Although the Class of '51 learned allot that is compiled below , in our  12 years in the East Liverpool  School System, sometimes it's nice to refresh memories on some of the facts and history of our Great State Ohio.  Even though you may have relocated long ago, Ohio remains  your roots. Some facts, you will say " I knew that" and of course you did! You just haven't thought about it for a awhile.  Others you will say "wow, I didn't know that, that's interesting" ! And yes we do have a unique and interesting State and history. A half century plus ago some of the following was written on black boards of our elementary schools and high school. Who could have imagined then we would read these same facts and history in this modern day media? /jc

• Facts About Ohio
• Nickname. Buckeye State.
• Motto. With God, All Things Are Possible.
• Song. 'Beautiful Ohio', words by Ballad MacDonald and music by Mary Earl.
• Entered the Union. March 1, 1803, as the 17th state.
• Capital. Columbus.
• Population (1990 census). 10,887,325--rank, 7th state. Urban, 73.3%; rural, 26.7%.
• Persons per square mile, 263.5 (persons per square kilometer, 101.7)--rank, 9th state.
• Extent. Area, 41,222 square miles (106,764 square kilometers), including 247 square miles (640 square kilometers) of water surface (35th state in size; 34th if Great Lakes area of 3,457 square miles [8,954 square kilometers] is added).
• Elevation. Highest, Campbell Hill, 1,550 feet (472 meters), near Bellefontaine; lowest, Ohio River at southwestern corner of state, 433 feet (132 meters); average, 850 feet (259 meters).
• Geographic Center. 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Columbus.
• Temperature. Extremes--lowest, -39o F (-39o C), Milligan, Feb. 10, 1899; highest, 113o F (45o C), near Gallipolis, July 21, 1934, and on earlier dates at other locations. Averages at Cincinnati--January, 32.7o F (0.4o C); July, 76.4o F (24.7o C); annual, 54.7o F (12.6o C). Averages at Cleveland--January, 28.7o F (-1.8o C); July, 73.9o F (23.3o C); annual, 50.9o F (10.5o C).
• Precipitation. At Cincinnati--annual average, 38.76 inches (985 millimeters). At Cleveland--annual average, 36.42 inches (925 millimeters). Land Use. Crops, 47%; pasture, 5%; forest, 26%; other, 22%.

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• Overview of Ohio
•     In many ways Ohio is typical of the United States as a whole. Its earliest settlers came from both the North and the South, and the great diversity of European immigrants attracted to Ohio has helped create an ethnically mixed culture. A state in which agriculture was typically paramount 150 years ago, it now represents the urbanized, industrialized America of the late 20th century. A true bellwether state, Ohio is often used to test products and poll trends.
•    The modern big-city movement to elect African American leaders was established in Cleveland, where Carl B. Stokes was elected mayor in 1967. But the predominantly black ghettos of that city were also the scenes of extensive rioting and shoot-outs--in Hough, in 1966, and Glenville, in 1968. During the long summer of racial disturbances across the United States in 1967, Cincinnati was the second major city to be hit by random violence. In 1970 members of the National Guard killed four student Vietnam War protesters on the campus of Kent State University.
•    The state is sometimes called the Mother of Modern Presidents because seven presidents of the United States were born there--Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William H. Taft, and Warren G. Harding. Another president, William H. Harrison, was a resident of Ohio at the time of his election. One of President Taft's sons, Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio, was known as "Mr. Republican," but his bids for a presidential nomination failed in 1948 and 1952.
•    The first state to be built up entirely outside the original 13 colonies was Ohio. It became a state in 1803, just 15 years after the establishment of its first permanent white settlement. By 1820 Ohio had become the nation's fifth largest state in population, and by 1850 it was the third largest. Ohio's rapid rise was due largely to its rich supply of natural resources and accessibility to water transportation. The continuous development of Ohio's many natural resources fulfills its motto--"With God, All Things Are Possible."
•    The popular nickname Buckeye State comes from the tree that grew so abundantly in the territory before European settlers used it for building. Native Americans supposedly gave the tree this name because the light spot in its brown seed resembled the iris in the dark eye of a buck deer. During the presidential election campaign of 1840 the name was also applied to the people of Ohio
• Survey of the Buckeye State
•    Ohio is the easternmost of the North-Central group of states. It is shaped roughly like a shield. It is bordered by Lake Erie and the state of Michigan on the north. Pennsylvania borders it on the northeast. Indiana is to the west. The Ohio River on the south and southeast separates the state from Kentucky and West Virginia. The state's name comes from an Iroquois word that means "beautiful river" or "large river."
•    Ranking 35th among the states in land area, Ohio is smaller than any mainland state west of it except Indiana. Its total area is 41,222 square miles (106,764 square kilometers), including 247 square miles (640 square kilometers) of inland water and 3,457 square miles (8,954 kilometers) of Lake Erie. The state extends 225 miles (362 kilometers) from east to west and 215 miles (346 kilometers) from north to south.
•    In earliest times northern and western Ohio was covered by a network of river gorges and hills. During the Ice Age, a huge glacier spanned most of the present state. The ice ground down hills and littered the landscape with vast deposits of glacial mud and gravel. These deposits choked up the ancient river valleys, and today the rivers flow in channels that are sometimes 100 feet (30 meters) or more above their first beds. A completely buried river channel, more than 500 feet (150 meters) deep, exists near St. Paris.
