks the well, and James Rodgers adds two more of five barrels a day each; a hamlet named Pottsdale grows up around them, and salt at $16 a barrel is hauled to the mouth of the creek and shipped by boat until larger wells elsewhere end the trade.
2. 1861 — Coal mining begins under John Hunter as manager, with a railroad furnishing transportation, and a new village named Huntersville is laid out.
3. 1869 — Wikipedia says Morgan & Hunter lay out a new plat and rename the settlement Hunterville; the 1910 county history dates the village of Huntersville to 1861.
4. 1869 — The Pioneer Coal Company's rolling mill, employing 150 hands, gives a boom to every class of business; the town is enlarged and renamed Irondale, and Irondale Lodge No. 533 is formed.
5. 1870 — Morgan and Hunter open a store with R. G. Richards as manager and first postmaster, the Morgan Coal and Iron Company erects a large blast furnace, and Mrs. Mary Crans builds a large hotel; the first census counts 751 inhabitants.
6. 1872 — The Methodists form a separate congregation and build a neat frame church after union services in the schoolhouse since 1869.
7. 1873 — The panic of 1873 shuts the mills; Irondale, with an estimated population of 1,500 and the most flourishing community in the county, declines almost as fast as it rose, to 399 by the 1880 census.
8. 1880s — Wikipedia says the village's tin mill, fed by its iron and tin-manufacturing minerals, was the first commercially successful tin mill in the United States, dating it to the 1880s.
9. 1890 — New enterprises revive the village: 694 inhabitants in 1890 and 1,136 in 1900; fire brick works, including the Minor Fire Brick Company and later the Furnace Fire Clay Company, operate on the site.
10. c. 1898 — A two-story, seven-room brick school with room for 400 children is built at Irondale, about twelve years before the 1910 county history, which gives its enrollment as 317; a Knights of Pythias lodge was formed there about ten years before that history, and the Masonic lodge formed at Hammondsville in 1873 moved to Irondale on March 1, 1906.
11. 1950 — The census counts 775 residents (705 in 1960 and 602 in 1970).
12. 2020 — The census counts 326 residents, down from 418 in 2000.

Stories

From salt to rolling mill in sixty years

Irondale's earliest industry was salt. Joshua Downer, prospecting the hills of Yellow Creek about 1806, found salt water, and Samuel Potts sank a well that gave enough brine for six barrels of salt a day. James Rodgers sank two more wells of five barrels each, a hamlet called Pottsdale grew up around them, the Potts brothers opened a bank, and with salt at $16 a barrel the place took on a business-like air; carts hauled the barrels to the mouth of the creek to be shipped by boat. Competition from larger wells elsewhere ended the trade in a few years and Pottsdale went back to farming until coal mining began in 1861 and a railroad arrived. The Pioneer Coal Company's rolling mill of 1869, with 150 hands, and the Morgan Coal and Iron Company's blast furnace of 1870 turned Huntersville into Irondale, and the county history says the panic of 1873 found it the most flourishing community in the county, with perhaps 1,500 people. The mills shut down and the town shrank to 399 in 1880.

Photographs

Local history sources: en.wikipedia.org · ohiogenealogyexpress.com · commons.wikimedia.org · archive.org

No water-system data is linked to Irondale's ZIP codes yet.

Fire and EMS stations (1)

Bridges rated poor (1)

Spills reported since 2021 (1)

Money issues on the ballot since 2019: 3 of 3 passed.

Ballot issues

Elections for office

Winners in bold. Results from the county board of elections' official canvass unless marked.

Auditor of State record

• Fiscal emergency: declared 1985-10-09, released 1993-07-06. source
• Basic Audit, 2024 to 2025, released 2026-09-15
• Basic Audit, 2022 to 2023, released 2024-11-07

Source: Ohio EPA eDocument portal (edocpub.epa.ohio.gov), indexed 2026-10-14. Facilities are placed on the map from Ohio EPA's own map layers, EPA's Facility Registry, coordinates written in the filings, or a geocoded street address. A permit filed under a private person's name (most are household septic systems) is counted but never named, placed or linked; licenses for individual workers and open-burning notices are left out entirely.

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