The first people to inhabit present-day Ohio were mound builders who lived in the region 11,000 years ago. During the Ice Age, they hunted mammoths and mastodon and left burials mounds throughout the state. Between 140 and 100 BC, the Hopewell culture, which had begun in approximately 300 BC in Illinois, reached its height in Ohio. It was at this time that the Hopewells created the elaborate earthworks and sculptures which can stills be seen in Ohio today. When Sieur de La Salle of France explored the land which surrounded the Ohio River in 1669 he encountered the Miami, Wyandot, Huron, Shawnee, and Iroquois Indians. Shortly after his initial visit, La Salle proclaimed the entire territory under the control of France, thus setting the stage for the French-British dispute over the territory and over the Native American fur trade. In the early 1700's, both the French and the English traded knives, hatchets, guns, tobacco, rum, and brandy for the Native Americans' deer and beaver skins. The French treated the Native Americans with respect and dignity while the English were very harsh toward them, but the Natives favored trading with the English anyway because they paid more. At the end of the French and Indian Wars in 1763, the English officially acquired the land.
The early history of the state mirrors the rise and fall of the Ohio Company. The first Ohio Company had been founded by George Washington's brother, along with several other British merchants, on land which had been given to them by King George I in 1754. They surveyed the land, traded with the indigenous Native Americans, and established forts. The French continually attempted to destroyed the companyΓÇÖs forts, and when the American Revolution broke their operations were completely defenseless. Shortly after the war began, the company went out of business.
After the Revolutionary War, the United States surveyed the entire Northwest Territory, of which Ohio was then a part, and divided it into rectangular sections. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 stipulated that in order for a region in the Northwest Territory to become a state, it had to have at least 60,000 adult male eligible voters living there.
Soon after the establishment of the northwest territory a second Ohio Company was founded. In 1788 Rufus Putnam, the appointed superintendent of the company, led surveyors, carpenters, boat builders, blacksmiths, and laborers into Ohio to build a town. Although the second company was notoriously corrupt, it did manage to establish Ohio's first permanent town; Marietta.
Marietta, which was named for Queen Marie Antoinette of France, was settled primarily by New England Revolutionary War veterans who were paid for their service in free land. The territory of Ohio grew out from the new town and the arrival of large numbers of settlers began to enrage the local Native American tribes. Eventually, the Indians began raiding villages and burning homes. The settlers responded by massacring the Miami and Shawnee tribes at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. After the battle, "Mad" Anthony Wayne, the victorious American General, forced Chief Little Turtle to officially cede half of Ohio and much of the Northwest Territory to the United States through the Treaty of Greenville.
By 1803, Ohio had sufficient population to become the seventeenth state. As the new state slowly evolved from its formless territory, its capital moved from city to city until Columbus was finally named the permanent capital in 1816. Considered liberally Populist at the time, the vote was given to all white male taxpayers, regardless of the amount of property they owned. The War of 1812 only slowed Ohio's growth slightly, and by 1815, "Ohio Fever" led to another wave of immigration as thousands of poor folks from the eastern states flocked to the state in search of land. The completion of the Erie Canal, which connected the Great Lakes and the Hudson River in 1825, quickly turned Ohio into the first inland industrial center in the United States, as the state became the first without an Atlantic port which was able to easily export goods to Europe.
For many years before the Civil War, most Ohioans supported the cause of freeing the slaves, and the state was home to many stops on the famous Underground Railroad. Therefore it is not at all surprising that during the actual war, Ohio supplied more than 345,000 men to the Union army, including Ulysses S. Grant himself. In the decades which followed the war between the states, an amazing number of Presidents of the United States came from Ohio. Not only was there Grant, but Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, William McKinley, William H. Taft, and Warren G. Harding.
The Harding administration marked the beginning of the Great Depression, and the President's home state was among the hardest hit. World War II however, was responsible for a major upswing in the state's economy. Corporations such as Goodyear, Goodrich, and Firestone were instrumental in America's victorious war effort and employed thousands of people. After the war Americans began buying cars by the thousands, and these companies grew even more profitable. Ohio's economy continued to grow in the 1950ΓÇÖs when the Atomic Energy Commission built several installations there, and NASA's Lewis Research Center in Cleveland began developing space propulsion systems. In 1967 Ohio strengthened its reputation as a state where all Americans are treated equally when the city of Cleveland elected Alezander Roman to be the first African American Mayor of any major city in the country.
Visiting the State
Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, is the nation's largest U.S. Air Force Research base, and the world's largest Aviation Military Museum
Amish settlement, near Millersburg.