•    The glacial deposits and the grinding off of hills formed a relatively level plain. Glacial soil covers all but the southeastern rim of the state, including Ohio's best farmlands. The unglaciated soil is fertile where it has a limestone base or where it lies in the floodplain of a river. Otherwise, this type of soil is more suitable for grazing than for farming. The state's valuable clay deposits are also partly of glacial origin.
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• Natural Regions

The Allegheny Plateau covers the entire eastern part of Ohio and extends into West Virginia and Pennsylvania. It is a hilly area with an altitude varying from 900 to 1,400 feet (270 to 425 meters). This region contains the largest of the state forests and Ohio's richest deposits of coal, clay, and stone. The most rugged section lies in the southeast, which was not leveled off by ice sheets. It was relatively undeveloped until coal mining began here in about 1833.
• The Interior Plains that cover western Ohio are part of the great prairies of the central United States. This is the eastern end of the fertile North-Central corn belt. Among these gently rolling plains is the highest point in the state--1,550-foot (472-meter) Campbell Hill, east of Bellefontaine in Logan County. The lowest point, 433 feet (132 meters), is also in the Interior Plains region, along the Ohio River in the southwestern corner of the state.
• The Lake Plains follow the southern shore of Lake Erie and then curve northward into Michigan. In the east these plains extend inland from 5 to 10 miles (8 to 16 kilometers). About midway across the state they begin to widen, reaching a depth of more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) at the western border of the state. The Lake Plains form the "water level" route across northern Ohio for railroads and highways.
•    A series of small hills rises in the northeastern corner of Ohio and weaves irregularly west and south to Mercer County midway along the Ohio-Indiana border. This low ridge line divides the state into two drainage basins. The larger, southern area, which occupies about two thirds of the state, is drained by tributaries of the Ohio River. From east to west the largest of these rivers are the Muskingum, Hocking, Scioto, Little Miami, and Great Miami.
•    North of the divide, Lake Erie receives the waters of several large rivers. From east to west they are the Grand, Cuyahoga, Sandusky, and Maumee. The largest lake entirely within the state is the artificial Grand Reservoir, in Mercer and Auglaize counties, which was created in 1845 by damming the Wabash River. Designed to feed water into the old Miami and Erie Canal, it is now known as Lake St. Marys and is primarily used for fishing and duck hunting.
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• Climate
•    Ohio's inland location gives the state a continental climate of warm summers and cool winters. The prevailing winds are from the west, leading to frequent weather changes. The average annual temperature varies from slightly above 50o F (10o C) in the northern part of the state to about 55o F (13o C) in parts of the southwest.
•    Precipitation (rain and melted snow) varies from 36 inches (91 centimeters) a year in the northwest and north-central parts of the state to 39 inches (99 centimeters) in the southwest and south-central sections. The heaviest rains fall in April, the lightest in October. The average annual snowfall is quite heavy in the northern parts of the state but relatively light in the southern parts. In Lake and adjoining counties it may total 60 inches (152 centimeters); along the Ohio, 16 inches (40 centimeters) or less. The growing season ranges from 160 days a year in the northeast to 180 days a year in the southwest. Along the shores of Lake Erie moderate winds extend the season to 200 days.

 

 

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• Natural Resources
•    Ohio's greatest natural resource is its soil, which provides fuel and raw materials for the state's 72-billion-dollar manufacturing industry. A favorable location on the Great Lakes has brought many commercial advantages. High-grade iron ores are shipped from the Lake Superior district to Cleveland and other Lake Erie ports. Here the ores are made into pig iron or are transshipped to blast furnaces at inland cities. Railroads bring great quantities of coal to the Lake Erie cities for transshipment to other lake ports. Most of this coal comes from the Appalachian fields of southeastern Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
•    Another natural resource is Ohio's forest acreage, maintained by means of an extensive tree-planting program. More than one fourth of the land area is wooded. A large part of the tree stand is made up of red oak, white oak, and hard maple. Although the buckeye gave Ohio its nickname, this tree is no longer significant.
•    Lake Erie fisheries also provide natural wealth. The most valuable are sheepshead, yellow perch, carp, white bass, and catfish. The catch began dropping in the 1960s because of industrial pollution.
•    Ohioans were pioneers in conserving and restoring their natural resources. The Miami Conservancy District, set up after a disastrous flood in 1913, protects Dayton and other cities in the Great Miami River valley from floodwater.
•    The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, created in 1933, also provides protection against floods and conserves water. Four reservoirs regulate the waters of the Mahoning River for use by steel mills in the Youngstown area.
•    In 1949 the state legislature enacted the first workable strip-mine reclamation law, which compels the operators of coal strip mines to grade spoil banks and plant vegetation. In the same year the Department of Natural Resources was created to coordinate the activities of 11 divisions--civilian conservation, forestry, geological survey, natural areas and preserves, oil and gas, soil and water conservation, reclamation, water, watercraft, parks and recreation, and wildlife--and six offices.
•    In the conservation of human resources Ohio has long been a leader. It pioneered advanced social and industrial legislation, especially workmen's compensation and the promotion of safety in factories.

 

 
 


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• People of Ohio
•    The prehistoric residents of the region were Mound Builders, and examples of their rich cultures are displayed in Ohio museums today. At a later date the Erie Indians occupied the southern shore of the lake. By 1656 they had been nearly annihilated by the Iroquois Confederacy of Five Nations.
