Martins Ferry is the most populous city in Belmont County, Ohio, United States.

Martins Ferry is the oldest European settlement in the state of Ohio, having been settled at least as early as 1779, almost a decade before Marietta.

The Ohio Company was dissolved in 1779, and claims issued by the Crown became moot after the Revolutionary War.

Through the years, it has been known as Hoglinstown, Mercertown, Norristown (1785), Jefferson (1795), Martinsville (1835), and Martin's Ferry (1865).

[citation needed] In 1795, the town of Jefferson was platted by Absalom Martin, one of the city's earliest settlers, who operated a ferry there.

Over the past 50 years, the town's population has decreased significantly as industries have closed or moved elsewhere.

[5] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.33 square miles (6.03 km2), all land.

The lower plateau, along the river, is dominated by a large industrial park, the Martins Ferry Football Stadium, and Ohio State Route 7 (a four-lane traffic artery that runs from north to south across eastern Ohio).

The higher plateau, which is the larger of the two, is predominantly residential and commercial, and is home to most of the city's residents.

Directly across the river lies the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, and to the east is the Pennsylvania state line.

On the southern end of town, Martins Ferry is directly connected to the village of Bridgeport.

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and dry, cold winter temperatures.

The latter is the burial place of local heroine, Betty Zane, who saved Fort Henry in Wheeling during one of the last battles of the American Revolutionary War by hiding gunpowder inside her dress.

Her brother, Ebenezer Zane, who cut Zane's Trace from Wheeling to Maysville, Kentucky, opening the west for settlement, is also buried in Walnut Grove Pioneer Cemetery, along with Absalom and Ebenezer Martin and other important early settlers.

[12] James Wright wrote Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio.