10 Interesting Facts About Ohio

The Great Black Swamp is an area of northwestern Ohio that was the result of prehistoric glaciers. This ultra flat region is today characterized by a number of features including various forms of flora and fauna. A significant part of southeastern Ohio is mountainous and the population profoundly poor. By most accounts this is an extension of the West Virginia area of Appalachia, a traditionally bankrupt region of the country dominated by the coal mining industry as well as poor social and economic conditions. Below is 10 interesting facts about Ohio:

1. The Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first professional baseball team in 1869.

Baseball Red Stockings

2. Zanesville is home to a famous Y-bridge.  The bridge is built at the intersection of the Muskingum and Licking Rivers, one part built to the middle of the river and the others forking to the left and right.

Y-Bridge

3. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton and in Cleveland is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

pro football hall of fame

4.Serpent Mound State Memorial, a famous earthen mound in the shape of a serpent, winds for a length of 411 m (1348 ft) near Peebles.

serpent mount

5. Cleveland is spelled differently than its founder’s name Moses Cleaveland.  In 1832, the editor of the Cleaveland Gazettenewspaper dropped the first “a” to fit the title on one line.  The new spelling caught on.

cleveland

6. In 1879, Cleveland became the first city to be lighted by electricity.  Cleveland also had the first traffic light in 1914.

First Traffic Light, Cleveland Ohio

7. Cincinnati had the first professional city fire department and the first ambulance service.

cincinnati

8. Ohio claims the first chewing gum in 1869, and the first hot dog in 1900.

hot dog

9. Ohio was the birthplace of many U.S. presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, and Warren G. Harding.

ohio

10. The other Ohio factsis Oberlin College, founded in 1833, was the first college in the United States to admit women.

Oberlin college