Ohio
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State flag
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OHIO,
one of the East North Central states of the U.S., bordered
on the N by Michigan and Ontario, Canada; on the E by Pennsylvania and West Virginia; on the S by West Virginia and Kentucky; and on
the W by Indiana. Lake Erie forms most of the N boundary, and the
Ohio R. forms much of the E and all of the S boundaries.
Ohio entered the Union on March 1, 1803, as the 17th state.
It has been a major manufacturing state since the 19th century and
in the early 1990s was especially associated with the production
of transportation equipment, iron and steel, and rubber items. The
state also has a large farming industry. Presidents Ulysses S. Grant,
Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison,
William McKinley, William Howard Taft, and Warren G. Harding were born in
Ohio. The state’s name is taken from the Ohio R., the name
of which is derived from an Iroquoian Indian term for “fine [or
good] river.” Ohio is known as the Buckeye State.
| OHIO STATE FACTS |
| DATE OF STATEHOOD: |
March 1, 1803; 17th state |
| CAPITAL: |
Columbus |
| MOTTO: |
With God, all things are possible |
| NICKNAME: |
Buckeye State |
| STATE SONG: |
“Beautiful Ohio” (words by Ballard MacDonald; music by Mary Earl) |
| STATE TREE: |
Buckeye |
| STATE FLOWER: |
Scarlet carnation |
| STATE BIRD: |
Cardinal |
| POPULATION (2000 census): |
11,353,140; 7th among the states |
| AREA: |
116,103 sq km (44,828 sq mi); 34th largest state;
includes 10,036 sq km (3875 sq mi) of inland water |
| HIGHEST POINT: |
Campbell Hill, 472 m (1550 ft) |
| LOWEST POINT: |
139 m (455 ft), along the Ohio River |
| ELECTORAL VOTES: |
20 (as of the 2004 presidential election) |
| U.S. CONGRESS: |
2 senators; 18 representatives |
| GOVERNOR: |
Ted Strickland (Dem.)
Took office January 2007 |
Ohio, with an area of 116,103 sq km (44,828 sq mi), is the
34th largest state of the U.S.; 1.3% of the land area is
owned by the federal government. Ohio is roughly square in shape;
its extreme dimensions are about 360 km (about 225 mi) from E to
W and about 350 km (about 215 mi) from N to S. Elevations range
from 139 m (455 ft), along the Ohio R. in the SW, to 472 m (1550
ft), atop Campbell Hill in the W central part of the state. The
approximate mean elevation is 259 m (850 ft). Ohio’s shoreline
along Lake Erie is about 500 km (about 310 mi) long.
The physical landscape of Ohio is composed of four distinct regions.
In the N is a part of the Eastern Great Lakes Lowland, an area of
relatively flat topography with few steepsided valleys. The soils
are generally low in lime content and have to be drained before
they are suitable for agriculture. Most of the W half of Ohio is
made up of a section of the Till Plains, which is generally composed
of a gently undulating landscape formed by glacially deposited material.
The soils of this region are mainly gray-brown and acidic. In the
S portion of the state is a small part of the Interior Low Plateaus.
The landscape here is hilly, with bluffs along the rivers. The soils
are chiefly gray-brown and red-yellow. Almost all of the E half
of the state forms part of the Appalachian Plateau region. Generally
hilly, with steep valley sides and narrow valley bottoms, it makes
up the most rugged section of Ohio. The N part of the Appalachian Plateau
region was somewhat smoothed by glaciation and has soils of glacial
till. The S portion, unaffected by glaciers, is more rugged. Soils
of the area are generally thin and not very fertile.
