The Great Seal of The State of Ohio
The Great Seal of The State of Ohio was provided by the Constitution in 1803. A rising sun with thirteen (13) rays symbolize the original thirteen (13) colonies. In addition, the sun rising over the mountains denotes Ohio as the first state west of the Alleghenies. A sheaf of wheat stands in the foreground as a symbol of agriculture and bounty. Standing next to the wheat is a bundle of seventeen (17) arrows representing Ohio’s Native Americans and also symbolizing Ohio as the 17th state to enter the Union.
Official State Flag of Ohio
The Ohio state flag has a unique swallowtail design which is more correctly called a burgee (pronounced bûr’je) 
rather than a “flag” or “banner.” All other state flags have a square or rectangular shape. All State Flags
The Ohio flag was designed by John Eisemann and officially adopted in 1902. The blue triangular field represents Ohio’s hills and valleys. It contains seventeen white stars – thirteen stars surrounding the circle are symbols of the original thirteen colonies. Four stars at the apex of the triangle raise the total number of stars to seventeen (Ohio was the 17th state to enter the Union in 1803).
How Ohio’s 88 counties got their names
The State of Ohio is made up of 88 counties, and each county has its own unique story as to how it was created and named. Many counties were named after presidents, Native Americans, key American Revolution figures and regions in other countries.
To learn about Ohio’s 88 counties,
please view this interesting slideshow on each county:
The history behind the names of Ohio’s 88 counties
Information Source: Ohio History Central
Posted By: Cleveland.com
50 fun facts and trivia about Ohio
- The first ambulance service was established in Cincinnati in 1865.
- Cleveland boasts America’s first traffic light. It began on Aug. 5, 1914.
- Ermal Fraze invented the pop-top can in Kettering.
- James J. Ritty, of Dayton, invented the cash register in 1879 to stop his patrons from pilfering house profits.
- “Hang On Sloopy” is the official state rock song.
- Cincinnati Reds were the first professional baseball team.
- The Y Bridge in Zanesville was first built in 1814 to span the confluence of the Licking and Muskingum Rivers. The current bridge is the fifth construction at the same location. “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” proclaimed it the only bridge in the world which you can cross and still be on the same side of the river.
- Akron was the first city to use police cars.
- Cincinnati had the first professional city fire department.
- Akron is the rubber capital of the world.
- The American Federation of Labor was founded in Columbus.
- Ohio S;enator John Glenn became the oldest man to venture into outer space.
On February 20, 1962 he was the first American to orbit the earth. In October of 1998 at age 77 he returned to the space program and traveled back into space. - Cleveland is home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
- Ohio is the leading producer of greenhouse and nursery plants.
- The Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton.
- Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. He was from Wapakoneta.
- The Wright Brothers are acknowledged as inventors of the first airplane; they were from Dayton.
- The popular television sit-com, “The Drew Cary Show” is set in Cleveland.
- East Liverpool was the beginning point of the United States Public Land Survey. The location was the area from which a rectangular-grid land survey system was established under the Ordinance of 1785. The survey provided for administration and subdivision of land in the Old Northwest Territory. The Ordinance stipulated that all public lands were to be divided into townships six miles square.
- Seven United States presidents were born in Ohio. They are: Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William H. Taft, and Warren G. Harding.
- Some well-known personalities were born in Ohio. Among them Erma Bombeck (Dayton), Steven Spielberg (Cincinnati), Paul Newman (Shaker Heights), Annie Oakley (Darke County), Drew Carey (Cleveland), Dean Martin (Steubenville), Arsenio Hall (Cleveland) and Clark Gable (Cadiz).
- The first full time automobile service station was opened in 1899 in Ohio.
- In 1852 Ohio was the first state to enact laws protecting working women.
- Ohio gave America its first hot dog in 1900. Harry M. Stevens created the popular dining dog.
- Ohio became the 17th state on March 1, 1803.
- East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland was the site of the first pedestrian button for the control of a traffic light. The boy chosen for the 1948 newsreel to demonstrate its operation was Louis Spronze.
- Ohio has an area of 116,103 sq miles. It ranks 34th in state size.
- Columbus is the state capital and Ohio’s largest city.
- 50% of the United States population lives within a 500 mile radius of Columbus.
- Dresden is the home of the world’s largest basket. It is located at Basket Village USA.
- Fostoria is the only city to be situated in three counties (Seneca, Hancock & Wood).
- Ohio’s state flag is a pennant design – known as a burgee. It is the only state flag of that design in the United States.
- Ohio University was founded in 1804 at Athens and is recognized as the first university in Ohio and in the Northwest Territory.
- Oberlin College was founded in 1833.It was the first interracial and coeducational college in the United States.
- The Glacial Grooves on the north side of Kelleys Island are the largest easily accessible such grooves in the world. They were scoured into solid limestone bedrock about 18,000 years ago by the great ice sheet that covered part of North America.
- Marietta was Ohio’s first permanent settlement. Founded in 1788 by General Rufus Putnam and named in honor of Marie Antoinette, then queen of France.
- Chillicothe was Ohio’s first capital city.
- Cleveland became the world’s first city to be lighted electrically in 1879.
- Ohio is known as the Buckeye State.
- Thomas A. Edison from Milan developed the incandescent light bulb, phonograph, and early motion picture camera.
- John Lambert of Ohio City made America’s first automobile in 1891.
- Charles Kettering of Loundonville invented the automobile self-starter in 1911.
- Charles Goodyear of Akron developed the process of vulcanizing rubber in 1839.
- Roy J. Plunkett of New Carlisle invented Teflon in 1938.
- You know you’re from Ohio if…
- W.F. Semple of Mount Vernon patented chewing gum in 1869.
- John Mercer Langston is believed to have been the first African American elected to public office. He was elected clerk of Brownhelm in 1854.
- Long jumper DeHart Hubbard, born in Cincinnati and graduated from Walnut Hills High School, was the first African American to earn an Olympic Gold Medal. The award occurred during the 1924 Olympics games held in Paris. He set the record for long jumping.
- Jesse Owens grew up in Cleveland. He won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
- Paul Laurence Dunbar of Dayton is known as the poet laureate of African Americans.
Thanks to: Greg Maxedon, Kathy Liess, Robert Whitworth, J Williams, Laura Campbell, SanTan Man, Pat Holz