Pomeroy, Ohio

thumb|upright|Set into the side of a cliff, the three-story Meigs County courthouse offers a ground level entrance on each story, gaining it a mention in [[Ripley's Believe It or Not!]]

Pomeroy ( ) is a village in Meigs County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the Ohio River about south of Athens. The population was 1,573 at the 2020 census.

History

Pomeroy was founded in 1804 and named for landowner Samuel Pomeroy. The village was incorporated in 1840, and designated county seat in 1841.

Settlement and economic development

The earliest history of Pomeroy begins with the arrival of Samuel Ervin at what is now Kerr’s Run in 1806. Coal mining was begun in 1819. In 1821 Josiah Dill opened a tavern there and Nial Nye in 1826 operated a tavern, mill and wharf-boat. In 1827 a town was laid out and named Nyesville.

Schools

During the late 1880s, a school was built in the oldest part of town in Kerr’s Run. The school was known as the “Kerr’s Run Colored School”. The school educates children from the first to eighth grade, including James Edwin Campbell and James McHenry Jones, first and third presidents of what is now West Virginia State University. The school remained in operation from the late 1880s through the early 1900s.

After Campbell and Jones had completed 8th grade, they went on to complete their secondary education at Pomeroy Academy. They became the first 1882 (Jones) and in 1884 the second (Campbell) people of color to graduate from Pomeroy Academy, while segregation still plagued the United States.

In 1876, The Pomeroy Academy stood next to the Episcopal Church, and still later became the Pomeroy High School. Pomeroy Academies' first graduating class consisted of six students. In 1914 a new building was erected and served as the Senior High Building through 1967. In 1929 a Junior High School was built nearby.

In 1920 there were four grade schools, Viz, Sugar Run, Central, Coalport and Kerr’s Run, and all were integrated schools. Later Rutland, Middleport, and Pomeroy were consolidated as Meigs High School at Rock Springs.

Churches

Churches were established as people came to the county, and in Pomeroy included German and Welsh; also, two churches for black people, one at Kerr’s Run, the other on Lincoln Hill. The original buildings have all been removed and new edifices built, and several new denominations have been added.

Natural disasters

Fires and floods were, and still are, a frequent enemy in Pomeroy. All the old wooden buildings were destroyed by fires of 1851, 1856, 1884, and 1927. Another in 1976 took the entire Red Anchor store, which had been in existence since the late 1800s. The floods of 1884, 1913, and 1937 were most disastrous.

Other attributes

The Pomeroy, Ohio McDonald's location was one of the last two McDonald's locations in the world that still served pizza. This location served its final pizza on August 31, 2017. McDonald's phased out pizzas at its stores in the late 1990s.

The courthouse has the distinction of being mentioned in "Ripley's Believe or Not!" because there is a ground-floor entrance to each of its three stories. It also served as a temporary jail for more than 200 of Morgan’s Raid after their capture in the Battle of Buffington Island.

Pomeroy is mentioned in "Ripley's" a second time for not having any cross streets.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 1,852 people, 757 households, and 483 families living in the village. The population density was . There were 933 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the village was 94.3% White, 2.7% African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.1% Asian, and 2.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.5% of the population.

There were 757 households, of which 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.0% were married couples living together, 20.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.6% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.2% were non-families. 29.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.99.

The median age in the village was 35.2 years. 27% of residents were under the age of 18; 10.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.8% were from 25 to 44; 25.1% were from 45 to 64; and 13.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the village was 45.8% male and 54.2% female.

2000 census

As of the census

Notable people

Mike Bartrum, an NFL long snapper/tight end
Ambrose Bierce, American journalist, short story writer, and satirist
James Edwin Campbell, a poet, writer and educator
Norman "Kid" Elberfeld, a Major League Baseball shortstop and manager
Samuel Dana Horton, a bimetallism writer
Valentine B. Horton, U.S. Representative during the American Civil War
Joseph Jessing, founder of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio
Benny Kauff, Major League Baseball player
Jorma Kaukonen, 1996 inductee of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Art Lewis, an NFL player and coach
Cy Morgan, a Major League Baseball pitcher
Tobias A. Plants, U.S. Representative, and publisher of Pomeroy Weekly Telegraph
Livia Simpson Poffenbarger, newspaper owner/editor, civic leader
Charlie Slack, NCAA basketball record holder for single-season rebounding average