Drainage in the N third of Ohio flows into Lake Erie
through
such rivers as the Maumee, Sandusky, Vermilion, and Cuyahoga. Most
of the remainder of the state is drained S toward the Ohio R., the
major tributaries of which include the Great Miami, Scioto, Hocking,
and Muskingum rivers. A small area in the W drains into the Wabash
R. system of Indiana. Two notable flood-control programs are the
Miami Conservancy District along the Great Miami R. and the Muskingum
Conservancy District along the Muskingum R. Some of the bigger bodies
of water—including the largest, Grand Lake St. Marys, in
the W—were formed by dams on rivers. The artificial lakes
are concentrated in the Appalachian Plateau region.
Ohio has two main climate regions. The S portion of the state
has a humid subtropical climate, with a frost-free season of 180
to 240 days; the N section has a humid continental climate, with
a frost-free season of 120 to 180 days. Precipitation is fairly
evenly distributed over the course of a year, with somewhat higher
monthly totals in the spring. Snowfall is generally heaviest in
the NE. Except for heavy thunderstorms and a few localized tornadoes
each year, Ohio is usually not struck by damaging storms. As examples
of the state’s climate, Cincinnati, in the SW, has an average
annual temperature of about 12.8° C (about 55° F) and receives some 1020 mm (about 40 in) of precipitation per year;
Columbus, in the center, has a mean annual temperature of 10.8° C
(51.5° F) and receives some 940 mm (about 37 in) of moisture each
year; and Cleveland, in the NE, has an average annual temperature
of 10° C (50° F) and gets about 889 mm (about
35 in) of precipitation per year. The recorded temperature in Ohio
has ranged from –39.4° C (–39° F),
in 1899 at Milligan, to 45° C (113° F), in 1897
at Thurman and in 1934 near Gallipolis.
| OHIO AVERAGE CLIMATE |
| |
Cleveland |
Dayton |
| Average January temperature range |
–6.7° to 0.6° C |
20° to 33° F |
–6.7° to 2.2° C |
20° to 36° F |
| Average July temperature range |
16.1° to 27.8° C |
61° to 82° F |
17.8° to 29.4° C |
64° to 85° F |
| Average annual temperature |
10° C |
50° F |
11.1° C |
52° F |
| Average annual precipitation |
889 mm |
35 in |
864 mm |
34 in |
| Average annual snowfall |
1321 mm |
52 in |
686 mm |
27 in |
| Mean number of days per year with appreciable precipitation |
155 |
134 |
| Average daily relative humidity |
71% |
70% |
| Mean number of clear days per year |
70 |
80 |
Forests cover nearly one-quarter of Ohio and are made up principally
of hardwoods. Maple and beech are dominant in the N, and oak and
hickory are most common in the S. About 95% of the commercial
timberland is privately owned. Other abundant plants include black-eyed
Susan, buttercup, chamomile, dandelion, honeysuckle, Queen Anne’s
lace, and sunflower.
White-tailed deer, wild turkey, and beaver are found in
Ohio.
Other mammals include rabbit, squirrel, opossum, coyote, fox, raccoon,
and skunk. Endangered mammals include the bobcat and river otter,
found in SE Ohio. Ducks, hawks, grouse, pheasant, owls, cardinals,
kingfishers, larks, and woodpeckers are common. Endangered bird
species include the barn owl and the bald eagle. Among the reptiles
are snapping and box turtles, lizards, brown snake, milk snake,
copperhead, and timber rattlesnake. Fish include bass, sunfish, perch,
trout, pike, and catfish.
Ohio contains significant deposits of a variety of
minerals.
Lime is found mainly in the NW; coal and clay occur in the E; petroleum
and natural-gas deposits are in the NE and several other areas;
gypsum and salt are situated near Lake Erie; and sand and gravel
are found throughout the state.
According to the 2000 census, Ohio had 11,353,140
inhabitants,
an increase of 4.7% over 1990. In 2000 the average population
density was 277.3 people per sq mi of land area. Whites made up
85.0% of the population and blacks 11.5%; additional
population groups included 24,486 American Indians, 132,633 Asians, and
2749 Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders. (These figures
do not include the 1.4% of the population who reported
more than one race.) A total of 217,123 persons, or about 1.9%,
reported being of Hispanic background. The state’s largest
cities were Columbus, the capital; Cleveland; Cincinnati; Toledo;
Akron; and Dayton.
