January
edit- January 1
(1965) Colonel John Glenn retires from the United States Marine Corps.
- January 2
- (1791) Delaware and Wyandot Indians attack a settlement in Morgan County in the Big Bottom massacre.
- (2002) In American football, the Ohio State Buckeyes defeat the Miami Hurricanes 31–24 in double overtime in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, winning the BCS National Championship.
- January 3
(1822) A bill proposing to build the Ohio and Erie Canal was introduced in the Ohio House of Representatives.
- January 4
(1789) Benjamin Lundy, who started the abolitionist movement in Ohio, is born.
- January 5
(1832) The Mad River and Lake Erie Railroad, the first railroad west of the Allegheny Mountains, was chartered in Tiffin.
- January 7
(1805) Ebenezer Sproat, the first sheriff in Ohio, dies in Marietta.
- January 8
(1787) construction of Fort Steuben is completed.
- January 12
(2015) Ezekiel Elliott rushes for four touchdowns to lead The Ohio State Buckeyes to victory in the first Playoff National Championship.
- January 14
(1932) Eddie Arcaro, the only jockey to win two Triple Crowns, wins his first race.
- January 15
(1902) 4-H was started in Clark County.
- January 16
(1920) The Wheel Cafe in Cincinnati received its last shipment of beer before Prohibition took effect.
- January 17
(1893) President Rutherford B. Hayes died in Fremont.
- January 21
(1874) Toledo lawyer Morrison Waite become the 7th Chief Justice of the United States.
- January 22
(1811) Ashtabula County, the largest in Ohio, is organized.
- January 23
(1941) NASA Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory groundbreaking ceremony takes place.
- January 24
(1982) The Cincinnati Bengals play the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl XVI, the first time an Ohio team made it to this level.
- January 25
(1978) The Great Blizzard of 1978, the worst in Ohio history, begins.
- January 26
(1937) The USGS stream gauge at Newcomerstown on the Tuscarawas River records it highest flow at 46,800 ft³/s (1,325 m³/s).
- January 29
- (1843) William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States, is born in Niles, Ohio.
- January 30
(1900) John P. Parker, member of the Underground Railroad, died in Ripley.
- January 31
(1872) Zane Grey is born in Zanesville.
February
edit- February 5
(1937) Water levels in the Ohio River flood of 1937, which left one million people homeless and 385 dead, fall below flood stage.
- February 6
(1938) A memorial for John Wesley Powell is completed in Jackson.
- February 7
(1826) The state of Ohio grants a charter to Western Reserve University in Hudson.
- February 9
(1860) Israel Donalson, last surviving signer of Ohio's 1802 Constitution, dies in Manchester, Ohio
- February 10
(1899) The lowest temperature in Ohio is -39 degrees, recorded at Milligan, Ohio.
- February 11
(1847) Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio.
- February 13
(1835) George Croghan is presented a Congressional Gold Medal for his actions at the Battle of Fort Stephenson, (Fremont, Ohio), during the War of 1812.
- February 16
- (1810) The state of Ohio authorized the creation of Madison County.
- (1846) The state of Ohio authorized the creation of Mahoning County.
- February 18
(1801) The United States Congress names several dozen Canadians who fought on the side of the U.S in the Revolution who will receive land grants in central Ohio in the Refugee Tract.
- February 19
(1803) The United States government recognizes Ohio when it creates the United States District Court for the District of Ohio with 2 Stat. 201
- February 24
(1802) Wilson Shannon is born in Belmont County, the first Ohio Governor to be born in the state.
March
edit- March 2
- (1923) Hopewell Culture National Historical Park is established.
- March 3
- (1786) The Ohio Company of Associates, the first non-American Indian group to settle in the present-day state of Ohio, is formed.
- March 4
(1908) The Collinwood School Fire, Collinwood near Cleveland, Ohio, kills 174 people.
- March 5
(1899) Samuel Porter Jones, a drunkard turned evangelist, began a rival in Toledo that pitted himself against Mayor Samuel Milton Jones.
- March 6
(1831) Philip Henry Sheridan, one of the three top Union generals of the Civil War, was born.
- March 7
(1923) William Spencer of Stark County began the Alliance Rubber Band Company.
- March 8
(1782) 160 Pennsylvania militiamen falsely accused a group of Delaware Indians of raiding white settlements and aiding hostile tribes. All 96 of the Indians were killed in the Gnadenhutten massacre.
- March 9
(1937) Ohio's most powerful earthquake on record rocked the village of Anna. The quake was a 5.4 on the Richter Scale.
- March 10
(1867) Lillian D. Wald was born in Cincinnati.
- March 11
(1738) Benjamin Tupper, co-founder of the Ohio Company of Associates and the town of Marietta was born.
