The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Lorain

LORAIN, lō-rān', Ohio, city, in Lorain County, on the south shore of Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Black River, and on the New York, Chicago and Saint Louis (Nickel Plate), Baltimore and Ohio and other railroads, about 26 miles west of Cleveland. The first permanent settlement was made in 1822 by Barney Meeker. It was incorporated as a village in 1873 and as a city in 1895. It is situated in an agricultural and natural-gas region, and is a shipping port for farm products, for the output of the central Ohio coal fields, and for the lumber and iron ore of a large section of the State. The chief industries of the city are ship-building, coal shipping, manufacturing steel, automatic shovels, stove works, general manufacturing and fishing. The city has excellent public and parish schools, a public library, 22 churches and Saint Joseph's Hospital. About 75 per cent of the inhabitants are American born. The government is vested in a mayor, elected biennially, a unicameral council and administrative boards. The water-works are owned and operated by the city. Pop. 34,360.