•    During the 1700s French and English explorers found many Native American tribes in the area. The Miami lived in western Ohio; Shawnee in the south; Ottawa in the northwest; Iroquoian tribes such as the Wyandot (Huron) in the center and northeast; and Delaware in the Muskingum Valley. Famous Indian leaders in this area included Tecumseh (a Shawnee), Little Turtle (a Miami), and Leatherlip (a Wyandot).
•    Frontier fighting between whites and Indians ended in 1794 when Gen. "Mad Anthony" Wayne broke the power of the British-Indian alliance in the battle of Fallen Timbers in northwestern Ohio. Gradually the Indians were forced off their land, tribe by tribe, until the last tribal lands in Ohio were ceded by the Wyandot in 1842.
•    The first pioneers to cross the Alleghenies into Ohio came from states in the East--from New England to Georgia. Many of them were veterans of the American Revolution who had received land grants from the government. In the mid-1800s many Irish, Germans, and Swiss settled in Ohio. Later the growth of industry attracted laborers from Scandinavia and Central and Southern Europe. By 1900 about half the people lived in cities and towns. Today about three fourths of Ohio's people reside in urban areas.
•    The state has more than 300,000 people of foreign birth. Of the total number of foreign-born people and those with foreign-born parents, the largest groups are Germans, Italians, Poles, English, and Czechs. About 10 percent of Ohio's people are African Americans.
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• Cities
• Ohio has seven cities of more than 100,000 people. Only California, Florida, and Texas have more cities of this size. The largest city and greatest manufacturing center is Cleveland. Here mills and factories turn out a wide variety of iron, steel, and other metal products. The city is also a major Lake Erie port and railroad transportation hub.
•    Columbus, the state capital and the second largest city, stands in the center of Ohio. A busy convention city, it also makes iron and steel products and machinery. Cincinnati, in southwestern Ohio, is a major port on the Ohio River. It is also a railroad center and the site of a large printing industry. Manufactures include soap products, meat and other food products, pianos and electronic organs, playing cards, and machine tools and other metal products.
•    Toledo, at the western end of Lake Erie, is one of the leading glass-manufacturing centers in the United States and a coal-shipping port. It also produces automobiles, machinery, steel, and weighing scales.
•    Akron, in the northeastern part of the state, is the rubber capital of the world. It is noted for its research in this field and for its manufacture of tires, tubes, and other rubber products.
•    Dayton, in the southwest, is known for its cash registers and refrigerators. Nearby are Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the headquarters of the United States Air Force Logistics Command, and the Air Force Museum. Youngstown and Canton are steel-producing centers in the northeast. Springfield, in west-central Ohio, is an industrial center. Lakewood and Cleveland Heights are large residential suburbs of Cleveland. Hamilton, in the southwest, is a manufacturing center. Lorain is a port on Lake Erie.
•    Such eastern Ohio cities as East Liverpool, Steubenville, and Zanesville are noted for their manufacture of pottery and related products. Cincinnati is known for the Rookwood ware produced there.
•    North of Portsmouth in Pike County an atomic plant was built in 1952 by the Atomic Energy Commission. This 6,500-acre (2630-hectare) establishment, which produces uranium 235, is one of the nation's major atomic installations.
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• Manufacturing
• Ohio ranks third among the states in manufacturing. About one quarter of its workers are employed in the state's 17,500 manufacturing establishments. The manufacture of transportation equipment is the state's largest manufacturing industry, and more trucks are assembled in Ohio than in any other state. Ohio usually ranks first in the value of shipments of bus and truck bodies.
•    Ohio ranks third in the making of nonelectrical machinery, the third largest manufacturing industry. Great quantities of metalworking machines and of such machine tools as drills and lathes are produced. Other machines include service, household, and general industrial equipment. Ohio is also a leading state in the manufacture of electrical machinery and fabricated metal products. Ohio ranks second in the production of primary metals, which is the state's fourth largest manufacturing industry. This includes the output from the state's many steel mills and iron foundries.
•    Large population centers of both the United States and Canada lie within a few hundred miles of the state. As a result Ohio is one of the principal wholesale, retail, and service trade centers in the nation. Cleveland and Cincinnati, at opposite ends of the state, serve as major distribution points for wholesale trade. Since an economic downturn in the late 1970s, Ohio has shifted from manufacturing toward a more service-oriented economy.
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• Agriculture
•    Farming in Ohio has depended greatly on the development of transportation. In the early days of the state, farmers in the interior could get very little money from their corn and wheat crops because the costs of transporting the grain to market were so high. Before the opening of the Ohio and Erie Canal, corn in the region sold for 10 cents and wheat for 25 cents a bushel. Farmers used much of their grain as feed for their hogs and cattle and then drove this livestock to the nearest river landing to be sold and loaded on boats and barges.
•    The building of canals, and later railroad and highway construction, provided Ohio farmers with excellent means for sending their crops and livestock to market. These facilities also made it easy for them to obtain goods manufactured in the cities, and the new transportation routes brought thousands of immigrants to the Ohio Valley.
•    Despite its comparatively small size, Ohio is a leading agricultural state. While the number of farms has been declining--from about 100,000 in the mid-1970s to 84,000 in the late 1980s, their average size has increased. The principal field crops are corn, soybeans, hay, wheat, and oats. Like other states in the corn belt, Ohio raises many cattle, hogs, sheep, and poultry. The Buckeye State has about 10,000 dairy farms that supply a vast market in Ohio's industrial centers.
•    In addition to its grains, Ohio produces potatoes, truck crops, and, in the lake counties, grapes and other fruits. Some tobacco is grown, especially burley in Brown County. Ohio ranks high among the states in timothy, red clover, and sweet clover seeds and also in popcorn and maple syrup.
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• Mining
•    Ohio has a great wealth of minerals. About half of the total value of mineral production comes from coal. Six counties in eastern Ohio supply most of this mineral from strip-mining operations. About 90 percent of the state's electrical energy comes from coal.
•    Lorain County has large sandstone quarries. The Ohio variety of sandstone, Berea grit, is widely used in construction and in manufacturing. The state produces many of the nation's grindstones from Berea. Rich deposits of clay make Ohio the foremost producer of pottery, firebrick, and tile. Other valuable minerals are cement, crushed stone, and construction sand and gravel. Ohio leads the states in the production of lime. Salt and petroleum are also significant resources of the state.
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• Transportation
•    For hundreds of years Ohio has been crisscrossed by both land and water transportation routes. Native Americans established trails as they traversed the region, and the first white pioneers traveled its rolling expanse on their way to the Northwest and beyond. They crossed the Eastern mountains and then followed the river valleys or lakeshore. Wherever a water route was available, these early inhabitants built boats or rafts to carry themselves and their goods to their destinations.
•    New Englanders came through New York to Lake Erie and then traveled westward. Pennsylvanians set out at the headwaters of the Ohio in their own state and followed its course into the lower Ohio Basin. Virginians and Carolinians passed from the valley of the Shenandoah through the mountain gaps into Kentucky. From there they proceeded into Ohio.
•    After New York completed the Erie Canal in 1825, Ohio acted similarly. In 1832 it opened the Ohio and Erie Canal, connecting Portsmouth, on the Ohio River, with Cleveland, on Lake Erie. The Miami Canal was extended to the Wabash and Erie in 1847. This Miami and Erie system linked Toledo by water with Cincinnati. Meanwhile a series of dams and locks had made the Muskingum River navigable in 1841. These waterways joined the interior of Ohio with New York City and New Orleans, La.
•    The federal government greatly aided the growth of land transportation in Ohio when it ordered the construction of the Cumberland Road westward from Cumberland, Md. By 1838 the road had passed through Zanesville and Columbus to reach Springfield in western Ohio. Later it was extended across Indiana to Vandalia, Ill. Conestoga wagons and stagecoaches rumbled over the Cumberland Road to bring in many of Ohio's early settlers.
•    A modern toll road, the Ohio Turnpike, was opened in 1955. It stretches 241 miles (388 kilometers) across the northern part of the state, connecting with the Pennsylvania Turnpike on the east and the Indiana East-West Toll Road on the west. In the state's impressive interstate highway network, Interstate 71 cuts across the state from Cleveland to Cincinnati, and Interstate 75 runs north and south, from Toledo to Cincinnati. Interstate 77 is another major north-south route, and Interstate 70 is an important east-west route.
•    The state's first railroad line, which connected Toledo with Adrian, Mich., was finished in 1836. Soon other railroads were built along the route of the Erie Canal or across the Appalachians to pass through Ohio's largest cities. By 1900 the railroad network was almost complete, and today lines reach every county.
•    During the 1840s and 1850s the railroads began to replace canals as main arteries of transportation. Lake and Ohio River traffic were not abandoned, however. Today Great Lakes ships unload some 40 million tons of iron ore a year at Ohio ports. Much of their return load is bituminous coal. The Ohio River carries about 175 million tons of freight traffic a year.
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• Recreation
•    Ohio contains some of the most important archaeological sites in North America. The state's prehistoric Indian mounds and its scenic and historic attractions draw millions of visitors annually.
•    There are more than 1 million acres (400,000 hectares) of state parks, forests, and other outdoor recreation areas. Many of the larger Ohio cities have notable metropolitan park systems. Across the northern border of the state lies the so-called Lake Erie vacationland--a strip of summer resorts, beaches, and boating and fishing facilities. Fishing and hunting are popular sports activities throughout the state.
•    The major spectator sports draw large crowds throughout Ohio--especially such professional teams as the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians, in baseball; basketball's Cleveland Caveliers; and the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns, in football. Ohio State University has one of the most consistently top-ranked college football teams. Buster Douglas of Columbus became the world heavyweight boxing champion in 1990. Noted special events include the Soap Box Derby at Akron and the Grand Trap Shoot at Vandalia.
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• Education
•    The first school west of the Alleghenies was opened at Schoenbrunn, near present New Philadelphia, in 1773. It was operated by Moravian missionaries who taught Indian children to read and write. The school closed when Schoenbrunn was abandoned in 1777.
•    The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 provided that "schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." Settlers at Belpre and Marietta soon opened schools. Not until 1825, however, was the system of free public schools founded. The present system developed from the Akron school law of 1847. At first designed only for that city's schools, the law was later adopted throughout the state. An improved system of county schools began in 1914.
•    Ohio University, at Athens, was chartered by the state legislature in 1804. Oberlin College, founded in 1833, was one of the first colleges to admit blacks on an equal basis with white students and was the first coeducational college in the United States. Both white and black students were enrolled at Wilberforce University, which opened as a college in 1856 and was purchased seven years later by the African Methodist Episcopal church.
•    State-supported schools are Ohio State University, in Columbus, with four branches; Ohio University, in Athens, with five branches; Kent State University, in Kent, with seven branches; Miami University, in Oxford, with two branches; Bowling Green State University, in Bowling Green, with one branch; Cleveland State University, in Cleveland; University of Akron, in Akron, with one branch; Youngstown State University, in Youngstown; University of Toledo, in Toledo; and Central State University, in Wilberforce. The University of Cincinnati is supported by the state and local governments. Other large schools include Xavier University, in Cincinnati; the University of Dayton, in Dayton; and Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland.
