Hotz off the Press: Rust and Bank Notes in Mingo Junction – Part 2
A scarce national bank note leads to Mingo Junction, Ohio, and the fading remains of a steel town that once thrived along the Ohio River.
This is part 2 of a two-part series (see the August 2026 issue of Bank Note Reporter for part 1). This month we will be in Ohio to look at a true rust belt town, the once bustling, but now pretty derelict, Mingo Junction, Ohio.
From Moundsville, I headed up to Wheeling, West Virginia, and crossed the I-70 bridge across the Ohio River into Ohio, heading north along Ohio State Route 7, which parallels the river through the state’s rust belt. I passed through Bridgeport, Martin’s Ferry, and Weston to reach Mingo Junction, which is located about 7 miles south of Steubenville.
Mingo Junction, Ohio, owes its existence almost entirely to the steel industry. Although the site was known as Mingo Town as early as the eighteenth century and was visited by George Washington during his 1770 expedition through the Ohio Valley, the modern community did not begin to emerge until the construction of the Mingo Iron Works in 1869. Abundant coal, nearby limestone, access to the river, and excellent railroad connections made the location ideal for heavy industry. As the mill expanded, the surrounding farmland quickly gave way to company housing, churches, schools, and businesses, and the village grew into one of eastern Ohio’s leading industrial communities.
Over the years, the works passed through a succession of owners, including Junction Iron and Steel, Laughlin Steel, Carnegie Steel, and eventually U.S. Steel, each investing in new furnaces, rolling mills, and modern equipment that increased production and attracted additional workers.
During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Mingo Junction flourished as thousands of men found employment in the steel mill. Immigrants from Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Ireland, and other European nations settled in the community, creating a rich mixture of ethnic neighborhoods and establishing churches, schools, fraternal organizations, and small family-owned businesses. Commercial Street became the bustling center of town, lined with stores, restaurants, theaters, banks, and professional offices that catered to steelworkers and their families. The prosperity generated by the mill touched nearly every aspect of life, and for generations the blast furnaces dominated both the skyline and the local economy. At its peak, the plant produced well over a million tons of steel annually and ranked among the largest and most important steelmaking facilities in the Upper Ohio Valley.
Like many communities throughout America’s Rust Belt, Mingo Junction entered a prolonged decline beginning in the late 1970s. Foreign competition, rising production costs, aging facilities, technological changes, and repeated bankruptcies devastated the domestic steel industry. Although the mill survived under a succession of owners, including Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel, Severstal, and RG Steel, employment steadily dwindled as thousands of well-paying industrial jobs disappeared. The economic consequences rippled throughout the community. Population declined, young people moved away in search of opportunity, local businesses closed, and the tax base that had supported schools, municipal services, and neighborhood institutions steadily eroded. Much of the sprawling mill complex was eventually dismantled for scrap after production ceased, bringing an end to more than a century of steelmaking that had defined the town.
Today, Mingo Junction stands as one of the starkest reminders of the rise and fall of America’s steel industry. Commercial Street, once the town’s thriving business district, is lined with vacant storefronts, abandoned commercial buildings, and structures slowly collapsing from decades of neglect. Many of the businesses that once served generations of steel workers have long since disappeared, leaving only scattered reminders of a far more prosperous era. Looming over the village is the rusting shell of the steel mill itself, a massive industrial hulk that once employed thousands and symbolized the town’s economic strength. While a few portions of the site have seen limited redevelopment, the overall impression is one of decline. For visitors today, Mingo Junction offers a sobering glimpse into the human cost of the collapse of the American steel industry and the lasting impact it had on countless communities across the Ohio Valley.
About twenty years ago at the Memphis International Paper Money Show, I picked up a nice pen signed Series of 1882 $5 date back from Mingo Junction. The town’s name was intriguing, and I imagined it to be a rural community typical of Ohio. Little did I know that it would turn out to be a ghostly remnant of America’s fading industrial base.
The First National Bank of Mingo Junction, Ohio, charter #5694, opened for business in 1901 to serve the then-growing industrial town. The first officers were John Quinn, president, and W.D. Armstrong, cashier. It issued a variety of Series of 1882 notes, including brown, date, and value backs, as well as Series of 1902 notes and small-size notes of the Series of 1929. It operated for 33 years before it was closed by the receiver in 1934, yet remained a relatively small bank, with a total issue of $527,000 over that long period. The census on this bank is rather sparse, with just four large and 13 small notes reported. The large notes have always been scarce.
After the First National Bank closed, it was immediately succeeded by the Mingo National Bank of Mingo Junction, charter #14183. It issued a considerable number of Type 2 notes for the year prior to the end of the national currency era. Twelve of these notes are currently reported.
Mingo Junction hit its peak populations in 1930 and again in 1970, when the population topped 5,000. The population continued to shrink thereafter, and is now just over 3,000.
Mingo Junction’s business district sits along Commercial Street, a once active street with many businesses. The First National Bank was also located there. Directly behind the business district sat the steel mills along the Ohio River. When I visited Mingo Junction, it was gray and drizzly, which I found appropriate given how run-down and dilapidated the town was. The national bank building, once a proud monolith, is abandoned. Virtually every storefront on Commercial Street was boarded up or in ruins. I peered into the glass fronts of several of them, only to see that the backs of the buildings had collapsed and I could see the abandoned mill. This was true of most of the buildings on the east side of the street. While Mingo Junction still has a respectable population, there is no job base and few operating stores.
One interesting fact about Mingo Junction was that Commercial Street and the steel mill were featured in the film The Deer Hunter (1977). Though set in Clairton, Pennsylvania, much of the film was shot in Mingo Junction.
I took several photographs of buildings on Commercial Street that show how sad Mingo Junction stands today, including the First National Bank building and several others. Compare those to a vintage postcard of that street in better days. The buildings are ghostly––not what I was expecting when I drove into town. If you look closely, you can see that many of the buildings have collapsed at the rear. In due time, these will be demolished, and a piece of historic industrial America will vanish.
If you are interested in ghostly towns like I am, and find yourself in eastern Ohio, I would recommend a drive north along Ohio Route 7 from Bridgeport to Steubenville. It is quite eye-opening.
Readers may address questions or comments about this article or national bank notes in general to Mark Hotz at markbhotz@gmail.com.
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