The river flows into Lake Erie at the city of Ashtabula, Ohio.

[citation needed] Ashtabula derives from Lenape language ashte-pihële, 'always enough (fish) to go around, to be given away',[6] a contraction from apchi 'always'[7] + tepi 'enough' + hële (verb of motion).

[8][9][10] According to the Geographic Names Information System, the Ashtabula River has also been known as:[2] On October 30, 2008 the river was designated a State Scenic River by the Director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

[citation needed] In 1985 the first two miles of the river was named an "Area of Concern" by the International Joint Commission, primarily because of Fields Brook, a tributary that had received discharges from 19 industries between the 1940s and 1970s.

[citation needed] The cleanup was deemed complete in 2014[11] and the river was delisted in 2021.