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• Government and Politics
•    When Ohio was admitted to the Union in 1803, Chillicothe served as the capital. In 1810 the capital was moved to Zanesville, but it was returned to Chillicothe in 1812. At that time centrally located Columbus was chosen as the permanent site; the government opened there in 1816.
•    Ohio is governed under a constitution adopted in 1851. The chief executive officer is the governor. In addition, the executive branch also includes a lieutenant governor and attorney general. In 1954 a constitutional amendment increased the governor's term of office from two to four years, with a limit of two successive terms. The legislative branch is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The judiciary is headed by the Supreme Court. The initiative and referendum were adopted in 1912.
•    In state and national politics Ohio has voted Republican slightly more often than Democratic. A Republican, James A. Rhodes, set a new precedent for tenure as governor with four four-year terms (1963-71 and 1975-83). From 1948 to 1954, however, a Democrat, Frank J. Lausche, had held the state record by winning the governorship for four consecutive two-year terms. (He had also been elected governor in 1944.) In the presidential elections since 1896 Ohio has consistently supported the winners--with two exceptions, in 1944 and in 1960, when it voted for losing Republican candidates. Ohio was the home state of the first woman to run for the presidency-- Victoria Claflin Woodhull, the Equal Rights party candidate in 1872--and of Norman Thomas, the perennial Socialist candidate from 1928 to 1948. Other unsuccessful presidential candidates from Ohio were Governor James Cox (who was defeated by another Ohioan, Harding, in 1920) and Jacob Coxey, on the Farmer-Labor ticket in 1932 and 1936.
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• History
•    The first white explorers in the Ohio region found a few small patches of open prairie scattered among vast tracts of forestland. Today almost half of the total land area is cultivated for crops, and an equally large segment is occupied by towns and cities.
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• Exploration and Settlement
•     In 1669 La Salle may have explored the area between Lake Erie and the Ohio River. Although the French claimed the Ohio territory in 1671, they made no permanent settlement. In 1763 France ceded the land to Great Britain. The Ohio country became part of the United States after the American Revolution and was included in the Northwest Territory in 1787.
•    A group of Moravians founded a settlement at Schoenbrunn in 1772 but abandoned it five years later. Other Moravian attempts to gain a foothold in this region also failed. The first permanent Ohio settlement was made in 1788 at the mouth of the Muskingum River. There a group called the Ohio Company of Associates founded the town of Marietta. Led by Gen. Rufus Putnam, they were chiefly New England veterans of the revolution. Later that year Cincinnati was founded farther downriver on the Ohio.
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• Statehood
•    Trouble between the settlers and the Native Americans reached a climax in 1794 at the battle of Fallen Timbers, upstream on the Maumee from modern Toledo. In that engagement General Wayne's forces dealt a crushing blow to the Indians, who gave up most of present Ohio in the Treaty of Greenville (1795).
•    In 1796 the city of Cleveland was founded by members of the Connecticut Land Company on land along Lake Erie called the Western Reserve. Connecticut had reserved this strip when the original 13 states surrendered claims to western land. Throughout the Northwest Territory, settlements sprang up rapidly. By 1799 the population had grown so large that a territorial legislature was established at Cincinnati. When Congress divided the territory in 1800, it designated Chillicothe the capital of the "eastern part." One of the early settlers was the gentle frontier hero Johnny Appleseed (see Appleseed).
•    Ohio became the 17th state in the Union in 1803, but for a long time historians differed on the precise date of admission. The United States Congress had passed an enabling act on April 30, 1802. A convention at Chillicothe on Nov. 29, 1802, had adopted a constitution. Congress extended federal laws to the state on Feb. 19, 1803, and on March 1 Ohio's first legislature convened at Chillicothe. In 1902 the Ohio state legislature officially accepted March 1, 1803, as the date of admission.
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• 19th-Century Ohio
•    One of the great American naval victories in the War of 1812 was won by Oliver H. Perry at Put-in-Bay, near the western end of Lake Erie, in 1813. In 1818 the first steamboat on Lake Erie reached Cleveland and Sandusky. In 1832 the Ohio and Erie Canal was opened, and in 1833 the Cumberland Road was completed to Columbus. The first horse-drawn railroad began operation in 1836.
•    For years both Ohio and Michigan claimed an area that included Toledo. The controversy resulted in a dispute known as the Toledo War. The militias of both states were called out, and war threatened until 1836, when Congress awarded the area to Ohio. In return, Michigan received the Upper Peninsula.
•    Slavery had been forbidden in the entire Middle West by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Although the "free" states' first legislature enacted so-called "Black Laws" to restrict the rights and movements of blacks, many of the early settlers had been strongly opposed to slaveholding. Before the American Civil War they helped escaped slaves to reach Canada through the Underground Railroad. Ohio furnished such Civil War leaders as Ulysses S. Grant, born in Point Pleasant; William T. Sherman, born in Lancaster; and Edwin M. Stanton, born in Steubenville.
•    During the last half of the 1800s the development of iron- and steelworks and petroleum refining shifted the concentration of heavy industry to the northern part of the state. The American Federation of Labor was organized in Columbus in 1886.
