Nicknamed the City of Murals, Steubenville is located along the Ohio River and just 45 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh and about 2.5 hours from Columbus and Cleveland. Several notables were born here including Dean Martin and Edwin M. Stanton who was Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of War.
Built in 1787 by the 1st American Regiment to protect government surveyors from the area's hostile Indians as they laid out the first 7 ranges of the Northwest Territory. Fort Steuben opened the Northwest Territory which would later become Ohio and other states west. The town that grew up around the fort became Steubenville. The military stationed at the fort was also responsible for removing illegal squatters that had moved into the area.
As the surveyors completed their task, the land was sold for settlement or offered to soldiers as payment for military service during the Revolutionary War.
The fort was named by Captain John Hamtramck in honor of General George Washington's drill master, Baron von Steuben. It was Baron von Steuben who drilled the Continental Army at Valley Forge during some of the darkest periods for America's new army. George Washington actually stopped on the shore at Mingo Junction near Steubenville while inspecting lands his brothers owned in the Ohio Country.
Also located on the site is the original log cabin that housed the first Federal Land Office west of the Allegheny Mountains. The log building was constructed in 1801 by David Hoge and also served as his home. In 1809 the cabin was moved and 12 years later encased in a brick structure when it was uncovered in 1940.
Fort Steuben was abandoned in 1787 and soon disappeared. The reconstructed fort is on the original location.
During regular hours re enactors give visitors a better understanding of life on the frontier in the late 1700s. A visitor center is part of the fort complex. Fort Steuben is available for individual and family tours, group tours, school field trips, educational programs, reunions and meetings.
First known as the wood center of the west, it later became a major steel manufacturing center and some of those plants are still operating in the valley.
The self proclaimed "City of Murals" Steubenville has created an array of different murals throughout the metropolitan area. There are some 30 murals painted on the sides buildings.
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