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Near this site, an iron truss bridge collapsed into the Ashtabula River during a blizzard, plunging a passenger train with 160 on board into the gulf below. Nearly 100 people were killed in this, one of the worst train disasters in American history. The most well known passengers were Philip Paul Bliss (1838-1876) and his wife, Lucy. A leading gospel songwriter, Bliss wrote more than 100 hymns including the music to “It Is Well With My Soul.” The unidentified were buried in a mass grave at Chestnut Grove Cemetery that is marked by a tall granite monument listing the names of those who died. The local hospital was founded as a result of this disaster and features an audio history in the James Lewis Smith Memorial Courtyard in front. The incident also led to reforms in bridge design and railroad safety.
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At 440 feet in length, the Lakeshore Park Main Pavilion, now known as the Ashtabula Township Park Lakefront Pavilion, is thought to be the longest and oldest lakefront pavilion in continuous use on the Great Lakes. Built in 1919, the pavilion, with its bandstand/gazebo in the middle, is of steel frame construction, and stood unchanged for the most part except for the swept wing design roof replacement. Extensive Civilian Conservation Corps improvements were made in the park near the pavilion during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Since its founding, people from all over northeast Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and northern West Virginia have chosen this site for family outings and company, union, and political gatherings.
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When the Pittsburgh, Youngstown and Ashtabula Railroad was finished in 1873, Ashtabula’s harbor became a direct route to ship iron ore to the booming steel mills of Youngstown and Pittsburgh. On the west side of the Ashtabula River, a brush-filled gulley became Bridge Street. New buildings and bridges attest to the harbor’s importance as a commercial and shipping hub from the late 19th through mid 20th centuries. Fires destroyed wood-frame buildings on the block closest to the river. A fire in 1886 nearly cleared the north side of Bridge Street. Another fire swept over the south side in 1900. Fire resistant brick buildings replaced frame structures and over the course of rebuilding, the level of the street rose approximately eight feet. In 1889, a swing-span bridge replaced the original pontoon bridge over the river. A bascule lift (draw) bridge replaced the swing bridge in 1925.
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This building served as the law office to Joshua Reed Giddings, a Whig congressman who advocated for the abolition of slavery and an end to the domestic slave trade. Born in 1795, much of Giddings’ young life was occupied by working on his father’s farm. After serving in the War of 1812, he began to study law, gaining admittance to the bar in 1821. A successful lawyer, Giddings was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1826. In 1837, he was elected as a Whig to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he quickly established himself as a staunch opponent of slavery. In 1854, he joined the Republican Party, contributing greatly to the platform during the party’s conventions of 1856 and 1860. As reward for his dedication, President Abraham Lincoln appointed him as consul- general to Canada, where he served until his death in 1864.
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The Hotel Ashtabula was built in 1920 during an economic boom that lasted most of that decade. Architecturally, it represents a combination of Second Renaissance Revival and Georgian Revival styles. The H.L. Stevens and Company of Chicago and New York designed and built the hotel and others like it in Cleveland, Dayton, and Warren, Ohio and throughout the Midwest. The building included a ball room accommodating 300, a dining room that could seat 125, and club meeting and social rooms. A prominent structure of this downtown street, the Hotel Ashtabula was a hub for social activity. (Continued other side)
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