TOWNS
Jefferson County Courthouse is located at 301 Market Street, Steubenville OH 43952; phone: 740-283-8500.
This 410 square mile county was created in 1797 (from Washington County) and named for Thomas Jefferson. Fort Steuben (built in 1786) was a federal office from which settlers could purchase land. Troops stationed here were charged with surveying, and from preventing illegal settlement. Fire destroyed Fort Steuben in 1790. Steubenville, the county seat, was founded at the site of the Fort's ruins by Bezaleel Wells in 1797.
Primarily a rural county, Jefferson's population decreased between the 1990 and 2000 census.