According to a 2000 survey, Roman Catholics (19.7%) formed the largest single religious group. Leading Protestant denominations included the United Methodist Church, 5%; Evangelical Lutheran Church, 2.7%; Southern Baptist Convention, 1.6%; Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 1.4%; and United Church of Christ, 1.4%.
In 2000 about 77% of all Ohio’s residents lived in areas defined as urban, according to the current, broadened government definition.
| POPULATION OF OHIO SINCE 1800 |
| Year of Census |
Population |
Classified As Urban |
| 1800 |
45,000 |
0% |
| 1820 |
581,000 |
2% |
| 1850 |
1,980,000 |
12% |
| 1880 |
3,198,000 |
32% |
| 1900 |
4,158,000 |
48% |
| 1920 |
5,759,000 |
64% |
| 1940 |
6,908,000 |
67% |
| 1960 |
9,706,000 |
73% |
| 1980 |
10,798,000 |
73% |
| 1990 |
10,847,115 |
74% |
| 2000 |
11,353,140 |
77% |
| POPULATION OF TEN LARGEST CITIES IN OHIO |
| |
2000 Census |
1990 Census |
| Columbus |
711,470 |
632,910 |
| Cleveland |
478,403 |
505,616 |
| Cincinnati |
331,285 |
364,040 |
| Toledo |
313,619 |
332,943 |
| Akron |
217,074 |
223,019 |
| Dayton |
166,179 |
182,044 |
| Parma |
85,655 |
87,876 |
| Youngstown |
82,026 |
95,732 |
| Canton |
80,806 |
84,161 |
| Lorain |
68,652 |
71,245 |
Ohio is served by a comprehensive educational system and also
has numerous cultural institutions, including well-known museums and musical organizations.
Ohio’s first school was opened in 1773 by Moravian
missionaries near present-day New Philadelphia. The statewide public
school system had its beginnings in a law of 1825 requiring counties
to raise tax money to finance schools. The first public high schools
were established about 1850. In the school year 2002-03 there were about 1,284,000 pupils in Ohio’s public elementary schools and 554,000 in the public high schools.
In the same period Ohio’s institutions of higher education had a combined yearly enrollment of some 588,000 students, including 442,000 in public institutions, the rest in private ones. Among notable colleges and universities were the University of Akron (1870); Antioch University (1852), at Yellow Springs; Bowling Green State University (1910); Case Western Reserve University (1826), at Cleveland; the University of Cincinnati (1819); the University of Dayton (1850); Denison University (1831), at Granville; Hiram College (1850); John Carroll University (1886), at University Heights in suburban Cleveland; Kent State University (1910); Kenyon College (1824), at Gambier; Miami University (1809), at Oxford; Oberlin College (1833); Ohio State University (1870) at Columbus; Ohio University (1804), at Athens; the University of
Toledo (1872); Wilberforce University (1856); the College of Wooster
(1866); and Youngstown State University (1908).
Ohio’s cultural institutions are primarily located
in the larger cities. Leading museums include the Akron Art Institute;
the Cincinnati Art Museum; the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History;
the Taft Museum, at Cincinnati, famous for its collections of European
and Asian art; the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Cleveland Center
for Contemporary Art; the Cleveland Museum of Natural History; the
Western Reserve Historical Society and Frederick C. Crawford
Auto-Aviation
Museum, at Cleveland; the Columbus Museum of Art; the Wexner Center
for the Arts and the Ohio Historical Center, also at Columbus; the
Dayton Art Institute; the Toledo Museum of Art; the Butler Institute
of American Art, in Youngstown; and the U.S. Air Force Museum, near
Dayton. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, which opened in Cleveland in 1995, is a major Ohio attraction; also of great interest are the Cy Young Museum, at Newcomerstown, containing baseball memorabilia, the Cy Young Museum, at Newcomerstown, containing baseball memorabilia, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame, at Canton.
