In the middle of the 19th century, the city was an important destination on the Underground Railroad as refugee slaves took ships across Lake Erie to Canada.

[8] Located directly on Lake Erie and developed as a port for trade, the city contained several stops on the Underground Railroad.

This informal, secret system was the means by which anti-slavery supporters helped escaped African-American slaves reach freedom in Canada in the years before the American Civil War.

Refugee slaves stayed in a basement of the house adjacent to the lake and then left on the next safe boat to Canada, gaining their freedom once they arrived in Ontario.

The city's harbor has been important as a large ore and coal port since the end of the 19th century, and integral to the steel manufacturing that was developed around the Great Lakes.

Ore shipments are unloaded from 'lakers' (Great Lakes freighters) and shipped to surviving steel mills in Pennsylvania.

However, in July 1890, the city council dispossessed him of the street railroad and associated franchises via a disputable court decision.

[9] Many European immigrants, particularly from Finland, Sweden, and Italy, were attracted to the industrial jobs in Ashtabula in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as they could learn and accomplish tasks without having a great command of English.

Ethnic rivalries were one reason for the city's switch, as STV enabled minorities to win political office.

Despite two failed repeal campaigns in 1920 and 1926,[13] political bosses and parties that lost power under STV eventually restored plurality voting, otherwise known as 'winner take all.

The population in the City of Ashtabula grew steadily until 1970 but has declined in recent years due to industrial restructuring and loss of jobs.

5, The Pacific Express, crossed the Ashtabula River bridge, the Howe truss structure collapsed, dropping the second locomotive and 11 passenger cars into the frozen creek 150 feet (46 m) below.

[14] On August 10, 1958, a natural gas leak was ignited by electrical equipment or lighting in Andover, Ohio a neighboring town.

The Ashtabula area receives a considerable amount of snow throughout the winter, with the average snowfall being 68 inches (173 cm).

In the 20th century Ashtabula developed rapidly as a major shipping and commercial center because of its access to Lake Erie and nearly 30 miles (48 km) of shoreline.

During the 1950s, the area experienced growth with an expanding chemical industry and increasing harbor activity, making Ashtabula one of the most important port cities of the Great Lakes.

Other historical industries in the area included a Rockwell International plant on Route 20 on the western side of Ashtabula, which manufactured brakes for the Space Shuttle program, and the extrusion of depleted and enriched uranium at the Reactive Metals Extrusion plant on East 21st Street.

The Ashtabula River and harbor were designated as a significant Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency in the late 20th century.

This Blessing of the Fleet began as a practice of priests for Catholic Portuguese and Irish fishermen and tugmen who had settled in Ashtabula.

During the 1930s, the Blessing was a small, almost private affair in early April conducted by a few tugmen, their parish priest, and an acolyte, according to their traditions.

Kent State University at Ashtabula is located in the city, providing a local campus of this institution.

Music stations include WREO (Soft adult contemporary), WFXJ-FM North Kingsville (Classic rock), WKKY Geneva (country), WYBL (country), WZOO-FM Edgewood (Classic hits), WWOW Conneaut (oldies) and WQGR North Madison (oldies).

[25] The hospital operates the county's only behavioral medicine unit, and a sleep disorders lab, as well as many specialized services.

The attached "Ashtabula Clinic" provides outpatient care in the specialties of pediatrics, internal medicine, family medicine, pulmonary, neurology, psychiatry, sleep disorders, cardiology, gastroenterology, ophthalmology, general surgery, orthopedics, urology, ENT, podiatry and oncology.

[27] During World War II, the United States Navy used the names of rivers with Indian origins for an entire class of fleet oilers, which are used to replenish vessels while underway at sea.

[29] The city is also referenced in Bob Dylan's 1975 album 'Blood On The Tracks', in the song 'You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go'.