Ohio history

“They transformed a resolution into a binding act of commitment,” says David Zavagno, executive director of Lake Erie Heritage Foundation. “That moment — where individuals stepped forward and put everything on the line — is at the heart of our event.”

Zavagno says that the July 4 action was important, but it was the delegates’ actual signing of the declaration that was an act of mutiny against Britain and its king. “Signers picked up a pen and risked their life, knowing they would be forced to pick up a sword to defend it,” he says.

“Over long periods of time, small changes in stress in the earth can tip a fault over the edge,” Brudzinski says. “How many cocked guns are left and how many faults are really primed? There is no way to know; we really can’t anticipate when and where they will occur. Our ability to forecast earthquakes is not great.”

While Hillsboro may have been the site of the most recent shaker, Brudzinski says that Anna, a town of 1,500 people between Dayton and Lima, is the earthquake epicenter of the Buckeye State.

Rarey cemented his international reputation as one of the greatest horse trainers the world has ever known when he won a bet with England’s Earl of Dorchester in 1852. The earl, it so happened, owned a horse named Cruiser, reported to be the fastest in England. But Cruiser also was vicious — a living fury who kicked two grooms to death, and who, as if in a rage, snapped an inch-thick iron bar with his teeth as numerous witnesses watched. He was considered too dangerous to race. 

Separate and unequal

In its landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision, the U.S. Supreme Court declared “separate but equal” schools to be unconstitutional. 

After the collapse, Ohio began to require that all bridges in the state be inspected once each year. Seeing an opportunity to both make some money and potentially save some lives, Stolte and some of his college friends started up a new business.

They attended classes during the week, but on weekends they traveled into rural counties throughout the state to perform those mandated bridge inspections. 

“We learned quickly to drive across each bridge prior to doing our inspection, because we often didn’t want to drive across after seeing the condition they were in,” he says.

His original collection, expanded through acquisitions and donations over the years, has grown into one of the largest collections of holy relics in the country, and today, the Maria Stein Shrine of the Holy Relics draws visitors from around the world to pray and reflect among more than 1,200 documented pieces displayed in a series of three hand-carved wooden altars and assorted glass cases. 

Joslin grew up in Sidney, and moved to Wyoming after high school to be a sheep rancher. After six years, he returned to Ohio to farm, and in 1917, he helped found the Shelby County Farm Bureau, laying the foundation for cooperative action. Reserved but determined, Joslin became known for his ability to earn trust and get results — he was well known for his mantra, “Let’s get it done” — and in 1935 he was the county farm bureau’s president.

“Superman is one of Cleveland’s greatest exports,” says Valentino Zullo, assistant professor of English at Ursuline College and co-director of the Rustbelt Humanities Lab. “We’re not exporting steel; we’re exporting culture. The superhero genre was created here.”

When Ohio gained statehood in 1803, leadership recognized the potential of the Muskingum to facilitate the opening of Ohio and the entire Midwest for increased trade and development. As a result, in 1837, the legislature began funding construction of a series of 11 locks and dams on the river, spending $1.6 million over the next four years (roughly the equivalent of $1.4 billion today) for what was one of the most extensive — and expensive — public works projects of its kind in America at the time.  

Not a bad local legacy for a humor writer and cartoonist who frequently made his hometown and its inhabitants the butt of his jokes. In stories like “The Day the Dam Broke” and “University Days,” the good citizens of Columbus and its land grant college, Ohio State University, were often portrayed as naïve or foolish at best, bumpkins at worst. But overall, his portrayal was fond, says Leah Wharton, operations director at Thurber House.