Cincinnati and Cleveland have major public
library systems, and Ohio State University maintains important research
collections. The Cleveland Orchestra is one of the leading U.S. orchestras; other Ohio cities supporting orchestras include Akron,
Canton, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, and Youngstown. Opera
companies are located in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and
Toledo; most of the major cities also have ballet companies.
Ohio is also the home of the Great Lakes Shakespeare
Festival, at Lakewood; Karamu House and Theater, at Cleveland; the
Cleveland Play House; the Contemporary American Theatre Company,
in Columbus; and the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.
Indian mounds, pioneer strongholds, and the burial places
of several U.S. presidents are among Ohio’s historical
sites. Mound City Group National Monument, near Chillicothe, includes
23 burial mounds of the Hopewell Indians dating from about 200 bc to ad 500.
The Great Serpent Mound, near Peebles, has a snakelike shape. Schoenbrunn
Village State Memorial, near New Philadelphia, contains a reconstruction
of Ohio’s first non-Indian community, established by Moravian missionaries
in 1772. The birthplace and boyhood home of President William H.
Taft, at Cincinnati, is preserved as a national historic site. Also
of historical interest is the burial place of President Rutherford
B. Hayes, at Fremont; of President James A. Garfield, at Cleveland;
of President William McKinley, at Canton; and of President Warren
G. Harding, at Marion. Perry’s Victory and International
Peace Memorial, at Put-in Bay, on South Bass Island, commemorates
a great U.S. naval victory during the War of 1812.
Hunting, fishing, swimming, and boating are popular in
Ohio.
Ski areas are at Boston Mills, Brandywine, Bellefontaine, Mansfield,
and elsewhere. Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area encompasses
part of the Cuyahoga R. valley between Cleveland and Akron. Ohio has
several professional sports teams, including the Cleveland Indians and
the Cincinnati Reds (major league baseball), the Cincinnati
Bengals (football), and the Cleveland Cavaliers (basketball). Prior
to the 1996 football season, the Cleveland Browns (football) moved
to Baltimore, Md., as the Ravens. In 1996 an agreement was reached
to bring a new Browns team back to the city in time for the 1999
season. Famous golf courses are located in the Akron and Columbus
areas. Ohio State University is noted for the excellence of its sports
teams.
Ohio has a comprehensive communications system. The first radio
station, WHK in Cleveland, began operations in 1922; the first television
station, WEWS-TV in Cleveland, started broadcasting in 1947. The first newspaper in Ohio, the Centinel of the North-Western Territory, went to press at Cincinnati
in 1793. In 2004 the state had 84 daily newspapers, which
had a combined daily circulation of about 2,286,600. Among the leading
dailies are the Beacon Journal, published in Akron; the Cincinnati
Enquirer; the Cincinnati Post; the Plain
Dealer, published in Cleveland; the Columbus Dispatch;
the Dayton Daily News; and the Blade,
issued in Toledo. In 2003, 59% of Ohio households had computers, and 53% had internet access.
Ohio is governed under a constitution adopted in 1851, as
amended; a previous constitution had been adopted in 1802. An amendment
to the constitution may be proposed by the state legislature, a
voters’ initiative, or a constitutional convention. To
become effective, an amendment must be approved by a majority of
persons voting on the issue in a general election.
Ohio’s chief executive is a governor, who is popularly
elected to a 4-year term and is eligible to serve an unlimited number
of terms but not more than two in succession. Other elected state
officials are the lieutenant governor (who succeeds to the governorship
in case of a vacancy), the secretary of state, the attorney general,
the auditor, and the treasurer.
The Ohio legislature, called the General Assembly, consists
of a 33-member senate and a 99-member house of representatives.
Senators are popularly elected to 4-year terms, and representatives
to 2-year terms.
