Ohio was the 17th state to be admitted to the Union on March 1st, 1803, 6 years 9 months
after Tennessee, the 16th state, joined the Union on June 1st, 1796.
Ohio is the seventh most populous state in the country with an approximate 11.7 million
inhabitants.
This places it directly ahead of Georgia population wise with around 110,000 more inhabitants,
while it is directly behind Illinois with around 1.05 million less inhabitants.
Ohio has an area of 44,825 square miles, making it larger than 16 states.
The state borders the Canadian province of Ontario in the North, Pennsylvania in the
East, West Virginia in the Southeast, Kentucky in the Southwest, Indiana in the West, and
Michigan in the Northwest.
It’s places it in the Eastern time zone.
The highest point in Ohio is Campbell Hill, at 1,550 feet above sea level, the 43rd highest
highest point in the 50 states.
The lowest point in the state can be found on Ohio’s southwestern border with Indiana
along the Ohio River at 455 feet above sea level.
The state has a mean elevation of 850 feet.
Some major rivers in Ohio include the Ohio River, at 981 miles in length, Scioto River,
at 231 miles, the longest river located entirely within the state of Ohio, and Great Miami
River, at 160 miles.
The most populous city in Ohio is Columbus, with an approximate 880,000 inhabitants in
the city proper, and 2.1 million in the metropolitan area.
Columbus serves as the currently capital of Ohio, however two other cities have served
as the capital in the past; Chillicothe from the state’s inception to 1810, Zanesville
from 1810 to 1812 for political reasons, back to Chillicothe from 1812 to 1816, and finally
to Columbus, where it remains today, in order to be more geographically centered within
the state.
Columbus is located in Franklin County, one of the 88 counties in the state, recently
becoming the most populous, with 1.29 million inhabitants, or around 11% of the state’s
population.
The second most populous county, Cuyahoga county, has 1.25 million inhabitants and is
the location of the city of Cleveland, the second most populous city in Ohio.
The least populous county in Ohio is Vinton county in South Central Ohio with an approximate
13,500 inhabitants, or .007 of the state’s total population.
The modern flag of Ohio was adopted on May 9th, 1902, and is the only non-rectangular
U.S. state flag; rather, it is what is known as a triangular swallowtail burgee.
The design, by John Eisemann, a Cleveland based architect, consists of a large blue
triangle with an inner circle and 17 stars, as well as five red and white stripes.
The blue triangle represents the hills and valleys of Ohio, while the stripes represent
the state’s road and waterways.
The flag’s 17 stars are split into two groups, the first of which being 13 grouped around
the circle to represent the original 13 colonies, with the latter four symbolizing the state’s
place as the 17th state to join the Union.
The white and red circles are meant to form the letter ‘O’, representing both the
state’s name and nickname, the buckeye state.
This flag is the only official state flag to exist in the state’s history.
Before Europeans arrived in the Ohio region, the Iroquois Confederation inhabited much
of the area, utilizing it for hunting and fur trapping.
Through the beaver wars and epidemics brought to North America by Europeans, a large percentage
of the Native American population of Ohio Country would die out by the mid-1600s.
The first European power to arrive in the Ohio region, which would become known as Ohio
Country, was France.
The territory eventually became part of the New France province in 1663 after being explored
and settled by fur traders.
These fur traders would utilize Ohio in their efforts to connect French holdings up North
in Canada all the way westward to their territory along the Mississippi.
The first English explorer to reach Ohio was Christopher Gist in 1749, leading to early
attempts by British fur traders to establish themselves in the region.
These attempts were unsuccessful, however, as the dominant French and their Native allies
would drive out these new competitors.
The French military began to occupy the region shortly after the beginning of English encroachment
in 1753.
Mounting tensions in the region would spark the French and Indian War, in which the British
fought the French their Native allies over territorial control.
The battle that began the war, Fort Necessity, took place in the Ohio Country (in what is
now Western Pennsylvania).
As the war came to a close, the Treaty of Paris was signed and ceded territorial control
of the Ohio Country to the British, however tensions would remain high in the region between
the French, English, and Natives.
The British would take a relatively hands-off approach to control of the Ohio Country, issuing
the Royal Proclamation of 1763 forbidding settlement West of the Appalachians and further
explicitly reserving the land to the North and West of Ohio exclusively for Natives in
1768.
At the dawn of the American Revolution, the Native American presence in Ohio remained
strong, and was split on their support for the British or colonists, leading to retaliation
from the Americans in the region.
2 major causes of the war, British refusal to allow Americans to settle further westward
on Native lands including Ohio, and newly imposed taxes to pay for the French and Indian
War, a war sparked in Ohio, both stem from the regional tensions.
With an American victory in 1783, the British ceded control of Ohio and much of its other
territory as far West as the Mississippi to the newly formed nation.
Ohio became part of the Northwest Territory of the United States in 1787 under the Northwest
ordinance.
Resistance to American settlement continued by Native groups in the region, leading to
the Northwest Indian War and their defeat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in present
day Maumee, Ohio, in 1794.
This lead to the Natives officially ceding their territory, including much of Ohio, to
the United States, through the 1795 Treaty of Greenville.
Entering the 19th century and Ohio’s rapidly growing population reaching 45,000, Congress
allowed Ohio to began pursuing statehood, assuming the population would reach the required
60,000 needed for statehood.
The Enabling Act of 1802 outlined this process for Ohio, leading to a constitutional convention
within the state in which Ohio would decide for itself that slavery would be prohibited,
among other issues.
President Jefferson would sign off on Ohio’s statehood on February 19th, 1803, with the
Ohio becoming an official member of the Union of March 1st of that year.
Ohio was at center stage during the War of 1812, serving as the front line of the Western
theater of the war and controlling much of Lake Erie.
By the Civil War, Ohio had built up a stronger infrastructure and had squashed the tensions
that had previously existed within its borders.
The state remained in the Union as a free state.
Countless escaped slaves from the Confederacy fled to Ohio through the efforts of the abolitionists
that formed the Underground Railroad.
The state saw little military action, however greatly aided the Union through providing
troops, supplies, and even military officers including Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh
Sherman.
Being the 3rd largest state in the nation by population at the time, the state raised
some 320,000 troops for the American army, the highest per capita of any state.
Post-Civil War, Ohio played a key role in national politics with many presidents being
from the state.
This includes 18th president Ulysses S. Grant, from Point Pleasant, Rutherford B. Hayes,
our 19th president, from Delaware, Ohio, James A. Garfield, our 20th president, from Moreland
Hills, Benjamin Harrison, our 23rd President, from North Bend, William McKinley, our 25th
President, from Niles, William Howard Taft, our 27th President, from Cincinnati, and Warren
G. Harding, our 29th President, from Blooming Grove.
These 7 Republican Presidents grant Ohio the second place award in state with most Presidents,
behind Virginia.
Ohio’s legacy continues today, being both a cultural and economic powerhouse for the
Union.
This is 435 American.
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