Ohio’s Birthday, March 1st 1803

Happy Birthday, Ohio!

March 1, 2011 marks the 208th birthday for the great state of Ohio.

Our beautiful state was admitted to the Union as the 17th state on March 1, 1803.

The state was originally partitioned from the Northwest Territory.

Ohio is the 34th largest state by area and Ohio’s population is ranked 7th with nearly 11.5 million residents.

The English name ‘Ohio’ comes from the Iroquois word ohi-yo’, meaning ‘great river’.

Ohio’s state flag was adopted in 1902. Ohio’s flag is the only state flag in the shape of a burgee.

The flag was designed by John Eisenmann who was an engineer and architect. The red, white and blue are naturally colors from the American flag. There’s 17 stars indicating the seventeenth state to joining the union. The large O represents the first letter of Ohio.

The red disc in the center of the O represents the Large Buckeye seed from the state tree. The seeds were named by the Native Americans because they thought they looked like the eyes of the white-tailed buck deer.

– Ohio’s state song is “Beautiful Ohio”
– Ohio’s state bird is the Cardinal
– Ohio’s state flower is the Scarlet Carnation
– Ohio’s state tree is the Buckeye
– Ohio’s state capitol is Columbus
– Ohio’s motto: “With God, All Things Are Possible.”
– Ohio nicknames include: The Buckeye State, The Mother of Presidents, The birthplace for aviation, The Heart of it All.

Ohio is a great state to live in. The four seasons, beautiful rivers, rolling hills, parks, lakes, activities, neighborhoods and more. Ohio has a rich history and is now 208 years young. Happy Birthday, Ohio!