Remarkable Ohio

Counties

Below is a complete listing of all Ohio Historical Markers. To find a detailed marker listing including text, photographs, and locations, click on a county below. Our listing is updated by the markers program as new markers are installed and older markers are reported damaged or missing.

This marker was inadvertently given a non-Columbiana County number, 13-22. It should be 17-15 and will be corrected when possible.

17-15 Cherry Valley Coke Ovens

Side A: Believed to have been constructed in 1866, this facility is one of the largest of its kind in the nation. The complex of 200 ovens was erected by the Leetonia Iron and Coal Company, later known as the Cherry Valley Iron Works, to supply fuel for pig-iron producing blast furnaces that stood south of this site. The man-made “beehive” ovens were used to transform hard coal into coke. The “coking” process burnt impurities out of the coal. The end product — coke — was the best fuel source for the furnaces that were used to manufacture iron and steel. The facility discontinued operations in the early 1930s at the height of the Great Depression.
Side B: Same
Sponsors: Ohio Bicentennial Commission, The Longaberger Company, Village of Leetonia, and The Ohio Historical Society
Address: SE corner of Butcher Road & Main Street, 
Leetonia, 
OH, 
44431
Location: At the entrance to the Cherry Valley Bee-Hive Coke Ovens park
Latitude: 40.8859990
Longitude: -80.7564090