The Wright brothers' early flying machines are showcased in Dayton's ICarillon Park.
Cincinnati features the Showboat Majestic (last of the original floating theaters) and has the largest soap factory in the United States. The city's downtown area features the Tyler Davidson Fountain and Sawyer Point Park. Also in the city is the Cincinnati Zoo, the Contemporary Arts Center, the Krohn Conservatory, the Riverfront Coliseum, the Taft Museum, and more.
Cleveland, on Lake Erie, has recently undergone a major clean-up plan. The city recently opened a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and features other sites including the Tower City Center, the Cleveland Lakefront State Park, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Columbus, the capital, was nominated by Newsweek in 1989 as one of the best places to live in the country. Home of Ohio State University, the largest university in the country, the city offers visitors everything from culture to beauty to fun.
1804 opened Coonskin Library, at Ames (now Amesville), where the books were made of animal skin; the books are preserved at Ohio Historical Society, in Columbus.
Ohio hosts annual festivals for maple syrup, fish, cherries, ships, grapes, apple butter, and largest pumpkins.
Indian mounds and earthworks throughout state, particularly Great Serpent Mound at Hillsboro, the largest and most interestingly shaped.
Two outdoor historical plays annually: 1) Tecumseh, about the famous Shawnee Indian, and 2) Trumpet in the Land, about the first permanent White settlement near New Philadelphia.
Kelleys Island, in Lake Erie, has the best glacial markings in the world. Inscription Rock is a large boulder with traces of prehistoric Indian carvings on it.
Ohio and Zane Caverns
Ohio River Museum
Home of various United States presidents: W.H. Harrison, U.S. Grant, J.A. Garfield, R.B. Hayes, W. McKinley, W.H. Taft, and W.G. Harding.
Professional Bowlers Association, Hall of Fame, in Akron.
Canton's Pro Football Hall of Fame
Reconstructed community at Roscoe Village, in Coshocton, shows Ohio and Erie canal life in the 1830's.
In 1773 David Zeisberger opened the first school for Indian children at Schoenbrun, near present day New Philadelphia.
Van Wert is the world supplier of Liederkranz cheese.
The World Series of Golf is played annually in Akron
Famous Ohioans
Neil Armstrong (b. 1930) U.S. astronaut First man to walk on the moon (July 21, 1969). Born Wapakoneta, Ohio.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Satirical journalist, short story writer, and poet. Born Meigs County, Ohio.
Clarence Darrow (1857-1938) Labor advocate and famed defense lawyer in the Scopes "monkey" trial. Born Kinsman, Ohio.
Harvey S. Firestone (1868-1938) Founder of Firestone Tire and Rubber Corporation. Born Columbiana, Ohio.
Clark Gable (1901-1960) Legendary film actor. Star of Gone with the Wind. Born Cadiz, Ohio
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. (b. 1921) Astronaut and United States Senator from Ohio. First American to orbit the Earth (February 20, 1962).
Jack Nicklaus (b. 1940) The greatest golfer of all time. Winner of four U.S. Opens, three British Opens, five PGA Championships, and six Masters. Born Columbus, Ohio.
Annie Oakley (b. Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee, 1860-1926) Famed markswoman; starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show for 17 years. Born Darke County, Ohio.
John D. Rockefeller (b. NY 1839-1937) Industrialist and philanthropist. Founder of Standard Oil of Ohio.
Roy Rogers (b. Leonard Slye, 1912) Actor and entertainer.
Pete Rose (b. 1942) All-time Major Leauge Baseball hit leader who was later barred from the game for gambling. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and starred with the Cincinnati Reds baseball team.
Stephen Spielberg (b. 1947) Academy Award-winning movie director; directed such great films as "E.T." and "Schindler's List." Born Cincinnati, Ohio.
James Thurber (1894-1961) Author and humorist. Major contributor of articles and cartoons to New Yorker Magazine Born Columbus, Ohio.
Fascinating Fact
Ohio is home to many interesting famous firsts including: first electric traffic signal lights by James Hoge installed in Cleveland in 1914; first public weather forecasting service by Cleveland Abbe, director of Cincinnati Observatory in 1869; first book of matches in 1896 by Diamond Match Company; oldest known North American water craft was a dugout canoe dating from 1,600 BC, found in a peat bog in 1977 in Ashland County (it is now on display at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History).
Ohio adopted its state flag in 1902. The only non-rectangular flag, Ohio's has 17 stars indicating its rank of statehood, surrounding a red disk and white ring which display the state tree as well as the first letter of the state name.