The Ohio supreme court, the state’s highest tribunal,
consists of a chief justice and six associate justices. Its members
are popularly elected to 6-year terms. The state’s intermediate appellate
courts, known as the courts of appeal, have a total of 68 judges, popularly
elected to 6-year terms. The major trial courts are the 88 courts
of common pleas (one in each county), which together have 376 judges, all
popularly elected to 6-year terms. Other judicial bodies include
county courts, municipal courts (in larger cities), probate courts, and juvenile courts, and mayors’ courts (for minor violations of local ordinances and state traffic laws).
Ohio is divided into 88 counties, each of which is governed
by a popularly elected three-member board of commissioners. All
incorporated places with 5000 or more inhabitants are classified
as cities under Ohio law; smaller incorporated communities are designated
as villages. In the early 2000s, the state had 942 municipalities of both types, along with 1308 townships, 667 school districts, and 631 special districts.
Based on the 2000 census and effective with the election of
2002, Ohio is represented in the U.S. Congress by 2 senators and
18 representatives. It has 20 electoral votes in presidential elections.
Presidential races in Ohio are closely fought, with the Republicans holding an edge since 1900; no Republican has ever won the presidency without carrying Ohio. Notable Ohio Republicans in recent times have included Robert A. Taft (the son of President William Howard Taft), who represented the state in the U.S. Senate from 1939 until his death in 1953; his son, Robert Taft, Jr. (1917–93), who served as both a senator and a representative; and his son, Bob Taft (1942– ), who served two terms as governor (1999–2007). Another Republican, John Boehner (1949– ), a member of the U.S. House since 1991, was majority leader (2006–7), and became minority leader in 2007. Former astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., a Democrat, served four terms in
the U.S. Senate after winning election in 1974.
A maverick Democrat,
James A. Traficant, Jr. (1941– ), served nine terms (1985–2002) in the
U.S. House of Representatives; convicted in April 2002 on federal
charges of bribery, fraud, and racketeering, he was expelled by the
House in July. Bob Ney (1954– ), a Republican, first elected to the House in 1994, resigned his seat in late 2006, after pleading guilty to corruption charges stemming from his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff (1959– ), and in January 2007 he was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
Ohio was a leading farming state in the mid-19th century.
Shortly thereafter, manufacturing became the main economic activity
in the state, although agriculture remained important. The development
of factories was aided by the ready availability of such basic industrial
raw materials as coal and iron ore, by an extensive transportation
system, and by proximity to major markets. In recent years the services sector has become increasingly important to the state’s economy, and Ohio has suffered from a substantial decline in manufacturing jobs, But Ohio is still one of the nation’s industrial leaders, with important manufacturing centers in or near the state’s major cities.
| OHIO STATE ECONOMY |
| STATE BUDGET |
| General revenue |
$76.4 billion |
| General expenditure |
$58.9 billion |
| Accumulated debt |
$22.2 billion |
 |
| STATE TAXES PER CAPITA |
$1,963 |
|
| PERSONAL INCOME, PER CAPITA |
$32,478 |
|
| POPULATION BELOW POVERTY LEVEL |
12.1% |
|
| EMPLOYMENT DISTRIBUTION |
| Management, business, finance |
758,000 |
| Professional and related |
1,052,000 |
| Services |
970,000 |
| Sales and related |
650,000 |
| Office and administrative support |
791,000 |
| Farming, fishing, forestry |
number too small to be statistically significant |
| Construction and extraction |
271,000 |
| Installation, maintenance, repair |
198,000 |
| Production |
468,000 |
| Transportation and moving |
381,000 |
|
| GROSS STATE PRODUCT |
$442.4 billion |
|
| NET FARM INCOME |
$1.5 billion |
| Principal products |
soybeans, corn, dairy products |
The state had approximately 77,300 farms in 2002, representing a relatively small average size of 76 ha (187 acres) per farm. The most valuable
agricultural commodities in Ohio, which is situated in the E part
of the productive Corn Belt, are soybeans, corn, dairy goods, greenhouse/nursery products, and hogs. Other important crops include hay, wheat, oats, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers,
sugar beets, tobacco, apples, peaches, cherries, and grapes. Among
the state’s other commercially significant livestock and livestock
products are beef cattle, sheep, turkeys, broiler chickens, eggs, and wool. Farms are located throughout the state, with Darke, Mercer, Wayne, Licking, and Lorain counties leading in agricultural sales in 2002. Fruit growing is concentrated in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowland, which, along with the Ohio R. valley, also is noted for vegetable production. Sugarcreek, in the
E, and Van Wert, in the W, are important cheese-producing centers.