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• Modern Ohio
•    In 1903 the Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, residents of Dayton, successfully flew the first heavier-than-air craft near Kitty Hawk, N.C. They continued their aircraft experiments at home. The completion of Port Columbus in 1929 inaugurated the world's first transcontinental air-rail service. Ohio today is also an aviation test center. The St. Lawrence Seaway, opened in 1959, made possible the development of Toledo, Cleveland, and other cities on Lake Erie as inland seaports for oceangoing ships.
•    Before the American economy was neutralized by foreign competition, Ohio industry had grown rapidly with the opening of more large-scale plants, major petroleum discoveries in the central and north-central areas, and an intensified program of research in industrial laboratories. The expansion has posed a threat to Ohio's valuable natural resources. For example, nearly all of the state's electrical energy comes from coal-fed steam-generating plants, but the strip-mining technique used to tear the coal from the earth ravages the soil. Legislative steps were taken to offset the effects of strip mining by means of conservation measures aimed at replenishing the soil and its resources.
•    Meanwhile, the financial woes that plagued many American cities reached a crisis stage in Cleveland in the late 1970s. The first major city to default on a loan since the Great Depression, it failed to pay off 15.5 million dollars owed in short-term notes at the end of 1978. National unemployment problems were particularly crucial in the state's heavily industrialized cities in the 1980s.
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• Some Notable People of Ohio
•    The people listed below are associated with Ohio, though some of them may not have been born there. Some prominent people are not included below because they are covered in other articles in Compton's Encyclopedia.
• Grey, Zane (1872-1939). Author. Born on Jan. 31, 1872, in Zanesville, Ohio. Grey at first practiced dentistry before turning to writing by 1903. His many adventure-filled novels shaped popular ideas of the Wild West. Grey wrote more than 50 novels for adults, including 'Riders of the Purple Sage', published in 1912, and 'West of the Pecos' (1937).
• Haines, Jesse "Pop" (1893-1978). Baseball player and coach. Born on July 22, 1893, in Clayton, Ohio. Haines began his baseball career in 1914 in the minor leagues. He joined the National League St. Louis Cardinals in 1920. A star pitcher, Haines was noted for his fastball and knuckleball. After leaving the Cardinals in 1937 he was a coach with the Brooklyn Dodgers for one season. Haines was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970.
• LeMay, Curtis (1906-90). Air Force officer. Born on Nov. 15, 1906, in Columbus, Ohio. He attended the Army Air Corps flying school and received a regular commission in 1930. During World War II he was rapidly promoted, eventually commanding bombing raids over Japan. He directed the 1948 Berlin airlift, became chief of the Strategic Air Command, and, as a full general, was the Air Force chief of staff in 1961-65.
• Morrison, Toni (born 1931). Author. Born on Feb. 18, 1931, in Lorain, Ohio. She grew up in a poor family but graduated from Howard University in 1953 and received an M.A. degree in English from Cornell in 1955. After seven years as an English instructor, Morrison became an editor and wrote in her spare time. Her first novel, 'The Bluest Eye', published in 1969, was a criticism of middle-class black life and of human intolerance. With the 1977 publication of 'Song of Solomon' she received popular as well as critical acclaim. 'Beloved' won the 1987 Pulitzer prize for fiction. Morrison won the 1993 Nobel prize for literature.
• Peale, Norman Vincent (1898-1993). Inspirational writer. Born in Bowersville, Ohio, on May 31, 1898. Ordained as a Methodist Episcopal minister in 1922, Peale was a pastor in several communities before moving to the Marble Collegiate Reformed Church in New York City in 1932. He cofounded in 1937 what became the American Foundation for Religion and Psychiatry, a mental-health organization. Peale wrote the 1952 best-seller 'The Power of Positive Thinking' and other popular works.
• Spielberg, Steven (born 1947). Motion picture director, writer, and producer. Born on Dec. 18, 1947, in Cincinnati, Ohio. After graduating from college in 1970, Spielberg pursued his interest in filmmaking by observing Hollywood directors at work. He first drew industry attention with his 1969 short subject, 'Amblin' ', and was soon making his own features. Spielberg's first hit, 1975's 'Jaws', established him as a leading director. A long string of successes followed, including 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (1977), 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981), 'E.T. the Extraterrestrial' (1982), 'Jurassic Park' (1993), and 'Schindler's List' (1993), which won seven Academy awards.
• Tatum, Art (1910-56). Jazz pianist. Born on Oct. 13, 1910, in Toledo, Ohio. Although almost completely blind, Tatum studied music from the age of 13, first the violin and then piano. By the 1930s he had become a world-famous jazz musician and had his own band in Chicago. Tatum was known for his improvisational solo style, reinterpreting such standards as 'Tea for Two' and 'Sweet Lorraine'.
• Wald, Lillian D. (1867-1940). Public-health nurse and social reformer. Born on March 10, 1867, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Wald graduated from nursing school in 1891 and moved to New York City. She worked to improve conditions for the poor on the Lower East Side, first as a visiting nurse and later by opening the Henry Street Settlement House. She spurred the institution of the world's first public-school nursing program in 1902 and of the United States Children's Bureau in 1912. Wald is in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.
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• Notable Events in Ohio History
• 1748. Virginians organize Ohio Land Company; send Christopher Gist to explore in 1750.
• 1749. Pierre Joseph Celoron de Blainville claims area for France.
• 1763. France cedes claims to Ohio country to Great Britain in Treaty of Paris. Settlers defeat Indians led by Chief Pontiac.
• 1772. David Zeisberger founds Moravian Indian mission at Schoenbrunn; opens first school west of Allegheny Mountains in 1773.
