Lorain is located in the northern part of the state of Ohio and a city in Lorain County, it sits at the mouth of the Black River on Lake Erie, and on the northwestern part of Elyria and on the western side of Cleveland. The area was discovered in 1787 by the Moravian missionaries, who camped briefly in 1787. However, the site’s first permanent settler was Nathan Perry, who was from Vermont, who then built a trading post in 1807. The place was first called Black River and was later incorporated in 1836 as the village of Charleston and was subsequently renamed for the county after a city in France, Loraine when it was rechartered to become a city. The industry in coal and iron-ore trade was established along with the completion of what will grow as the Cleveland, Lorain, and Wheeling Railroad, as well as the opening of the Poe Locke and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.