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is a city in Stark and Mahoning counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 23,253 at the 2000 census. Alliance's nickname is "The Carnation City" and the city is home to Mount Union College.
The Stark County portion of Alliance part of the Canton–Massillon Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the small Mahoning County portion is part of the Youngstown–Warren–Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Alliance was founded in 1854 by the merger of three smaller communities called Williamsport (formed in 1827), Freedom (formed in 1838), and Liberty (formed in 1850). A fourth community, Mount Union, was added in 1888. Alliance was incorporated as a city in 1889.
There are two popular theories regarding the origin of the city's name. One holds that the name "Alliance" was chosen because of the "alliance" of three small settlements into a larger entity. Another interpretation is that the name reflects the fact that two major railroad lines (the Cleveland and Wellsville Railroad and the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad) intersected in Alliance, once known as "The Crossing".
Alliance is often referred to as the town where Main Street is a dead-end, because when the street was originally plotted, it brought people to the train station, heart of the city's transportation hub. The railroads were central to industry and personal transportation, bringing in raw materials for factories and sending out finished goods.