• 1787. Ordinance of 1787 sets up basic government of Northwest Territory, which includes Ohio. 1788. Rufus Putnam and party found Marietta, first permanent white settlement in Ohio.
• 1794. Gen. "Mad Anthony" Wayne defeats British-Indian confederation at Fallen Timbers. Treaty of Greenville (1795) opens Ohio to settlement.
• 1799. Legislature established in Northwest Territory at Cincinnati. Territory divided in 1800; capital of "eastern part," Chillicothe.
• 1803. Ohio becomes 17th state, March 1; capital, Chillicothe; governor, Edward Tiffin.
• 1804. First smelting furnace in Ohio established near Youngstown. Ohio University chartered at Athens.
• 1810. State capital moved to Zanesville; returned to Chillicothe in 1812; moved to Columbus in 1816.
• 1811. New Orleans is first steamboat on Ohio River; Walk-in-the-Water is first steamboat on Lake Erie, in 1818.
• 1813. Oliver H. Perry leads United States Navy in defeat of British at Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie.
• 1832. Ohio and Erie Canal opens.
• 1833. Cumberland Road reaches Columbus.
• 1836. Toledo War ends Michigan boundary dispute.
• 1851. Present state constitution of Ohio adopted.
• 1856. Wilberforce University established; a private university for African Americans.
• 1861. Ohio State Capitol completed.
• 1862. Kirby Smith leads Confederate force besieging Cincinnati.
• 1863. Gen. John Morgan leads Confederate raids into Ohio; captured at Salineville.
• 1869. Ulysses S. Grant, born 1822 in Point Pleasant, becomes first Ohio-born president (18th) of United States. Others were: Rutherford B. Hayes (1877); James A. Garfield (1881); Benjamin Harrison (1889); William McKinley (1897); William Howard Taft (1909); and Warren G. Harding (1921).
• 1870. Benjamin F. Goodrich begins manufacture of rubber articles at Akron. John D. Rockefeller organizes Standard Oil Company at Cleveland. Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Ohio State University) founded at Columbus.
• 1903. Wright brothers make first flight, near Kitty Hawk, N.C.; continue efforts at Dayton.
• 1937. Worst Ohio River flood causes great damage.
• 1955. Ohio Turnpike opened.
• 1959. St. Lawrence Seaway begins operation.
• 1966. Carl B. Stokes elected mayor of Cleveland--first black elected to head a major United States city.
• 1970. Four students killed by National Guard during demonstrations at Kent State University.
• 1974. Tornadoes destroy much of Xenia.
• 1977. Severe winter weather and power and natural gas shortages close hundreds of schools, businesses, and industries.
• 1988. Major oil spill pollutes Monongahela and Ohio rivers. Court documents reveal that since 1951, with full knowledge of United States officials, large quantities of radioactive materials leaked into water supplies and atmosphere from nuclear weapons plant at Fernald.
• 1990. Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center and its director are indicted on obscenity charges for displaying an exhibit of photographs by the late Robert Mapplethorpe. Flash floods kill 23 people in the village of Shadyside; seventeen counties declared federal disaster areas.
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• State Symbols
• FLAG. The Ohio flag, adopted in 1902, was inspired by the United States Army cavalry flag of 1862-85. A large white circle represents the initial letter of the name Ohio as well as suggesting Ohio's status as the Buckeye State. The 17 stars around the circle indicate that Ohio was the 17th state to be admitted to the Union.
• SEAL. Ohio adopted the seal in 1803 but abolished it in 1805. In 1868 the original design was readopted and was modified to its present form in 1967. The coat of arms of the state in the center of the seal shows a bundle of 17 arrows next to a sheaf of wheat; in the background are Mount Logan and the Scioto River, with a sun radiating 17 rays rising behind them.
• TREE. Buckeye
• FLOWER. Scarlet Carnation
• BIRD. Cardinal
• GEM. Ohio Flint
• FOSSIL. Trilobite
• BEVERAGE. Tomato Juice.
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• Largest Cities (1990 census)
• Columbus (632,910). State capital; business and industrial center; electrical equipment, transportation equipment; Ohio Historical Center; Ohio State University.
• Cleveland (505,616). Port; steel manufacturing center; auto parts, machine tools, health industries, chemicals; printing; Case Western Reserve University.
• Cincinnati (364,040). Industrial and transportation center; coal port; machine tools, soap products, clothing, furniture, packaged meats; printing; Union Terminal; Cincinnati Zoo; University of Cincinnati.
• Toledo (332,943). Port city and major shipping center; automobiles and parts, electrical appliances, glass; Toledo Museum of Art; University of Toledo.
• Akron (223,019). Industrial center; rubber, tires, toys, trucking; All-American Soap Box Derby; Akron Art Museum; University of Akron.
• Dayton (182,044). Industrial, trade, and transportation center; Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; Air Force Museum; University of Dayton.
• Youngstown (95,732). Steel and industrial center; iron products, clothes, paint, rubber and paper products, aircraft and auto parts; Arms Museum; Youngstown State University.
• Canton (84,161). Industrial center; electric sweepers, alloy steel, roller bearings, safes and bank vaults, heavy-steel presses, voting machines, internal-combustion engines, rubber products; Cultural Center for the Arts; Canton Symphony Orchestra; Hoover Historical Center; McKinley National Memorial; National Professional Football Hall of Fame; Malone College.
• Lorain (71,245). Industrial city on Lake Erie; major Midwest shipping center for coal, iron ore, and limestone; shipbuilding, auto and truck assembly, power shovels, cranes, plastic products.
