Jackson County was organized on March 1, 1816. It received its name from General Andrew Jackson who, after winning the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812, was one of the best known national figures of that time.

The county was carved from portions of Scioto, Gallia, Athens and Ross counties. It has an area of 415 square miles and a population of 32,641. It has two cities and two villages. The two cities are Jackson, the county seat, with a population of 6,184, and Wellston with a population of 6,078. The two villages are Oak Hill, population 935, and Coalton, population 545.

Jackson was first laid out in two parts. The first part was known as the "north half" and was laid out on May 8, 1817 by Joseph Fletcher of Gallia County. The "south half" was laid out later in 1819 by Dr. Gabriel McNeal and completed on November 4, 1819. The town was incorporated in 1847; the effective date was February 8, 1847.

Wellston was laid out in 1873 and 1874 by Harvey Wells in the northeast corner of Milton Township. The plat contained 271 acres laid out into 784 lots. The town was incorporated by the state on May 9, 1876, and the government was inaugurated on May 10, 1876.

Oak Hill was laid out in 1832 by Julius Augustus Bingham. The name came from a grove of oak trees near the home of the founder. With the coming of the railroad in 1853, a larger town was laid out along the railroad and called Portland. When the post office was established in 1837, it was given the name of Oak Hill. On March 12, 1873, the villages of Oak Hill and Portland were incorporated under the name of Oak Hill.

When the post office came to what is now Coalton in December, 1876, it was known as Eureka, but there was another Eureka in Gallia County. So the Eureka in Jackson County became Eurekaville. On July 1, 1879, the name of the post office was changed to Coalton "because the only producing agency in Eurekaville was Coal and Coal was mined by the TON."

The first industry of the early settlers in Jackson County was the manufacture of salt. Perhaps if it had not been for the briny waters of Salt Lick Creek, the city of Jackson would not be in existence today. The area was covered with forest. Deer, elk, and other wild animals came to lick the salt from the exposed rock in the creek bed.

Then came the prehistoric race of mound builders and the American Indians. On the early maps, what is now Jackson was listed as "Scioto Salt Springs," "Scioto Salt Works," "Salines" and "Salt Lick Town."

The first salt boiler at the licks was Joseph Conklin of Maysville, Kentucky, who came in 1795. By the Act of 1796, the United States Congress reserved an area equivalent to one township, 36 square miles or 23,040 acres, surrounding the Scioto Salt Licks in the townships of Lick, Liberty, Franklin and Scioto. This became the Scioto Salt Reservation. No land within this reservation could be sold.

Settlers entered the area from Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky to manufacture salt. The salt camp on the site of Jackson was first known as "Purgatory" and was located on the site of the First Presbyterian Church and the water tower.

The mound builders and the Shawnee Indians collected salt by the use of "salt pans," pits carved into the creek bed. There the brine water was collected and permitted to evaporate by the sun leaving the salt residue.

The salt boilers first made excavations of 6 to 8 feet and finally 20 feet into the sandstone. The fresh water was excluded by a "gum," a section of a hollow tree sunk into the cavity. Later the wells were sunk along the bank of the creek to a depth of 30 feet before reaching the sandstone.

A salt furnace consisted of a dividend trench, lined with stone, over which were placed two rows of kettles, each of which had a capacity of 20 to 30 gallons. These furnaces ranged from 60 to over 100 feet in length. After the brine water was placed in the kettles, the wood in the trench was ignited and the brine water boiled until it was evaporated, leaving the salt.

On October 1, 1804, the federal government established a post office at the salt licks, and it was given the name of "Salt Lick." By the year 1810, the population of salt boilers had increased, and the name of "Purgatory" was changed to "Poplar Row." The name resulted from the growth of poplar trees in the area and the row of cabins constructed of poplar logs. On July 1, 1817, the name was changed to Jackson in honor of President Andrew Jackson, and Jackson became the county seat.

