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Columbiana County has never been handed anything. The people who built this region did it with their hands, their backs, and a willingness to show up every day for industries that weren’t always glamorous but were always real. The steel mills, the pottery works, the oil and gas fields gave families here a foothold. When those industries declined, the communities that depended on them felt it in ways that Columbus and Cleveland never quite understood.
Appalachian Ohio knows what it looks like when an industry leaves, because we've lived it. But we also know what it looks like when the right industry shows up. The oil and gas sector brought real jobs to this region, jobs in the trades, jobs that paid well and didn’t require leaving home to find them. Those opportunities kept families here and kept communities functioning. We need that kind of opportunity again, and right now, data centers are where it’s coming from.
That’s why I want my neighbors to pay attention to what’s happening with this industry.
Across the country, tens of billions of dollars are flowing into digital infrastructure. These are large facilities that require pipefitters, electricians, ironworkers, and construction crews during the build phase, and skilled technical staff once they’re operational.
This is the kind of employment that Columbiana County has always been good at, but all too often, our workers have had to leave the region to find it.
I spent years on Wellsville City Council and on the Board of Education. I watched our community work hard to stretch every dollar, to keep the lights on in our schools and maintain services for residents who deserved better than what the tax base could provide.
And data centers are significant taxpayers. They generate property tax revenue that flows directly to school districts and local governments. For communities like ours that have been running lean for decades, that is not a small thing.
Appalachian Ohio has been overlooked for too long. We have the land, the workforce, and the work ethic this kind of development requires. What we need are leaders willing to engage seriously with this opportunity and make sure that when investment comes, it comes on terms that actually benefit the people who live here.
Data centers won’t replace everything we’ve lost. But they are the kind of future worth building toward. Columbiana County has earned that chance.
John Morrow
Liverpool Township