Maple syrup is produced in the NE part of the state. Organic farming was on the increase in the early 2000s.
Although considerable portions of S and E Ohio are
wooded, forestry
plays a relatively minor role in the state’s economy. Almost
90% of the state’s annual timber harvest is made
up of hardwoods. Two-thirds of the output is used for lumber and
about one-eighth for pulp and paper. Ohio has a long shoreline on
Lake Erie, but the lake’s water quality has deteriorated
so badly in the 20th century as a result of the admixture of industrial
and urban waste that the fish population has declined substantially.
Mining operations account for less than 1% of the
annual gross state product in Ohio. The state has no metallic mineral
deposits of any consequence, but it is rich in other industrial
raw materials, such as sand for glassmaking, clay for ceramics and
pottery making, limestone for making cement and fertilizer, and
salt. The SE third of Ohio is underlain by major bituminous coal
seams, which are part of the Appalachian Field. Coal is the principal
product of the state’s mining industry, and the next most
valuable fossil fuels are natural gas, produced primarily from fields
in central and E Ohio, and petroleum, recovered chiefly in the NW and
central parts of the state. Coal mining began in the early 1800s and speeded the state’s industrialization after the Civil War. By the mid-20th century its place was taken by oil and natural gas production. The total value of coal sold in 2005 was about $626 million, while oil and gas sales generated about $1.1 billion. Sales of nonfuel industrial minerals were valued at about $900 million. Other mineral products include gravel, abrasive stone, and gypsum. Large salt deposits under the Detroit metropolitan area; have been exploited since the late 1800s.
In 2005 manufacturing enterprises accounted
for about $85 billion, or 19% of the Ohio gross domestic product (GDP) of $441 billion. Loss of manufacturing jobs was a serious problem. In 2006 manufacturing employment came to about 800,000, down from more than 1 million in 2000. According to 2004 statistics, among the state’s leading manufactures were motor vehicles and parts (valued at $6.2 billion), fabricated metals ($9.8 billion), chemicals ($7.9 billion), food products ($7.6 billion), machinery, especially farm machinery, machine tools, and office machines ($6.0 billion), iron and steel and other metals ($6.0 billion), plastics and rubber ($5.9 billion), transportation equipment, including aerospace items ($3.9 billion), and nonmetallic minerals ($3.1 billion). Other products include electronic equipment, glass, construction materials, sporting goods, printed materials,
textiles and clothing, soap and toiletries, refined petroleum, and
processed food. The most important manufacturing center is the Cleveland area, where motor vehicles, iron and steel, and machinery are major products. Cincinnati produces office machines, motor-vehicle parts, and aircraft and refrigeration equipment. Among other manufacturing
centers are Columbus (fabricated metals and machinery), Akron (machinery,
rubber, and polymers), Toledo (glass products and precision measuring
instruments), Canton (roller bearings), Youngstown and Steubenville (steel), and Lorain-Elyria
(ships, steel, air brakes, and motor-vehicle parts). In 2005 manufactures accounted for more than 96% of the state’s merchandise exports.