By 1810, a much stronger brine had been discovered along the Kanawha River in what is now West Virginia. On January 3, 1818, the Ohio Legislature voted to sell the Scioto Salt Reserve. Although Congress was slow in granting permission, the sale was finally approved in June, 1826, and the first local industry became history.

African Americans first came to Jackson County as slaves; they came with their masters to make salt. Ohio was not then a state nor was it free. After the Ordinance of 1787, all African Americans who came to what is now Jackson County enjoyed freedom; they were either runaways or freed men who had been freed by their masters.

The settlement of the Welsh in Gallia and Jackson counties was purely accidental. Their intended destination was Paddy's Run (Shandon), the oldest Welsh settlement in America, in Butler County north of Cincinnati. "The 1818 Welsh," as they were known locally, laid the foundation for settlement in the region. The "Great Welsh Tide" of 1830 to 1840 brought over 3,000 immigrants into the region.

With the depletion of salt, other resources of Jackson County were developed, coal, iron ore, and fire clay. The early salt boilers believed that the outcropping of coal was black stone and used it to support their kettles until it burned and let the kettles drop into the fire.

As early as 1820, coal was removed from small drift mines north of Jackson and transported by wagon to blacksmith shops in Chillicothe. In recent years, underground mining was replaced by stripping or surface mining by removing the overburden with mechanical equipment. By 1954, ninety percent of the coal produced in Jackson County was recovered by the stripping method. Today, one major coal company remains in the county.

The coming of the Scioto and Hocking Valley Railroad in 1853 was imperative in the development of the resources of Jackson County. "The great Railroad Jubilee in Jackson" occurred on August 18, 1853. On that day the railroad was completed to Jackson.

Before the appearance of the railroad, a stagecoach line passed through the region along the old Chillicothe Road between Chillicothe and Gallipolis-Point Pleasant. The stagecoach line was owned by Abraham French who operated the French Hotel on Main Street in Jackson that also served as a stagecoach stop.

The first iron furnaces in Jackson County used charcoal for fuel. Over a period of two decades from 1836 to 1857, there were eleven charcoal furnaces constructed in Jackson County. They were Jackson, Keystone, Buckeye, Cornelia (Iron Valley or Lincoln), Latrobe, Jefferson, Monroe, Cambria, Limestone, Madison and Young America.

There were twelve stone coal furnaces in Jackson County between 1855 and 1969. Their fuel was stone coal and coke. The furnaces were Salt Lick (Diamond), Orange, Star, Fulton, Globe, Huron, Milton, Wellston Twin Furnaces, Tropic, Ophir, Eliza and JISCO (Jackson Iron and Steel Company). The last two furnaces to operate were Globe and JISCO. The former closed in 1960, and the latter closed in 1969.

The earliest bricks were made by itinerant brickmakers. This method was followed by the local brick yard that used the same procedure as the itinerant brickmaker but in a permanent location.

In 1872, a good quality fire clay was discovered in the vicinity of Oak Hill. The Aetna Fire Brick and Coal Company and The Oak Hill Fire Brick Company were established in 1873.

As Jackson County came into the turn of the century in 1900, commercial orcharding began its development. By 1930, more than fifty orchards were operating in the county. Today, one major commercial orchard remains.

The DT&I Railroad car shops operated in Jackson from 1906 to 1984. On Thursday, October 18, 1906, there was the first payroll for employees. Checks totaling in the amount of $12,418 arrived on the noon train from headquarters in Detroit for payment of wages for the month of September. Some 350 to 400 men were employed.

Henry Ford owned the DT&I from July 9, 1920 to June 27, 1929. He was known for order and efficiency; and when a train was on the siding, the crew was expected to polish the engine. On Saturday, May 21, 1921, Ford visited Jackson to inspect the car shops and the local Ford dealership.

The last DT&I train departed Jackson on March 27, 1984.

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Courtesy of historian Robert Ervin