St. Clairsville, Ohio

St. Clairsville began as a settlement called Newellstown in seventeen ninety-six, named for its founder David Newell. Newell later renamed it to honor General Arthur St.

Clair, first governor of the Northwest Territory and former president of the Continental Congress. Belmont County was organized in eighteen oh one, and commissioners chose St. Clairsville as the most proper place for the county seat by eighteen oh four.

The town incorporated in eighteen oh seven. Its greatest moment of national history came on July fourth, eighteen twenty-five, when ground was broken for the National Road's Ohio segment right in front of the Belmont County Courthouse, pushing the great highway west toward Columbus and eventually the Mississippi.