25 Interesting Facts About Ohio You Didn’t Know

We bash Ohio a lot around here but when you really dive into it’s history it is quite an interesting state. Here are 25 little known facts about the Buckeye State.

1.Quite possibly the most unnecesary law currently in effect on our planet, it is illegal to fish for whales on Sunday in Ohio. Whales. This seems like the type of law that has an interesting story behind it and I apologize if I ruined any of your whale fishing plans but hey, there’s always Saturday.

2.By state law, no one may be arrested on Sunday or on the Fourth of July in Ohio so it looks like my whale fishing plans are back on. Anyone in? Fortunately this is a very obscure and unknown law among Ohio police officers which is probably a good thing, otherwise Sundays would be chaos.

3.John William Lambert invented the first gasoline powered American automobile in Ohio City in 1891. He was also involved in the world’s first automobile accident, as you might expect.

4.Akron is the rubber capitol of the world. We may not have a winning football team but at least we have this.

5.There is an unofficial lego museum in a small town in Belmont County named Bellaire.

6.This is a really weird one, Ohio is home to the ‘Things Swallowed’ display at the Allen County Museum in Lima. The display features items that have been swallowed and retrieved by doctors including: buttons, bones, dentures, and more.

7.Ohio is also home to the largest basket in the world and it’s a seven story building in Licking County. The building is the headquarters for Longaberger basket company.

8.The cardinal, Ohio’s state bird can be found in all 88 counties and is also the state bird for Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

9.The fast food chain Wendy’s was founded in Columbus in 1969. That means that we were dunking our fries in ice cream before it was cool.

10.Ohio’s William Henry Harrison delivered the longest inauguration speech in U.S. presidential history only to die one month later. It’s the shortest term of anyone to hold the office.

11.Cleveland is the birthplace of Superman. He was first created in 1933 by Cleveland high school students Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

12.The film The Shawshank Redemption was filmed at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield. Fans can actually take tours of the filming sites.

13.Ohio’s South Bass Island in Put-in-Bay boasts the longest bar in the world at nearly 406 feet.

14.Columbus is the 15th largest city in the U.S. with a population of 850,106. It’s ahead of Cleveland (51st) and Cincinnati (66th), though both of those cities have metropolitan areas larger than Columbus.

15.The most popular ice cream flavor in Ohio (according to Twitter) is cookie dough.

16.In 1879 Cleveland became first city in the world to be powered by electricity. This is a big reason why Cleveland became the heart of the industrial revolution during the early 1900s.

17.At 148 years old, Cedar Point is the second oldest amusement park in the country right behind Lake Compounce (172) in Connecticut.

18.It may not seem like it but, Cleveland is the 8th snowiest major city in the U.S. with 68.5 inches of snow annually. Number 1 is Syracuse, New York with 123.8 in. annually.

19.If you like popcorn then you’re in the right place, Ohio is one of the top producers of popcorn in the U.S. The world’s largest popcorn festival is held in Marion, Ohio every September.

20.Ohio is the birthplace of 25 astronauts, 8 presidents, and Steven Spielberg.

21.The film A Christmas Story was filmed in Cleveland in 1983. The house shown in the film has been converted into a museum featuring props such as Ralphie’s Red Ryder BB gun and Randy’s snowsuit.

22.Ohio is one of America’s leading producers of tomatoes, which explains why tomato juice is the official state beverage.

23.In 1869 the Cincinnati Red Stockings became the first professional baseball team. The team went on a road trip that year playing against any town willing to put a team together. Their record for the season was 57-0.

24.The Cuyahoga River is so polluted that it caught on fire 13 times in its lifetime.

25.Finally, we can’t talk about Ohio without mentioning the fact that Cleveland’s 3 major sports teams went a combined 147 seasons without a single title. Thankfully that streak has been broken but, the state of the Cavs at the moment makes it seem like it’s going to be another 147 seasons until our next title.

Hopefully that list made Ohio seem a little more interesting to you. For more lists and stories subscribe to odcspress.org