- March 12
(1861) Thomas Corwin of Lebanon, Ohio resigned his seat in Congress to become U.S. ambassador to Mexico.
- March 13
(1901) Benjamin Harrison dies at age 67.
- March 14
(1918) Lucretia Garfield dies at age 55.
- March 15
(1985) Governor Richard Celeste ordered all banks insured by the Ohio Deposit Guarantee Fund to close.
- March 16
(2001) A federal appeals court ruled 9-4 that Ohio's motto "With God, all things are possible" was constitutional.
- March 17
(1842) The chiefs of the Wyandot tribe signed a treaty with the United States, reluctantly agreeing to sell 109,000 acres and leave the state.
- March 18
(1886) The Reverend John Rankin dies at age 93. Rankin helped form the Ohio Anti-Slavery Society.
- March 19
(1960) Ohio State University men's basketball team beat defending champion University of California at Berkley 72-55 to win the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament.
- March 20
(1852) Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in book form. Stowe based her story from information gleaned while living in Cincinnati from 1832-1850.
- March 21
- (1913) Over 360 are killed and 20,000 homes destroyed in the Great Dayton Flood in Dayton, Ohio.
- (1952) The first rock music concert, the Moondog Coronation Ball, was held at the Cleveland Arena.
- March 22
(1870) The Ohio General Assembly chartered the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, which later became the Ohio State University.
- March 23
(1818) Don Carlos Buell, who served as major general of the Army of the Ohio during the Civil War, was born in what is now Lowell, Ohio.
- March 24
(1803) The Ohio General Assembly established Warren County, one of the first 12 counties in Ohio.
- March 25
- (1863) The first Medals of Honor awarded by the United States of America were presented to six Ohioans.
- (1894) Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, departs Massillon, Ohio for Washington D.C.
- March 26
(1913) The Great Miami River reached a record crest killing 467 individuals.
- March 27
(1912) First Lady Helen Herron Taft, a Cincinnati native, and Iwa Chinda planted two Yoshino cherry trees in Washington, D.C.
- March 28
(1778) Simon Girty, a notorious renegade, was acquitted for treason. On this day he left Fort Pitt and took up residence in Sandusky, Ohio.
- March 29
(1825) Return J. Meigs, Jr., a pioneer Indian fighter, first chief justice of Ohio, governor during the War of 1812, and the man for whom Megis County is named after, dies in Marietta, Ohio at age 60.
- March 30
- (1928) Senator Frank B. Willis dies in office at a Republican Party event at Ohio Wesleyan University.
- (1981) Toni Morrison, a native of Lorain, Ohio is featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine.
- March 31
(1933) Cincinnati Union Terminal is dedicated.
April
edit- April 1
- (1796) Benjamin Van Cleve and others are the first settlers in Dayton.
- (1841) John Blackburn, the first black trustee of Ohio University in Athens, was born in Virginia.
- April 2
- (1779) American troops abandon Fort Laurens on the Tuscarawas River during the Revolutionary War.
- (1855) John Mercer Langston, the first African-American in the United States to become elected into public office, became town clerk in Lorain County.
- April 3
(1996) Carl B. Stokes, the first African-American to become mayor in a major U.S. city, dies at age 68. Stokes was the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.
- April 4
(1974) Hank Aaron hit his 714th home run at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium. This tied the record held by Babe Ruth.
- April 5
(1872) Samuel Galloway, who oversaw the implementation of Ohio's public high schools and school districts, dies at age 61 in Columbus.
- April 6
(1846) Henry Stanbery, Ohio's first attorney general, opened his government office in Columbus, Ohio.
- April 7
(1788) 47 men travelling down the Ohio River on five boats landed at will become Marietta, Ohio, the first lawful white settlement in Ohio.
- April 8
(1878) Cincinnati Music Hall was formally dedicated with Mayor Robert M. Moore and Governor Richard M. Bishop in attendance.
- April 9
(1931) Nicholas Longworth III, the U.S. congressman from Cincinnati and past speaker of the House of Representatives, dies at age 61.
- April 10
(1955) Cincinnatian Jesse DeWitt Locker, the United States Ambassador to Liberia, dies at age 64.
- April 11
(1912) The Cincinnati Reds played their first Opening Day game at Redland Field.
- April 12
- (1861) Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina, igniting the Civil War. The fort was under the command of Major Robert Anderson, the brother of future Ohio Governor Charles Anderson.
- (1934) The Auto-Lite Strike, which culminated in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers, began.
- April 13
(1792) Major General Anthony Wayne, where Wayne County, Ohio gets its name from, was summoned by George Washington to lead an army against the Indians of the Northwest Territory. At this point in time, Ohio was a part of the Northwest Territory.
- April 14
(1941) Peter Edward Rose, Major League Baseball's all-time hitter, is born in Cincinnati.
