Elkton is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

located in central Elkrun Township,

Columbiana County Columbiana County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 101,877. The county seat is Lisbon, Ohio, Lisbon and its largest city is Salem, Ohio, ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, United States. It lies along State Route 154 at the confluence of Elk Run and the

Little Beaver Creek Little Beaver Creek is a wild and scenic area in Ohio. The Little Beaver Creek watershed is located primarily in Columbiana County in eastern Ohio, and in portions of Carroll County, Mahoning County, and western Pennsylvania, draining approxi ...

and has the ZIP code 44415. It is home to the Federal Correctional Institution, Elkton, a male low-security federal prison. Additionally, Elkton is home to one of the shortest

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

s in the United States, the Church Hill Road Covered Bridge.

History

Elkton was

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bea ...

ted in 1835. The community derives its name from nearby Elk Run creek. A post office called Elkton has been in operation since 1838. The community thrived due to its location on the

Sandy and Beaver Canal The Sandy and Beaver Canal was a canal and lock transportation system which ran seventy-three miles from the Ohio and Erie Canal at Bolivar, Ohio, to the Ohio River at Glasgow, Pennsylvania. It was chartered in 1828 and completed twenty years l ...

, but was in decline by the late 1840s when the canal became unprofitable and was suspended.

References

Unincorporated communities in Columbiana County, Ohio 1835 establishments in Ohio Populated places established in 1835 Unincorporated communities in Ohio {{ColumbianaCountyOH-geo-stub