Portsmouth, OH

Thundertubs · #1 Posted **Aug 11, 2009, 9:37 PM**

Portsmouth is a city of 20,000 located in Scioto County, in southern Ohio, across the river from eastern Kentucky. It is situated at the confluence of the Scioto and Ohio rivers and had a peak population of 50,000, reached in 1907.

Coming into town

Kentucky bluffs across the river

I didn't notice him until I saw the photo, but the guy on the left is amazing. That's exactly what happens when you take out a loan.

A bit quiet, but it was around 8pm.

The mighty Ohio

Floodwall

Greenup County, Kentucky, across the way

Scioto River Valley

ColDayMan · #2 Posted **Aug 11, 2009, 10:09 PM**

The Murals in that town are fantastic. Thanks.

Ex-Ithacan · #3 Posted **Aug 11, 2009, 11:26 PM**

I love small blue collar cities in the midwest. Just wish I could have seen them in their heydays. Nice shots Tt, and the "new" bridge is a gem. Thanks.

themaguffin · #4 Posted **Aug 11, 2009, 11:32 PM**

Nice some old buildings and really nice setting too.

skyline · #5 Posted **Aug 12, 2009, 12:11 AM**

Damn dude, you beat me to it! Am going down that way next week and was going to get Portsmouth, Ashland, Ironton and Huntington. Great photos nonetheless!

xzmattzx · #6 Posted **Aug 12, 2009, 1:25 AM**

Nice pictures. It looks like it has some nice old buildings from when it was a more important river town.

Atlantan26 · #7 Posted **Aug 12, 2009, 2:36 AM**

The north side of Portsmouth by the hospital and the residential neighborhoods in Wheelersburg are a stark contrast from those photos. Nonetheless the historic downtown area is charming and kinda sad at the same time. You can definitely tell Portsmouth was once a bustling city. The loss of Martings department store is devastating. I love the new bridge tho! I went to Shawnee State. Go Bears!

Evergrey · #8 Posted **Aug 12, 2009, 3:03 AM**

noiyce! I love the DeLorme gazetteers! I just wish they would've included topography in the Ohio gazetteer like they have for PA and NY... it's not like all of Ohio is flat and uninteresting... (for instance, the area around Portsmouth!) I also don't like how the newer DeLorme editions use black diamonds to represent cities and towns... which block out major portions of urban street networks.

...

anyway... amazing photos... I swear it's always twilight in your world Thundertubs... you always have that amazing haunting lighting... it's a shame about Portsmouth... it had real ambitions to be somebody once upon a time...

kudos for showcasing yet another example of Urban Appalachia

kcexpress69 · #9 Posted **Aug 25, 2009, 2:59 AM**

I went through here back in 2002. I believe the population is about half of what it was back in the 1950s. It hasn't lost its grittiness since I last visited. Thanks for the pics!!

Jularc · #10 Posted **Aug 28, 2009, 4:53 AM**

That one main street has some cool older architecture!

ady26 · #11 Posted **Aug 28, 2009, 8:02 AM**

Interesting!

urbanlife · #12 Posted **Aug 28, 2009, 11:03 AM**

great shots, Ohio definitely has one hell of a collection of old urban centers.

Sherman Cahal · #13 Posted **Sep 1, 2009, 2:11 PM**

Thanks for sharing! The only vibrant (and I use that liberally) part of DT is possibly the area by Shawnee State, but it isn't well connected or defined. It has potential...

TinChelseaNYC · #14 Posted **Sep 2, 2009, 4:00 AM**

This thread made me downright WISTFUL!

Geesh!

Roaming · #15 Posted **Sep 4, 2009, 3:32 PM**

That town is surrounded by some picturesque topography.