- April 15
(1957) Stark County, Ohio city of Louisville declared itself "Constitution Town".
- April 16
(1854) Jacob S. Coxey Sr. of Massillon, Ohio, a socialist American politician who ran for elective office several times in Ohio, is born.
- April 17
(1964) Geraldine Mock landed a Cessna 180 at Port Columbus International Airport, becoming the first woman to pilot an airplane around the world.
- April 18
(1789) Thomas Hutchins, the Geographer General of the United States and first surveyor of the Northwest Territory, dies at age 59. Hutchins was the first to survery the land that would become Ohio.
- April 19
(1819) Articles of Association were signed by 53 men and 104 women to establish The Society of Separatists of Zoar, located in Tuscarawas County.
- April 20
(1857) Benjamin Tappan, founder of the city of Ravenna, died in Steubenville, Ohio at age 83.
- April 21
(1930) The nation's worst prison fire ever killed 322 inmates at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus.
- April 22
(1996) Dayton native Erma Bombeck, an American humorist who achieved great popularity for a newspaper column that depicted suburban home life in the second half of the 20th century, dies at age 69.
- April 23
(1662) John Winthrop the Younger put in a claim to the king of England for one-third of the land that is now the state of Ohio.
- April 24
(1902) John Eisenmann, creator of Ohio's flag, transferred his patent to the state.
- April 25
- (1808) Senator John Smith resigns after narrowly avoiding expulsion after being implicated in the Burr conspiracy
- (1898) William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name O. Henry, entered the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus.
- April 26
(1900) Charles Francis Richter, the seismologist who developed the Richter Scale, is born on a farm in Hamilton.
- April 27
(1822) Ulysses Grant, the Union's top general during the Civil War and later the 18th President of the United States, is born in Point Pleasant, Ohio.
- April 28
(1919) Leslie Irvin tested the first military free-fall parachute when he jumped from a de Havilland DH-9 biplane flying at 100 mph while 1,500 feet (460 m) over McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio.
- April 29
(1865) The body of Abraham Lincoln lay in state in the Rotunda of the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio for public viewing.
- April 30
(1802) President Thomas Jefferson signed the Enabling Act, which laid the groundwork for Ohio to become a state.
May
edit- May 8
(1855) Seabury Ford, the last Whig Governor of Ohio dies.
- May 14
(2008) Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann resigns.
- May 25
(1935) Ohio State University track and field athlete Jesse Owens sets three world records and ties a fourth in a 45 minute span at the Big Ten meet at Ann Arbor, Michigan
June
edit- June 1
(1796) Congress creates the 2,500,000-acre (10,000 km2) United States Military District in eastern Ohio for land bounties promised to Revolutionary War veterans.
- June 11
(1895) Cincinnati judge Judson Harmon becomes United States Attorney General.
- June 17
(1851) In a statewide referendum, Ohio voters approve a new Constitution for the state.
July
edit- July 4
- (1864) Future Ohio Governor Edward Follansbee Noyes is severely wounded and ends up with his left leg amputated in the Atlanta Campaign of the Civil War.
- (1969) The Ohio Fireworks Derecho kills 18 Ohioans.
- July 8
(2010) LeBron James announces on The Decision that he plans to "take my talents to South Beach" and leave the Cleveland Cavaliers.
- July 11
(2014) LeBron James announces he will return to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
- July 19
(1936) Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller make his Major League debut at age 17.
- July 21
- (1934) The highest temperature in Ohio is 113 degrees, recorded near Gallipolis.
- (1969) Wapakoneta, Ohio native Neil Armstrong becomes first human to set foot on the Moon.
- July 26
(1863) In Carroll County, John Hunt Morgan's Confederate raiders are defeated in the Battle of Salineville by James M. Shackelford's Federal troops in the northernmost battle of the Civil War.
August
edit- August 2
- (1795) Greenville Treaty is signed by "Mad Anthony Wayne" and the Western Confederacy of Indians, ending the Northwest Indian War.
- (1979) Major League Baseball catcher Thurman Munson of the New York Yankees dies in a crash while attempting to land a Cessna Citation I at the Akron-Canton Regional Airport.
- August 4
(1900) 28th Ohio Governor Jacob Dolson Cox dies in Massachusetts
- August 7
(1953) The year of Ohio's 150th anniversary, President Eisenhower signed an act that officially declared March 1, 1803 the date of Ohio's admittance into the Union.
- August 11
(1908) I. W. Abel, president of the United Steelworkers and member of the Kerner Commission is born in Magnolia
- August 15
(2008) Former Congressman from Ohio's 18th district Bob Ney is released from prison after serving 17 months for involvement in the Jack Abramoff lobbying and corruption scandal.
- August 18
(2005) Governor Bob Taft pleads no contest to failing to disclose gifts and is fined $4000.
