Portsmouth quick history ... thanks Ramey and Clay!

While parts of it are sad, I thought you might enjoy seeing it. It is hard to believe that the present, decaying little Ohio River town of perhaps 20,000 people was, from the turn of the 20th Century through several years after WWII, a thriving and industrial place of close to 60,000 souls at one time. Industry Portsmouth boasted a fully intergrated steel mill producing everything from sheet steel for automobiles, appliances, etc., to rod and wire, all kinds of rolled bars, and one of the largest nail mills in the country. A local coke plant produced all the coke used for the steel making process. Portsmouth was one of the most inportant producers of shoes in the nation with 3 large shoe factories and Mitchellace who at one time was the largest single producer of shoe laces in the world. The Norfolk & Western Railroad alone employeed about 4,500 at their repair shops, roundhouse, etc. and the gigantic rail yards which were the nation's largest rail yards privately owned by one company. Because of large local deposits of clay required in brick making (early in the last century many roads and streets were paved with brick, houses used bricks, and the blast furnaces in the steel mills were lined with fire brick). Portsmouth was a large producer of various kinds of bricks. Sports Besides local and regional industrial and semi-pro ball teams, Portsmouth was "big time" in Football and Baseball. Portsmouth sported a NFL football team, the Portsmouth Spartans in the mid 1930's. When you click on the link Portsmouth, Ohio Yester Years below, you will see that the Portsmouth Spartans became the present day Detroit Lions. The Spartans were one of the teams that played under the lights for the first night game in NFL history at Spartan Municipal Stadium in Portsmouth. The Portsmouth Red Birds professional baseball team boasted many who became well known names in Big League Baseball. The high school team was not forgotten either. The Portsmouth Trojans played football in the Greater Ohio League which was arguably one of the strongest high school leagues in the country with Portsmouth, Ironton, Hamilton, Middletown, Canton-McKinley, Massilin. Personalities Jim Thorpe, probably one of the greatest athletes of all time, was a coach-player for a semi-team, 'Portsmouth Shoe Heels'. Branch Rickey, who hired Jackie Robinson as the first black big league baseball player, was a Portsmouth native. Roy Rogers, The King of the Cowboys, grew up on Duck Run which is just outside Portsmouth and his father worked at one of the shoe factories in Portsmouth. Many, many big name baseball players, too numerous to mention, are from the local area. Misc The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (now CSX) bridge that spans the Ohio River between Kentucky and Sciotoville, Ohio (east Portsmouth) was the largest bridge of its type in the world when it was completed in the early part of the last century and is still in use and still studied by bridge builders world wide. After devastating floods in 1913 and 1937 (in 1937 the river rose to over 74 feet from the normal leval of 9-12 feet) a floodwall was completed entirely protecting the city. Murals have been painted on the downtown section and are nationally renown. Today Today Portsmouth is a dying or already dead and decaying city of perhaps 20,000. There is essentially no industry. Shoe factories are gone; steel mill and coke plant gone; N&W shops are all gone; brick producers gone; the largest employer in the county is the local hospital, the Southern Ohio Medical Center. Some will tell you that drug dealing is the largest employer but take your choice. But...enough of this. Click on the link below and enjoy the good times gone by. I know this email will be widely circulated and many will be upset by it. Sorry but having been around for the good times and the bad in my 80 years, this is the way I see it. Excuse the spelling and any misstatement of happenings/events as I invoke 'political license' here. Check out Portsmouth, Ohio, Yester Years Click here: Portsmouth, Ohio Yester Years