Ohio History Timeline

Important Dates, Events, and Milestones

Offers a chronological timeline of important dates,   events, and milestones in Ohio history.

17th Century

1670 - René-Robert Cavelier explores and claims the Ohio region for France

18th Century

1750 - The Ohio Company of Virginia claims the Ohio region for England

1763 - French surrender's claim to Ohio to Britain

1787 - Ohio becomes part of the Northwest Territory

1795 - Treaty of Greenville ends the Indian Wars in Ohio

1788 - April 7 - 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

19th Century

1800 - The Division Act creates the Indian Territory

1802 - Congress authorizes formation of a state government in Ohio.

1803 - March 1 - Ohio admitted to the Union as the 17th state. Chillicothe is named state capital.

1804 - Ohio University, founded in 1804 in Athens, was the first university in Ohio and the Northwest Territory.

1810 - Zanesville named state capitol.

1811 - Tecumseh defeated at the Battle of Tippecanoe.

1812 - Fort Meigs constructed to protect Ohio from invasion during the War of 1812

1813 - British defeat in the Battle of Lake Erie

1816 - Columbus named state capitol.

1817 - The first abolitionist newspaper, The Philanthropist, is published in Mt. Pleasant.

1825 -

• The National Road reaches St. Clairsville.
• Construction on the Miami and Erie canals begins.

1832 - Ohio and Erie canals are completed.

1833 - The nation's first interracial, coeducational college, Oberlin College, was founded in Oberlin in 1833.

1834 - The Ohio Anti-Slavery Society is founded in Zanesville.

1835 - Boundary disputes between Michigan and Ohio cause the Toledo War

1840 - William Henry Harrison, from North Bend, elected president.

1842 - The Wyandottes, Ohio's last Indian tribe, leave Ohio

1845 -

• The State Board of Agriculture is organized.
• The Miami and Erie Canal was completed

1849 - The first Ohio State Fair opens.

1850 -

• Ohio leads all states in corn, horses, sheep and wool production.
• The second U.S. Women's Rights Convention is held in Salem.

1851 - Current Ohio Constitution adopted.

1859 - John Brown, an abolitionist from Akron, leads raid on Harper's Ferry, VA.

1861-1865 - Civil War , Ohio fought for the Union but the state showed mixed feelings toward slavery. 

1861 - Ohio Statehouse completed.

1863 - The Battle of Buffington Island becomes the only Civil War battle in Ohio.

1868 - Ulysses S. Grant, from Point Pleasant, is elected president.

1869 -

• Cincinnati Redstockings become the first fully professional baseball team.
• W. F. Semple of Mount Vernon patented chewing gum

1870 -

• Ohio State University is founded.
• Benjamin Goodrich opens a rubber plant in Akron

1873 - Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College opens.

1876 - Rutherford B. Hayes, from Delaware, is elected president.

1878 - James Ritty of Dayton developed the first cash register.

1879 - Cleveland became the world's first city to be lighted
electrically in 1879 when Charles Brush successfully demonstrated arc lights on the streets.

1880 - James Garfield, from Orange, is elected president.

1888 - Benjamin Harrison, from North Bend, is elected president.

1892 - Cedar Point opens its first roller coaster.

1896 - In Marietta, John Gilman first used x-rays in surgery.

1898 - Henry Timken of Canton developed the roller bearing.

1891 - John Lambert of Ohio City made America's first automobile.

20th Century

1902 - Ohio flag adopted by Ohio Legislature.

1903 - The Wright Brothers, a pair of bicycle shop owners from Dayton, became the first in flight

1903 - Ohio celebrates centennial.

1908 - William Howard Taft, from Cincinnati, is elected president.

1911 - Charles Kettering of Loudonville invented the first automobile self-starter in 1911.

1913 - Spring floods kill 428 people.

1914 - The Ohio Conservancy Act permits formation of watershed districts.

1917 - U.S. enters World War I. About 6,800 Ohio soldiers will be killed.

1920 - Warren G. Harding, from Corsica, is elected president.

1921 - The Bing Act passes, requiring students to remain in school until graduation or age 18.

1923 - Garrett Morgan of Cleveland invented the first traffic light.

1925 - The dirigible Shenandoah crashes near Alva, killing 14 people.

1929 -

• Steel becomes Ohio's number one industry.
• Great Depression hit the nation

1934 - The first state sales tax is imposed at 3 percent.

1937 - The Ohio River floods, leaving 750,000 people homeless.

1938 - Roy J. Plunkett of New Carlisle invented Teflon.

1941 - U.S. enters World War II; about 20,000 Ohio servicemen will be killed.

1946 - The U.S. Air Force chooses Chuck Yeager, a pilot instructor at Wright Field, to test its first rocket aircraft, breaking the sound barrier in 1947.

1949 - The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is created by the Legislature.

1953 - Congress discovers it neglected to officially recognize Ohio's statehood and passes a formal resolution declaring Ohio's entry into the Union as March 1, 1803.

1955 - The Ohio Turnpike is completed.

1958 - "With God all Things are Possible" becomes the state motto.

1959 -

• The Ohio Civil Rights Commission is created to eliminate employment discrimination.
• St. Lawrence Seaway opened
• Terms of some state officials are increased from two to four years

1962 - John Glenn from New Concord was the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962.

1963 - Professional Football Hall of Fame opens in Canton.

1967 - Great Seal of Ohio is standardized.

1969 - July 20, Neil Armstrong of Wapakoneta became the first man to walk on the moon.

1970 - Four Kent State University students killed by National Guard gunfire during Vietnam War protests.

1971 - State income tax is adopted.

1973 - Ohio State Lottery approved by Ohio voters.

1974 - Xenia tornado kills 34 people.

1976 - Ohio's last commuter train is shut down

1977 - natural gas shortage occurred in severe weather conditions

1983 - Marysville Honda plant dedicated.

1986 - Astronaut Judith Resnick, of Akron, dies in the Challenger space shuttle explosion.

1990 - Ohioans struggle through the economic downturn of the 1980s; the 1990 Census reports a slow 0.5% population increase

1995 - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens in Cleveland.

1995 - The Bosnian Peace Agreement is signed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

1998 - John Glenn at age 77, he became the oldest American to travel into space.

21th Century

2001 - Ohio ranked in the top ten in the country for growing corn, oats, winter wheat, soybeans, sweet corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes, strawberries; raising chickens, hogs and pigs; and producing maple syrup and many dairy products.