- August 20
- (1833) Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd President of the United States, is born in North Bend, Ohio.
- August 23
(1823) Betty Zane, heroine of the American Revolutionary War at Fort Henry, dies at Martins Ferry, Ohio.
September
edit- September 1
(1976) Congressman from Ohio's 18th district Wayne Hays resigns after the Washington Post reveals a sex scandal with his secretary Elizabeth Ray.
- September 3
(1783) Treaty of Paris is signed by U.S. and Great Britain. Lands north of the Ohio River are ceded to America. Indians are not consulted.
- September 6
(1901) William McKinley is shot while at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo and dies eight days later.
- September 10
(1813) Oliver Hazard Perry leads a decisive victory over the British fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie near Put-in-Bay during the War of 1812.
- September 11
(1874) Governor Allen appoints George Rex of Wooster to the Ohio Supreme Court.
- September 12
(1951) Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton Corporation brings its last railroad locomotive out of the Lima, Ohio, factory, a 2,500 hp (1,900 kW) transfer diesel, Pennsylvania Railroad number 5683.
- September 13
- (1858) Runaway slave John Price is arrested in Oberlin, and taken to Wellington, Ohio. A mob rescues him and spirits him to safety in Canada, in the celebrated Oberlin–Wellington Rescue
- (1909) Jim Rhodes, sixteen year Ohio Governor, is born in Coalton.
- September 14
(1901) President and former governor William McKinley dies in Buffalo, New York after being shot.
- September 15
- (1827) William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States, is born in Cincinnati.
- September 17
(1920) The American Professional Football Association, the forerunner of the NFL is founded in a Canton car dealership.
- September 19
(1881) President James A. Garfield dies after being shot
- September 24
(1864) Columbus businessman and politician William Dennison, Jr. becomes United States Postmaster General.
- September 26
(1774) Early Ohio weirdo Johnny Appleseed is born in Leominster, Massachusetts
- September 30
(1785) Geographer Thomas Hutchins begins the first government land survey west of the Ohio River in the Seven Ranges at East Liverpool. The project is abandoned October 8 due to Indian hostility.
October
edit- October 1
(1788) John Filson, a founder of Cincinnati, disappears when his surveying expedition on the Miami River is attacked by Shawnee. His body is never found.
- October 3
- (1822) Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th President of the United States is born in Delaware, Ohio.
- October 4
(1991) Jim Thome hits his first home run for the Cleveland Indians off New York Yankees pitcher Lee Guetterman.
- October 5
(1813) Shawnee leader and Chillicothe native Tecumseh dies at the War of 1812 Battle of the Thames.
- October 18
(1886) Cleveland geologist Charles Whittlesey, founder of the Western Reserve and Northern Ohio Historical Society, dies.
- October 21
(1944) Pope Pius XII erects the Roman Catholic Diocese of Steubenville out of territory of the Diocese of Columbus
- October 26
(1911) Ohio State University End Sid Gillman, selected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989, is born in Minneapolis.
November
edit- November 1
(1802) Delegates from across the eastern portion of the Northwest Territory meet in Chillicothe to write a constitution for a new state to be called Ohio
- November 2
- (1865) Warren G. Harding, the 29th President of the United States, is born near Blooming Grove, Ohio.
- November 4
(1791) near Fort Recovery, Arthur St. Clair leads the worst defeat in United States History at the hands of Little Turtle and Blue Jacket. Only 48 of 1000 American troops escaped unharmed in the Battle of the Wabash.
- November 8
(1862) The War Department dismisses Colonel Thomas H. Ford of the 32nd Ohio Infantry from the Union Army after he was negligent in his duties at the Battle of Harpers Ferry.
- November 10
(1970) the Ohio Company Land Office in Marietta is added to the National Register of Historic Places
- November 19
- (1931) James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States, is born in Orange Township, now Moreland Hills, Ohio.
- November 25
(1875) Ohio State Treasurer Isaac Welsh dies. He is replaced by his son Leroy Welsh.
December
edit- December 6
(1864) Cincinnati lawyer Salmon P. Chase becomes 6th Chief Justice of the United States
- December 7
(1864) Future Ohio Governor Jacob Dolson Cox is promoted to Major General of the Union Army.
- December 14
(1836) The Toledo War, the mostly bloodless boundary dispute between the U.S. state of Ohio and the adjoining Territory of Michigan, unofficially ended with a resolution passed by the controversial "Frostbitten Convention."
- December 16
(1795) Directors of the Ohio Company of Associates choose Alexander and Athens Townships in Athens County as the College Lands to support Ohio University.
- December 23
- (1814) The village of Cleaveland is incorporated.
- December 28
(1788) Israel Ludlow and 26 others are the first to settle in Cincinnati.