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• Vital Statistics 1989 (per 1,000 population)
• Birthrate. 14.9
• Death Rate. 9.0
• Marriage Rate. 9.0
• Divorce Rate. 4.5
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• Government
• Capital. Columbus (since 1812).
• Statehood. Became 17th state in the Union on March 1, 1803.
• Constitution. Adopted 1851; amendment may be passed by three-fifths vote of both legislative houses; ratified by majority voting on it in an election.
• Representation in U.S. Congress. Senate--2. House of Representatives--19. Electoral votes--21.
• Legislature. Senators--33; term, 4 years. Representatives--99; term, 2 years.
• Executive Officers. Governor--term, 4 years; may succeed self once. Other officials--lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, auditor, all elected; terms, 4 years.
• Judiciary. Supreme Court--7 justices; term, 6 years. Court of Appeals--53 judges; term, 6 years. Courts of common pleas--211 judges; term, 6 years.
• County. 88 counties; each governed by board of county commissioners; members elected for 4-year terms.
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• Major Products
• Agricultural. Corn, soybeans, hay, wheat, oats, potatoes, grapes, tobacco, celery, maple syrup, cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry.
• Manufactured. Steel and steel products, machine tools, automobile parts, rubber and rubber products, transportation equipment, electrical equipment, paper, shipbuilding.
• Mined. Crushed stone, salt, construction sand and gravel, limestone, silica, industrial sand, clays, gypsum, peat, coal, petroleum, natural gas.
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• Education & Culture
• Universities and Colleges. Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea; Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green; Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland; College of Wooster, Wooster; Denison University, Granville; Kenyon College, Gambier; Miami University, Oxford; Oberlin College, Oberlin; Ohio State University, Columbus; Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware; University of Cincinnati; University of Dayton; Wilberforce University, Wilberforce.
• Libraries. Cleveland Public Library; Ohio State University Libraries and Public Library of Columbus and Franklin County, Columbus; Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.
• Notable Museums. Akron Art Museum; Canton Art Institute; Cincinnati Fire Museum; Cleveland Museum of Art and Cleveland Museum of Natural History; Columbus Museum of Art; Dayton Art Institute and Dayton Museum of Natural History; McKinley Museum of History, Science, and Industry, Canton; Taft Museum, Cincinnati; Toledo Museum of Art; Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland; African-American Museum, Cleveland.
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• Places Of Interest
• Blue Hole. In Castalia; artesian spring.
• Chillicothe. First Ohio state capital.
• Cowan Lake State Park. Near Wilmington; lake with beach. East Harbor State Park. On Marblehead Peninsula; beach.
• Fallen Timbers State Memorial. Near Perrysburg; site where Gen. "Mad Anthony" Wayne defeated Indians in 1794.
• Fort Ancient State Memorial. Near Lebanon; prehistoric earthworks.
• Fort Recovery. Replica of 1793 fort built by General Wayne on site where Indians defeated Gen. Arthur St. Clair in 1791.
• Gallipolis. Our House State Memorial, celebrated tavern restored as museum; downstream is one of world's largest roller dams.
• Glendower State Memorial. In Lebanon; fine example of Greek revival architecture (1836).
• Grant Birthplace. In Point Pleasant; restored home of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
• Harding Memorial. In Marion; Greek temple-style memorial and tombs of President and Mrs. Warren G. Harding.
• Harrison Tomb State Memorial. Near Addyston; hilltop tombs of President and Mrs. William H. Harrison.
• Hayes Presidential Center. In Fremont; museum, library, and house of President Rutherford B. Hayes.
• Hocking Hills State Park. Six areas in state forest southwest of Logan--Ash Cave, Cantwell Cliffs, Cedar Falls, Conkle's Hollow, Old Man's Cave, Rock House.
• John Bryan State Park. Near Yellow Springs; river gorge; botanical reserve; 500-acre (200-hectare) estate; camping.
• Kelleys Island. In Lake Erie near Sandusky; Inscription Rock. Lake Hope State Park. Near Zaleski.
• Lawnfield. In Mentor; home of President James A. Garfield.
• McKinley National Birthplace Memorial. In Niles; statue of President William McKinley in Doric structure; library.
• Marietta. First permanent settlement in Northwest Territory; Mound Cemetery; Ohio Company Land Office.
• Mound City Group National Monument. Near Chillicothe; prehistoric Indian mounds.
• Moundbuilders State Memorial. In Newark; prehistoric Indian earthworks.
• Ohio Caverns. In West Liberty; unusual formations of crystals.
• Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial. Near Put-in-Bay; commemorates naval victory in War of 1812 and United States-Canadian peace.
• Portage Lakes State Park. Near Akron. Punderson State Park. Near Burton; lodge; fishing.
• Pymatuning State Park. Near Andover.
• Schoenbrunn Village State Memorial. In New Philadelphia; restored Moravian missionary settlement of 1772.
• Serpent Mound State Memorial. Near Locust Grove; prehistoric effigy mound shaped like a long snake.
• Stonelick State Park. Near Newtonsville.
• Thomas A. Edison Birthplace. In Milan. "Y" Bridge. In Zanesville; only bridge of its kind in the United States; over Licking and Muskingum rivers.
• Zoar Village. In Zoar; restored communal village, founded in 1817.


Credits by the ELHSA Class of '51 to: -   All Fact Summary data are based on current government reports. This article was critically reviewed and updated by the staff of the West Virginia Governor's Office of Community and Industrial Development.

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