The term Ohio is derived from the Seneca phrase for “big or lovely river,” which was used by the Iroquois tribe to refer to the Ohio River.1)
Ohio was not legally recognized as a state until 1953, despite the fact that President Thomas Jefferson accepted it into the Union in 1803.2)
Ohio's state capital shifted three times in less than ten years before settling on Columbus in 1812.3)
William Henry Harrison, John Brown, Ulysses S. Grant, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Neil Armstrong, Langston Hughes, and John D. Rockefeller are all famous Ohioans.4)
Ohio has some of Hollywood's most famous citizens, including Steven Spielberg, Doris Day, Clark Gable, Bob Hope, Rob Lowe, Paul Newman, and Martin Sheen.5)
“Hang On Sloopy” has been recognized as Ohio's official state rock song.6)
The state motto of Ohio is “With God, All Things Are Possible”.7)
Twins from all over the country attend the annual Twins Day Celebration in Twinsburg, Ohio.8)
The Festival of Fish, Twins Day Festival, Grape Jamboree, Rock and Soul Festival, Ohio Scottish Game Weekend, and Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Festival are among Ohio's many yearly events.9)
Cedar Point, located in Sandusky, Ohio, has been dubbed the “Roller Coaster Capitol of the World” because to its 18 roller coasters.10)
The ACLU filed a lawsuit in 1997 arguing that Ohio's motto, “With God All Things Are Possible”, constituted an unlawful promotion of religion, but the action was rejected and Ohio kept its slogan.11)
From 1977 to 1978, Jerry Springer, the notorious presenter of The Jerry Springer Show, was the mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio.12)
Pete Rose, the manager of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, was handed a lifetime suspension from Major League Baseball in 1989 for illegally wagering on his own team.13)
The house used in the production of 1980's cult hit A Christmas Story in Cleveland, Ohio, was acquired 21 years later by an entrepreneur who spent $150,000 for the property on eBay and transformed it into a museum celebrating the film.14)
Dave Thomas built the first Wendy's fast-food restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, where he resided with his eight-year-old daughter, Wendy.15)
Cleveland's 21,000-acre Metroparks, comprised of 18 separate parks and reservations, is more than double the size of New York City's Central Park.16)
It has been an annual tradition at the Ohio State Fair since 1903 to showcase a life-size butter sculpture of a cow and calf.17)
Golf became a considerably more popular sport in the early twentieth century, owing to Cleveland, Ohio, golfer Coburn Haskell and Bertram G. Work of the B.F. Goodrich Company's creation of the rubber golf ball.18)
The National Football League was founded in Canton, Ohio in 1920 at the Jordan and Hupmobile auto company.19)
Miller Henry Parsons Crowell started the Quaker Oats business in Ohio in 1877.20)
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Ohio, near the birthplace of the NFL.21)
While the NFL was founded in Ohio, only one of the state's two professional football teams has ever won the Super Bowl—the Cincinnati Bengals.22)
Despite the stink around Anthony Sowell's Cleveland, Ohio, home, the serial killer was able to abduct and murder 11 local women before authorities discovered their corpses on his property in 2009.23)
Ohio is known as the “Buckeye State” because of its abundance of buckeye trees.24)
In 1911, the self-starting vehicle engine was designed by Charles Kettering from Ohio, saving drivers from having to physically crank the engine to start the car.25)
In order to reduce vehicle and buggy accidents, the traffic signal was created in Ohio in 1923.26)
The brothers lived in Dayton, Ohio, for years, studying and testing aviation components. A common misperception regarding the innovation is that it was created in North Carolina. Nonetheless, it was developed and produced in Ohio. The initial flight took done in North Carolina since the flying conditions were better than in Ohio. On December 17th, 1903, they successfully flew the plane. Despite the fact that the flight took place in North Carolina, the plane is said to have been created in Dayton.27)
The museum honors the most influential persons in rock music history. A specific hall is devoted to the honorees and their accomplishments. The majority of the museum is dedicated to the evolution of rock & roll music across time. Special objects such as documents and other important items are also kept at the museum.28)
Rural areas are home to over 20% of the state's population. This translates to around 2,310,000 persons. These individuals are not considered to be part of any of Ohio's metro regions, hence they are classified as rural or non-metro.29)
Ohio State University is the third-largest university in the country. There were 65,795 students enrolled at Ohio State University during the 2021-2022 school year. Texas A&M had the most students (over 73,000), followed by the University of Central Florida (over 70,000).30)