During the 2003 travel year, tourism generated $28.5 billion in revenues, an increase of more than 19% over 2001; 156 million trips were taken to or within Ohio during 2003, an increase of 2% over the preceding year. Overseas visitors to the state of Ohio numbered 390,000, or 1.5% of the U.S. total, in 2000. Many tourist activities center around Lake Erie and
the numerous inland lakes. Attractions on the Lake Erie shoreline
are concentrated in the Sandusky vicinity on the Marblehead Peninsula
and at Cedar Point, and offshore islands also are popular vacation
spots. Many tourists visit the homes of the several U.S. presidents
born
here. The Ohio Caverns, near West Liberty, are a popular destination.
Professional sports events and museums and other cultural institutions
draw visitors to Cincinnati and Cleveland. Ohio maintains 72 state
parks.
Ohio is located astride a main corridor for E-W land travel
in the U.S. and is served by a dense network of transportation facilities. In 2003, the state had about 203,800 km (123,500 mi) of roads, including some 2600 km (1600 mi) of interstate highways. Ohio is also served by some 7800 km (4800 mi) of Class I railroad track. Much freight is shipped on the Ohio R. and by way of such major Lake Erie ports as Toledo, Cleveland, Ashtabula, and Conneaut. Ships can reach the Atlantic Ocean from Ohio via the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Seaway system, and the Gulf of Mexico can be reached via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Ohio had 526 airports in 2002, of which 421 were privately owned, and 200 heliports, of which 174 were privately owned. The busiest facility is Hopkins International Airport, serving the Cleveland area.
Ohio is both a massive producer and massive consumer of energy. Coal is the main source of electricity, accounting for more than 90%. The estimated electricity output in 2005 (in kwh by source) was: coal (131.8 billion); nuclear (15.5 billion); gas (820 million); hydroelectric (769 million); and petroleum (308 million).
The territory of present-day Ohio has been inhabited for more than 10,000 years; at the time of European contact, the area was sparsely occupied by Wyandot, Delaware, Miami, and Shawnee peoples. The first European to explore the territory of present-day Ohio was probably the French explorer Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, who claimed to have found and ascended the Ohio River in 1669. When, in 1682, La Salle claimed the entire valley of the
Mississippi River for France, the region between the Great Lakes
(to Lake Erie) and the Ohio River was considered a French possession.
French claims were not acknowledged by contiguous British colonies,
particularly Virginia, which claimed all the territory north of
the Ohio River and west of the Mississippi. After about 1730, traders
from Pennsylvania and Virginia entered the area, and in 1749 the
British government awarded a royal grant to the Ohio Company, organized
by Virginia planters and London merchants, to settle and trade in
the valley of the Ohio. The French governor of Canada, the marquis de
La Galissonière (1693–1756), in the same year
sent an officer, Pierre de Bienville (1693–1759), to bury lead
markers in the name of France along the riverbanks.
Settlements established by the Ohio Co. inevitably caused French resentment, and in 1754 clashes between the French and their Indian allies and
the British precipitated the French and Indian War. By the terms
of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the victorious British acquired
undisputed title to the territory. The Indian allies of France,
however, refused to acknowledge British supremacy; they revolted
in 1763 in the so-called Conspiracy of Pontiac. The Indian war was
ended by treaty in 1765.
In 1774 Great Britain made the territory part of Canada. Resentment
of the American colonies at the annexation of land claimed by them
was one of the causes of the American Revolution. During the war,
the American frontier leader George Rogers Clark invaded and held the
region from 1779 to 1783. In the latter year Great Britain ceded
its rights to the area, known as the Northwest Territory, to the
U.S.
By 1786 all the states had ceded their separate claims in the
Northwest Territory to the federal government, except Connecticut,
which retained its claim to the Western Reserve until 1800, and
Virginia, which retained its claim to the Virginia Military District,
between the Little Miami and Scioto rivers, until 1852. The U.S.
