• Coy Bacon (1943–2008), defensive lineman and player in the National Football League.
• George Bay (1835–1916), businessman and captain whose company built more than 40 steamboats.
• John Campbell (1908–1891), ironmaster, credited as the founder of Ironton.
• Ezra Dean (1795–1872), U.S. congressman from Ohio and veteran of the War of 1812.
• Samuel Dempsey, (1811–1880) iron industry figure and leader of early Ironton.
• James Ditcher (unknown–1888), African-American abolitionist.
• Edward Gorey (1925–2000), acclaimed author and award-winning illustrator of children’s books and gothic fiction.
• Roger Lee Gustin (1939–2015), first sanctioned jet car driver by the National Hot Rod Association.
• Magellan Hairston (1907–1968), coach of the famed Waterloo Wonders basketball team.
• Thomas Albert Jenkins (1880–1959), attorney, state legislator and U.S. congressman from Ohio.
• Ella Blocksom Johnson (1828–1917), socialite and inspiration for the song “Lorena,” which was popular on both sides of the American Civil War.
• Ironton Kelley (unknown), first child born in city of Ironton.
• Col. William C. Lambert (1894–1982), second ranked American flying ace of World War I, awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
• Walter “Gene” Markel (1925–1966), Ironton police chief and World War II veteran, killed in line of duty while attempting to stop a jailbreak at Lawrence County Jail.
• Antoinette Sherpetosky Peters (1894–1962), dancer in the Imperial Russian Ballet and wife of iron industry figure James F. Peters.
• James Slater (1843–1929), Union captain in American Civil War.
• Mary White Slater (unknown), author, poet and wife of James Slater.
• Nannie Kelly Wright (1856–1946), only known female ironmaster in the United States and one of wealthiest women in the world in her time.