John Struthers, from Washington County, Pennsylvania, purchased 400 acres (1.6 km2) of Poland Township land in 1798 and gave it the name Marbletown.

[4] John Struthers owned this land until the War of 1812 came around when he and his family suffered financial ruin.

[5] Thomas bought this land to honor his father and he was instrumental in bringing industry and railroads to the town.

[5] In 1943, a Jehovah's Witnesses was fined by the city for distributing religious pamphlets door-to-door.

The community's early history centers on Yellow Creek, where the cradle of steel began with the building of the Hopewell Furnace.

[7] This furnace was built in 1803 by Daniel Eaton and was mentioned in the first line of the 1995 Bruce Springsteen song "Youngstown".

[7] The Hopewell Furnace thrived for a little over ten years until John Struthers reached his financial crisis in 1812.

In 1899, Struthers was brought into closer communication with Youngstown and the upper Mahoning Valley by the completion of an interurban electric line.

With the steel industry booming in the early part of the 1900s, immigrants from throughout Europe flooded into Struthers.

The steel industry allowed the city to flourish until 1977, when several area plants closed their doors for good.

By ethnicity, 28.4% of residents were of Italian, 25.0% German, 20.0% Irish, 13.2% Slovak, 8.5% English, and 7.7% Polish ancestries.

[20] As a statutory city, Struthers has home rule powers, but operates under a governmental structure prescribed by the state of Ohio.

The mayor is also the appointing authority for the city and, with the Director of Public Service and Safety, constitute the Board of Control.

All proposed legislation must receive a majority vote by City Council and be signed by the mayor to be enacted.

The head of the judicial branch is the judge, who is elected to a six-year term of office.

The Municipal Court's jurisdiction is to handle all civil cases where the disputed amount is up to $15,000, criminal misdemeanors, and preliminary hearings for felony crimes committed in the geographic area of the court's authority which includes Struthers, Poland Village, Poland Township, New Middletown, Springfield Township, Lowellville, and a portion of the turnpike.