LORAIN  , a

city of Lorain county, Ohio, U.S.A., on Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Black river, and about 25 M . W. by S. of Cleveland . Pop . (1890) 4863; (1900) 16,028, of whom 4730 were foreign-born and 359 negroes; (1910 census) 28,883 . Lorain is served by the New York, Chicago & St . Louis, and the Baltimore & Ohio railways, by the Lake Shore Electric railway, and by several of the more important steamboat lines on the Great Lakes . It has a Carnegie library, the Lake View Hospital and the Saint Joseph's Hospital . There is a good harbour, and the city's chief interests are in the shipping of great quantities of coal, iron-ore, grain and lumber, in the building of large steel .vessels, in railway shops, and in the manufacture of iron pipes, gas engines, stoves and automatic steam shovels . The value of the factory products increased from $9,481,388 in 1900 to $14,491,091 in 1905, or 52.8% . The municipality owns and operates the waterworks . A Moravian mission was established here in 1787-1788, and a trading post in 1807, but no permanent settlement was made until several years later . In 1836 the place was incorporated as a village under the name " Charleston "; in 1874 the present name was adopted, and in 1896 Lorain became a city of the second class .