Armco Steel, which makes stainless steel used in auto exhaust systems, also cites Zanesville's favorable transportation picture. It's a natural for distribution. In days of old, Zanesville was the glass and pottery capital of Ohio. Now the community of 28,000 is a hotbed of creativity, much of it based on the handcrafts of yesteryear. And it is in entrepreneurship, particularly related to crafts, that the Zanesville area tells its most unusual stories.
Many upstarts born in garages, basements and kitchens are now billion-dollar businesses.
The company, which makes handwoven baskets, pottery and woodcrafts with 5,000 associates, is today the area's largest employer. It operates over a million sq. 5B's started in a basement of a former steel industry executive who lost his job in the wave of downsizing. The company now employs 1,200 in production of embroidered sweat and tee shirts sold in its own retail stores, as well as to Disney World, the NFL, NBA and others. The company's new headquarters, plant and distribution facility were sited at the Airport Distribution Park, adjacent to Zanesville Municipal Airport.