VOLUNTEER

GIVE TIME, MAKE CONNECTIONS

Portsmouth, Ohio was once a “peerless city,” brimming with industry and built upon the banks of the Ohio River, folded within the natural beauty of the foothills of Appalachia. People came to Portsmouth for opportunity, and those who lived in the rural counties bordering Scioto County, of which Portsmouth is the county seat, put on white gloves to attend cultural events in the city. Businesses named themselves after their location, and the city counted Peerless City Motors, Peerless City Baking Powder, and even a Peerless City Skating Rink among its economic treasures. Yet, in 1937, a flood devastated the city, and in the following years, Portsmouth saw a steep decline in its industry. Sometime in the 1960s, Frank Gerlach, the mayor well-known for always wearing a sash that indicated that he was, indeed, “Mayor of Portsmouth,” proposed to city council that they adopt a new city slogan. Gerlach offered “Where Southern Hospitality Begins,” and it became official. It was painted on the floodwall, which was built in 1940, after the flood. The city continued the use of the slogan on boundary signage and city letterhead. The slogan seemed fitting enough since the city is the last stop in Ohio along US 23 as it heads into Kentucky, a most definitely southern state.