Congress in 1785 enacted the Land Ordinance, establishing conditions
for sale of land in the territory, and in 1787 passed the Northwest
Ordinance, providing for administration of the territory. The Ohio
Co. of Associates was organized in 1786 by veteran officers and
soldiers to facilitate land sales.
The first authorized permanent settlement was founded in 1788
at Marietta, the building of which was supervised by the American
Revolution officer and pioneer Rufus Putnam (1738–1824),
one of the founders of the Ohio Co. of Associates. Cincinnati was
also established in 1788, and in 1798 Cleveland was founded in the
Western Reserve. Indians, alarmed at the increasing number of settlers, rose
in a series of frontier rebellions; in 1795 the Indians, defeated
by American forces, ceded the rights to most of present-day Ohio.
Territorial government, under a federal governor, was instituted
in 1799. Ohio was separated from the remainder of the Northwest
Territory in 1800, and in 1803 it became the first state of the territory
to be admitted to the Union. The state capital was first established
at Chillicothe, and, after several moves, it was fixed at Columbus
in 1816.
Ohio became continually more prosperous and populous after
achieving statehood; its population, about 45,400 in 1800, increased
to more than 230,700 by 1810. The invention of the steamboat made
Cincinnati a great river port; and the completion of the Erie Canal
from Lake Erie to the Hudson River in 1825 and of the Ohio and Erie
Canal from Portsmouth to Cleveland in 1835 gave the state a shipping
route to the Atlantic Ocean, inaugurating an era of prosperity.
During this period the Mormons under Joseph Smith came to Kirtland, and until 1838 Ohio was the center of Mormonism.
The state was strongly antislavery from its inception, and
its cities became famous stops on the Underground Railroad for escaping
slaves. During the American Civil War Ohio furnished large contributions of
money and troops to the Union forces. Although no major battles
were fought in the state, in 1863 Morgan’s Raid, a series
of attacks by Confederate troops under Gen. John H. Morgan (1825–64),
caused severe damage in southern Ohio.
After the Civil War, manufacturing gradually replaced agriculture as the
leading industry
in the state, and Ohio politics became dominated by the industrialists,
notably Marcus Hanna. Political corruption was notorious until the
1890s, when Ohio citizens demanded reform measures. In 1912 an
amendment to the state constitution provided for initiative and referendum and
recall. An additional amendment authorized flood-control measures
in southern Ohio, where floods frequently devastated the river valleys.
Ohio’s accelerated industrial development after World
War I led to the rapid growth of several major cities. Their prosperity
was drastically reversed in the 1930s, when the Great Depression
forced factory closings and left thousands of workers jobless. During
World War II, with production of military supplies, the economy
began to recover.
By mid-century, Ohio had become a center for space
research and atomic energy projects. Industrial expansion was furthered
in the 1960s by the Saint Lawrence Seaway, which opened the ports of Ohio’s Lake Erie to international trade. Following a period of dynamic growth, the state faced a series of new challenges, including industrial pollution, demands for improved social services and public education, and an erosion of the industrial base. In March 1997, the Ohio River and its tributaries flooded many towns, causing extensive damage throughout the Ohio River valley.
The start of the 21st century brought wrenching change to Ohio. Between 2000 and 2005, the state’s population grew by only 1%, far slower than the U.S. as a whole. During the same period, the state lost more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs, a 20% decline, with Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, and Canton all hit hard.
Ohio, with 20 electoral votes, remains central to Republican presidential campaign strategy, and it was a key battleground in the election of 2004, when President George W. Bush carried the state by fewer than 120,000 out of more than 5.6 million votes cast. In the November 2006 midterm elections, however, Bush’s growing unpopularity, scandals in Congress and in the administration of Republican Gov. Bob Taft, and the state’s economic woes gave a big boost to Democrats. Rep. Sherrod Brown (1952– ), a Democrat, ousted two-term Republican Senator Mike DeWine (1947– ), while Rep. Ted Strickland (1941– ) became the state’s first Democratic governor in 16 years.