Portal:Ohio

The Ohio Portal

Ohio (/oʊˈhaɪ.oʊ/ ^ⓘ oh-HY-oh) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Canadian province of Ontario to the north (through Lake Erie), Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the west, and Michigan to the northwest. Ohio is the 34th-largest state by area, at 44,825 sq mi (116,100 km²), and the seventh-most populous state, with a population of nearly 11.9 million. Its capital and most populous city is Columbus, with other major metropolitan cities including Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Akron, and Toledo.

Ohio derives its name from the Ohio River that forms its southern border, which, in turn, originated from the Seneca word ohiːyo', meaning "good river", "great river", or "large creek". Its geography is varied, with rolling glaciated plains across most of the state, rugged unglaciated hills in the southeastern Allegheny Plateau, and Lake Erie coastline to the north. At the time of European contact, the area known as the Ohio Country was inhabited by Algonquian and Iroquoian nations, and was contested among Native American tribes, Britain, and France. Following American independence, Ohio was organized as part of the Northwest Territory and achieved statehood in 1803. Ohio was the first state admitted under the Northwest Ordinance and the first post-colonial free state admitted to the union.

Historically known as the heart of American industry, Ohio has the third-largest manufacturing sector and second-largest automobile production in the U.S.; it also has a large agriculture sector. The state has shifted to a more information and service-based economy in the 21st century, ranking seventh in GDP as of 2025^[update]. Tourism in Ohio is driven by attractions such as Cedar Point, the National Museum of the United States Air Force and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as recreation areas including Cuyahoga Valley National Park and 76 state parks. Ohio is nicknamed the "Buckeye State" after its Ohio buckeye trees. It is also known as the "Mother of Presidents", having been the birthplace of seven U.S. presidents, and the "Birthplace of Aviation", as the Wright brothers designed and built the world's first successful airplane in Ohio before its first flight in North Carolina. (Full article...)

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The portion of the Michigan Territory claimed by the state of Ohio known as the Toledo Strip

The Toledo War (1835–1836), also known as the Michigan–Ohio War or Ohio–Michigan War, was a boundary dispute between the state of Ohio and the adjoining Michigan Territory over the Toledo Strip. Control of the Maumee River's mouth was seen by both parties as a valuable economic asset, due to the inland shipping opportunities that it offered and the good farmland to the west.

Poor geographical understanding of the Great Lakes helped to produce conflicting state and federal legislation between 1787 and 1805, and varying interpretations of the laws led the governments of both Ohio and Michigan to claim jurisdiction over a 468-square-mile (1,210 km²) region along their border. The situation came to a head when Michigan petitioned for statehood in 1835 and sought to include the disputed territory within its boundaries, and both sides passed legislation attempting to force the other side's capitulation. Ohio Governor Robert Lucas and Michigan's 24-year-old "Boy Governor" Stevens T. Mason both instituted criminal penalties for residents submitting to the other's authority. Both states deployed militia forces on opposite sides of the Maumee River near Toledo, Ohio, but there was little interaction between the two forces apart from mutual taunting. The single military confrontation of the war ended with a report of shots being fired into the air, incurring no casualties. The only blood spilled was the non-fatal stabbing of a law enforcement officer.

During the summer of 1836, the United States Congress proposed a compromise whereby Michigan gave up its claim to the strip in exchange for its statehood and the remaining three-quarters of the Upper Peninsula. While the northern region's mineral wealth would become an economic asset to Michigan, the compromise was considered a poor deal at the time for Michigan, and voters soundly rejected it the following September. The Michigan government was facing a dire financial crisis and pressure from Congress and President Andrew Jackson, so it convened what was called the "Frostbitten Convention" to accept the compromise and resolve the Toledo War. (Full article...)

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Portrait of President Ulysses S. Grant.
Photo credit: Mathew Brady

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...that the Society for Savings Building (pictured), a high-rise building in Cleveland, is widely considered to be the first modern skyscraper in the state of Ohio?

...that Stanfield Wells was the first of more than ten All-American football players from Washington High School in Massillon, Ohio?

...that Mount Rumpke is a landfill, that at 1,045 feet above sea level, it is the second highest point in Ohio?

...that the British General John Reid, second in command in Henry Bouquet's expedition against the western and Ohio Indians, was also a proficient flute-player and a musical composer?

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State Route 85 (SR 85, OH 85) is an east–west state highway in the northeastern Ohio. The western terminus of SR 85 is in the center of Andover where it intersects U.S. Route 6 (US 6) and SR 7. Its eastern terminus is just over 2.5 miles (4.0 km) east of Andover at the Pennsylvania state line in the middle of the causeway across the Pymatuning Reservoir, where Pennsylvania Route 285 (PA 285) continues east.

The shortest of three state routes that lie completely within Ashtabula County, the current SR 85 is a fraction of the route it was when first designated in the mid-1920s, when it ran from Euclid to the Pennsylvania state line. When US 6 was designated in Ohio in the early 1930s, SR 85 was at first co-signed with the U.S. highway from Euclid to Andover, but by the late 1930s, the SR 85 shields were removed from this stretch of roadway, leaving just the stretch of highway that exists today. (Full article...)

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A streetcar at 5th & Walnut, in downtown Cincinnati, on the previous system.
A new system was opened in September 2016.

Streetcars operated by the Cincinnati Street Railway were the main form of public transportation in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century. The first electric streetcars began operation in 1889, and at its maximum, the streetcar system had 222 miles (357 km) of track and carried more than 100 million passengers per year. A very unusual feature of the system was that cars on some of its routes traveled via inclined railways to serve areas on hills near downtown. With the advent of inexpensive automobiles and improved roads, transit ridership declined in the 20th century and the streetcar system closed in 1951. Construction of a new streetcar system, now known as the Connector, began in 2012. Consisting initially of a single route, the new system opened on September 9, 2016. (Full article...)

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Watterson in 1980

William Boyd Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is an American cartoonist who authored the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. The strip was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Watterson concluded Calvin and Hobbes with a short statement to newspaper readers that he felt he had achieved all he could in the medium. Watterson is known for his negative views on comic syndication and licensing, his efforts to expand and elevate the newspaper comic as an art form, and his move back into private life after Calvin and Hobbes ended.

Watterson was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The suburban Midwestern United States setting of Ohio was part of the inspiration for the setting of Calvin and Hobbes. Watterson currently lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. He cited works from Richard Thompson, Winsor McCay, George Herriman, Walt Kelly, Jim Borgman, Paul Coker, Chuck Jones and Tex Avery as his main influences. (Full article...)

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North Carolina is the place you fly over on the way to Florida. Ohio is the flat place between Hoboken and Malibu.

–John Fleischman

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