Columbus was founded in 1812, at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. It was named for explorer Christopher Columbus. The city assumed the function of state capital in 1816 and county seat in 1824.

Ohio is historically known as the "Buckeye State" after its Ohio buckeye trees, and Ohioans are also known as "Buckeyes".

The Y-Bridge in Zanesville was first built in 1814 to span the confluence of the Licking and Muskingum Rivers. The current bridge is the fifth construction at the same location. Ripley's Believe It or Not proclaimed it the only bridge in the world which you can cross and still be on the same side of the river.

The Cuyahoga River has caught on fire at least 13 times. One of the most polluted rivers in the country, it would burst into flames when sparks from passing trains fell into the water. After a highly publicized fire in 1969, Congress was inspired to clean up pollution across the country and established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The world's first electric traffic signal was put into place on the corner of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, Ohio, on August 5, 1914.

The state takes its name from the Ohio River, whose name in turn is derived from the Seneca word ohi:yo', meaning "great river".

In the center of Sugarcreek, Ohio stands a 24-foot-tall cuckoo clock. The big timepiece was built in 1972. Every 30 minutes, a three-foot-tall couple on tracks dance the polka to Bavarian music played by a five-piece robot oompa band.

Ohio is bordered by Lake Erie to the north. The lake was named by the Erie people, a Native American people who lived along its southern shore. The tribal name "erie" is a shortened form of the Iroquoian word erielhonan, meaning long tail.

The Cincinnati Red Stockings, founded in 1869, were baseball's first all-professional team, with ten salaried players. They played their first game on May 4, 1869, scoring 45 runs against the Great Westerns of Cincinnati, and posted a perfect 57-0 record, the only perfect season in professional baseball history.

The Wright brothers made the first controlled, sustained flight of a powered, heavier-than-air aircraft on December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. North Carolina stated their claim to the accomplishment when they introduced "First-in-Flight" license plates. Ohio responded by introducing "Birthplace-of-Aviation" plates a few years later since the Wright Brothers designed and built the aircraft in their bicycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. Congress stepped in and ended the dispute in 2003, officially ruling in favor of Ohio.