Mercer County Republican Party

Facts And Trivia About Ohio

General Facts:

The state of Ohio encompasses 41,330 square miles.

Ohio contains 88 counties.

Ashtabula is Ohio’s largest county with 711 square miles.

Lake is Ohio’s smallest county with 232 square miles.

Highest geographical point is Campbell Hill located in Bellefontaine at 1,550 ft.

Lowest geographical point is the Ohio River at 433 ft.

The geographic center of the state is located in Centerburg in Knox County.

Marietta was Ohio’s first permanent settlement. It was founded in 1788 by General Rufus Putnam and named in honor of Marie Antoinette, then queen of France.

Chillicothe was Ohio’s first capital.

About Presidents and Ohio:

More of our country's presidents came from Ohio than from any other state. Eight American presidents were elected from the Buckeye State, earning Ohio the nickname "the Mother of Presidents."

William Henry Harrison
9th President (1841 - died in office) - Whig Party
Birthplace: Berkeley Plantation, Virginia – Lived in North Bend, Ohio when elected president.
Facts about presidency:

• Harrison arrived at his inauguration by train, the first President to do so.
• In 1841, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the decision to free the Africans taken from the slave ship Amistad.

Ulysses S. Grant
18th President (1869-1877) - Republican Party
Birthplace: Point Pleasant, Ohio
Facts about presidency:

• The first transmission of human voice on telephone was successfully carried out by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876.
• Also that year, U.S. Forces led by General A. Custer were destroyed at Little Big Horn by Native American forces commanded by Sitting Bull.

Rutherford B. Hayes
19th President (1877-1881) - Republican Party
Birthplace: Delaware, Ohio
Facts about presidency:

• Saw the end of the Reconstruction Era in the South.
• The first telephone was installed in the White House in 1879.

James A. Garfield
20th President (1881 - died in office) - Republican Party
Birthplace: Orange, Ohio
Facts about presidency:

• In 1881, the American Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton.
• Garfield was assassinated on July 2, 1881 – only six months after he took office.

Benjamin Harrison
23rd President (1889-1893) – Republican Party
Birthplace: North Bend, Ohio
Facts about presidency:

• Oklahoma was opened to settlement.
• The International Copyright Act passed.
• The first Pan-American conference was held in 1889.

William McKinley
25th President (1897-1901 – died in office, second term) – Republican Party
Birthplace: Niles, Ohio
Facts about presidency:

• The United States declared war on Spain.
• Under William McKinley the United States gained its first overseas possessions - Puerto Rico and Guam.

William H. Taft
27th President (1909-1913) – Republican Party
Birthplace: Cincinnati, Ohio
Facts about presidency:

• Admiral Robert Peary and Matthew Hensen reached the North Pole in 1909.
• On July 2, 1909, the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was enacted giving Congress the power to lay and collect income taxes.

Warren G. Harding
29th President (1921-1923 - died in office) – Republican Party
Birthplace: Corsica, Ohio (now Blooming Grove)
Facts about presidency:

• Harding was the first president to ride in an automobile to his inauguration.
• He was the first American President to take office after World War I.

Historical Trivia on the US Senators

Ohio Symbols:

The State Beverage: Tomato Juice

The State Bird: Cardinal

The State Gemstone: Flint

The State Insect: Ladybug

The State Wildflower: White Trillium

The State Tree: Buckeye

The State Song: Beautiful Ohio

The State Motto: With God All Things Are Possible

State Animal: White Tailed Deer

The State Name: Our state takes its name from the Ohio River. "Ohio" is an Iroquoian word meaning "great river."

The State Flag: Ohio’s official flag was adopted by an act of the Ohio Legislature on May 9, 1902. “The triangles formed by the main lines of the flag represent the hills and valleys as typified in the State Seal, and the stripes the roads and waterways. The stars, indicating the 13 original states of the Union, are grouped about the circle which represents the Northwest Territory; and that Ohio was the seventeenth state admitted into the Union is shown by adding four more stars. The white circle with its red center, not only represents the initial letter of Ohio, but is suggestive of its being the Buckeye State.”