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Steubenville, Ohio

city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 14, 2026
Entity authorityQ986432
Source-derived summary

Steubenville ( STEW-bən-vil) is a city in Jefferson County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The city is located on the eastern border of Ohio along the Ohio River, abutting the northern panhandle of West Virginia and 33 miles (53 km) west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Steubenville had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 census. The Weirton–Steubenville metropolitan area has an estimated 113,000 residents. The city's name is derived from Fort Steuben, a 1786 fort that sat within the city's current limits and was named for Prussian military officer Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben.

Steubenville's nickname is the "City of Murals" after its more than 25 downtown murals. Historically, it was known as the hometown of Edwin Stanton, secretary of war during the American Civil War, as well as popular Rat Pack entertainer Dean Martin. It has recently attracted attention for the Steubenville Nutcracker Village, an annual Christmastime event. It is home to the campus of Franciscan University of Steubenville.

History

In 1786–87, soldiers of the First American Regiment under Major Jean François Hamtramck built Fort Steuben to protect the government surveyors mapping the land west of the Ohio River.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Steubenville, Ohio” as city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Steubenville, Ohio and city.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2020, 1786—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1795. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Steubenville, Ohio and city providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Steubenville, Ohio”, the useful work is to connect “city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q986432. VIAF identifies the subject as 153278793. The Library of Congress control number is n82127168. Authority coordinates are 40.365, -80.631. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020 and 1786.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Steubenville, Ohio”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Steubenville, Ohio primary sources, Steubenville, Ohio archive and Steubenville research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Steubenville, Ohio”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Steubenville, Ohio” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.