SHELBY — The City of Shelby will kick off its America 250 celebration with the opening of a new historical exhibit.
“Ohio Firsts: Shelby Steel Tube Company” will open on Nov. 1 in the Shelby Justice Center.
Created by the Shelby Cycle Historical Society and funded through a Trillium Local Activity Grant from the America 250–Ohio Commission, this 15-foot-wide interpretive panel exhibit is open 24 hours a day through Nov. 14.
Visitors are invited to open houses on Sunday, Nov. 2 and Nov. 9, from 1 to 4 p.m., where “Tuby” historians will be on hand to share stories and answer questions.
Special items on display include the 1908 Inventory Book, which lists materials used to rebuild the factory after a devastating fire, and historic Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps tracing the company’s growth over time.
On Nov. 9, a special feature will honor Civil War veterans who played key roles in founding and leading the Shelby Tube Works. This display is made possible through the research of the McLaughlin Camp 12, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.
Through fires, wars, depressions and mergers, the nation’s first cold-drawn seamless steel tube company continues to thrive—135 years later—as ArcelorMittal in Shelby.
In the 1880s, seamless tubing was imported from Europe, until bicycle manufacturers in Toledo and Cleveland brought the technology to America.
By 1890, the Lozier-Yost Seamless Tube Company, later known as the Shelby Steel Tube Company, was established in Shelby — a small crossroads town that offered two rail lines and visionary local investors eager to bring industry to their community.
This exhibit is part of a traveling, self-guided tour across Ohio, featuring interpretive panels with QR codes linking to websites that tell the story of the seamless tube industry from 1890 to 1909 — including its bold beginnings, rapid expansion, devastating 1908 fire, and the extraordinary community effort that rebuilt the factory and secured Shelby’s place in industrial history.
About the Shelby Cycle Historical Society
The Shelby Cycle Historical Society is dedicated to collecting and preserving the memory of the companies that comprised a vital part of Shelby’s significant source of commerce in the 20th century.
About America 250 – Ohio
In 2026, the United States will celebrate its semiquincentennial, which is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Each state has been encouraged to create a celebration and commemoration of this anniversary to reflect the unique character and contributions of each state to the nation over the past 250 years.
Ohio is fully embracing this opportunity. The Ohio Commission for the Semiquincentennial (also known as the America 250-Ohio Commission or AM250-OH) was created by the Ohio legislature and launched on March 1, 2022.
The charge of the AM250-OH Commission is to “…to plan, encourage, develop, and coordinate the commemoration of the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the United States and the impact of Ohioans on the nation’s past, present, and future” — Ohio Revised Code (149.309).
More information can be found at America250-Ohio.org.
About the Trillium Grant
The Shelby Cycle Historical Society was one of 61 recipients chosen from more than 170 statewide applications during the grant program’s spring 2024 funding cycle.
In total, America 250-Ohio awarded approximately $600,000 in grants to communities and organizations across Ohio as part of the commission’s second funding cycle. The grant program was designed to showcase the achievements, struggles, honors, innovations and significance of all people in Ohio since before its founding to the present day.
To learn more about the America 250-Ohio Commission’s grants program, visit America250-Ohio.org/grants.