24 Fun Ohio Facts

By James Israelsen, Associate Writer

Published April 3, 2022

The name Ohio comes from the Seneca word meaning “great or beautiful river,” which was the Iroquois tribe’s name for the Ohio River._[11]
Due to a congressional oversight, Ohio wasn’t officially declared a state until 1953, even though President Thomas Jefferson accepted it into the United States in 1803._[11]
Ohio changed its state capital three times in less than ten years before finally settling on Columbus in 1812._[11]
Famous Ohio residents include William Henry Harrison, John Brown, Ulysses S. Grant, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Neil Armstrong, Langston Hughes, and John D. Rockefeller._[7]
Some of Hollywood’s most famous people have been residents of Ohio—including Steven Spielberg, Doris Day, Clark Gable, Bob Hope, Rob Lowe, Paul Newman, and Martin Sheen._[7]
Ohio has designated “Hang On Sloopy” as their official state rock song._[7]
Ohio’s state motto is “With God All Things Are Possible.”_[7]
Twinsburg, Ohio, hosts an annual Twins Day Festival, attended by twins from all over the country._[7]
Ohio’s many annual festivals include the Festival of Fish, Twins Day Festival, the Grape Jamboree, the Rock and Soul Festival, the Ohio Scottish Game Weekend, and the Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Festival._[7]
With 18 roller coasters, Cedar Point, located in Sandusky, Ohio, has been nicknamed the “Roller Coaster Capital of the World.”_[5]

If you're a roller coaster junkie, this is the place for you

In 1997, the ACLU filed a lawsuit claiming that Ohio’s motto—“With God All Things Are Possible”—was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion, but the suit was dismissed, and Ohio retained its motto._[14]
Jerry Springer, host of the controversial The Jerry Springer Show, was mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1977 to 1978._[6]
In 1989, Pete Rose, manager of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, was given a lifetime ban from Major League Baseball for repeatedly betting on his own team in illegal gambling._[9]
The house in Cleveland, Ohio, that was used in the filming of 1980's cult classic A Christmas Story was purchased 21 years later by an entrepreneur, who paid $150,000 for the house on eBay and turned it into a museum honoring the movie._[12]
Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy’s fast-food restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, where he lived with his eight-year-old daughter, after whom the chain was named._[3]

Plenty of room for adventure

Made up of 18 different parks and reservations, Cleveland's 21,000-acre Metroparks is more than twice as large as New York City’s Central Park._[4][15]
Ever since 1903, it has been an annual tradition to feature a life-size butter sculpture of a cow and calf at the Ohio State Fair._[13]
Golf became a much more popular sport in the early 20th century, thanks to the invention of the rubber golf ball by Cleveland, Ohio, golfer Coburn Haskell and Bertram G. Work of the B.F. Goodrich Company._[8]
The National Football League was formed in 1920 at the Jordan and Hupmobile auto dealership in Canton, Ohio._[10]
The Quaker Oats company was founded in Ohio in 1877 by miller Henry Parsons Crowell._[8]
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Ohio, near the location where the NFL was born._[10]
The NFL was formed in Ohio, but only one of the state's two professional football teams has ever won the Super Bowl—the Cincinnati Bengals have yet to raise the Super Bowl banner._[1]
Despite a stench surrounding the Cleveland, Ohio, house of Anthony Sowell, the serial killer was somehow able to abduct and murder 11 local women before police discovered their bodies on his property in 2009._[2]
Ohio's nickname is the "Buckeye State" because of its many buckeye trees._[11]