True Tales from the Buckeye State’s Past—from the birth of Tecumsehto the Bicentennial Barnstorm

For a small state, Ohio has had a big impact on America. This agricultural, political, and industrial power has long been known for the vigor, earnestness, and imagination of its citizens. It Happened in Ohio goes behind the scenes to tell its story, in short episodes that reveal the intriguing people and events that have shaped the Buckeye State.

Carol Cartaino has been an Ohioan for over forty years, and in a lifetime of working on books—twenty years as a staff editor, including as Editor in Chief of Writer’s Digest Books—has written and edited a wide range of nonfiction. She lives and works in rural Seaman, Ohio.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Mystery Beneath the Mystery—Adams County, 250 Million Years Ago

A Trip to the Indian Arsenal—Licking County, AD 800

The Birth of Tecumseh—Southwest-Central Ohio, 1768

Massacre at Gnadenhutten—Tuscarawas County, 1782

A Royal Christening—Marietta, 1788

St. Clair’s Shame—Fort Recovery, 1791

The Battle of Fallen Timbers—Toledo, 1794

Raccoons Build a Bookshelf—Amesville, 1803

The Great Apple Planter Arrives in Ohio—Jefferson County, 1806

Flatboating to the Future—Ohio River, 1810

“We Have Met the Enemy, and They Are Ours”—Put-in-Bay, 1813

The Great Groundbreaking—Licking Summit, 1825

Troubled Bridges Over the Waters—Norwich, 1835

On Thin Ice—Ripley, 1838

The Snowball Rebellion—Oxford, 1848

The Grim Fate of the Griffith—Lake Erie, 1850

West Point or a Pony?—Clinton County, 1861

The Great Raid—1863

Little Sure Shot Gets Started—Darke County, 1868

An Intemperate Temperance Woman—Shelby County, 1880

Ohio Gives Flight to the World—Dayton, 1900

The Con Woman of Millionaires’ Row—Cleveland, 1904

The Drowning of Dayton—Montgomery County, 1913

Ohio’s Onion Field War—Hardin County, 1934

The Nadir of Elliott Ness—Cleveland, 1938

A Storybook Setting Comes to Life—Lucas, 1945

Putting a Match to Prejudice—Hillsboro, 1954

Rendezvous at the Zoo—Columbus, 1957

“Not a Particularly Bad Fire!”—Cleveland, 1969

The Kent State Catastrophe—Kent, 1970

To the Cellar! (If You Have One)—Xenia, 1974

The Champions Come Home—Cincinnati, 1976

Bicentennial Barnstorm—1997

Found! The Biggest Buckeye—Huron County, 2004

Two Worlds Collide—Ashtabula County, 2008

Ohio Facts and Trivia

Bibliography

Index

About the Authors