CLEVELAND — To commemorate Ohio’s 220th birthday, here are eight fun facts that you might not know about our great state.
OHIO FACT 1
Columbus was not, in fact, the first capital of Ohio. It wasn’t even the second. Chillicothe, located in south central Ohio served as the first capital from 1803 to 1810. At that point, the capital just up and moved to Zanesville for a couple of years, just to do some soul-searching and try and figure itself out. It then moved back home to Chillicothe, which was the capital from 1812 to 1816. Finally, the capital was moved to Columbus to have it near the geographic center of the state.
OHIO FACT 2
Ohio's first permanent settlement, Marietta, was founded in 1788. It was named after Marie Antoinette of France. The Americans named Marietta in honor of Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France, who had aided the colonies in their battle for independence from Great Britain. She would be beheaded by her own people five years later, but I like to think that she heard that we named a town after her before it happened. She probably would have thought that was pretty cool.
OHIO FACT 3
Ohio’s state flag has a pennant design that is one-of-a-kind. Every other state flag is just a boring rectangle, but Ohio was like “Get that weak stuff out of here!” (to quote Austin Carr) We went with this cool weird pointy design. You know everybody’s jealous.
OHIO FACT 4
Some 316 million pounds of Swiss cheese was produced in the United States in 2017, 154 million pounds, about 49%, came from right here in Ohio. What’s up Wisconsin? Where you at “Dairyland?” We are embarrassing you.
OHIO FACT 5
Ohio has supplied by birth or residence eight U.S. presidents, second only to Virginia and they had a head start. I’ll now list them in ascending order of cheeriness: William H. Harrison, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William H. Taft, and Warren G. Harding.
OHIO FACT 6
When it comes to presidents, Ohio crushes it on quantity, as far as quality, that’s more debatable. And when it comes to durability we downright stink.
Of the eight U.S. Presidents to come from Ohio, only Grant served two full terms, and four of them died while in office. That is a 50% occupational mortality rate. Alaskan crab fishermen get better odds.
Speaking of my main man Ulysses, I know no one asked me but if I could have a dinner party with any four famous Ohioans I would invite President Grant, Dean Martin, Bootsy Collins and Paul Lynde. And yes I know I should probably invite Neil Armstrong instead of Paul Lynde cause he’s been to the moon and all that, but it’s my party and I stand by my choice.
And of course it goes without saying that the four famous Ohioans most NOT invited to my dinner party are Ben Roethlisberger, Charles Manson, Logan Paul and the other Paul. Pass.
Well, back to it.
OHIO FACT 7
As I learned earlier this year, Ohio also has an official beverage and for some reason it is tomato juice. And yet we wonder why our population is declining. Such a self-sustained injury. Gee, what else could we have picked? Maybe beer! These are layups!
OHIO FACT 8
Ohio is the only state to have an official rock song. Perhaps you’re familiar with it. That’s right, it’s “Hang on Sloopy," the ubiquitous Ohio rock anthem that was a big hit in 1965 for The McCoys, a band from Union City, Indiana. Oh, come on! Really? Indiana? That doesn’t seem appropriate. Is it too late to change it to Michael Stanley's "My Town"?
Happy 220th Birthday, Ohio!
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