Most Popular Entries

Ohio History Central is visited by thousands of people around the world each and every month. This collection contains the 25 most popular entries from the encyclopedia during the past month.

Gnadenhutten Massacre

On March 8 and 9, 1782, a group of Pennsylvania militiamen under the command of Captain David Williamson attacked the Moravian Church mission founded by David Zeisberger at Gnadenhutten. . . .

Sea World of Ohio

Sea World of Ohio was a major amusement park that operated in Aurora, Ohio from 1970 to 2004. The park was located on Geauga Lake and featured Shamu, the killer whale. . . .

Cuyahoga River Fire

On June 22, 1969, an oil slick and debris in the Cuyahoga River caught fire in Cleveland, Ohio, drawing national attention to environmental problems in Ohio and elsewhere in the United States. . . .

Shawnee Indians

The Shawnee Indians were living in the Ohio Valley as early as the late 1600s. The Iroquois Indians were unwilling to share these rich hunting grounds and drove the Shawnees away. . . .

Tecumseh

Tecumseh was born in 1768, probably at Old Piqua, along the Mad River in Ohio. He was a Shawnee Indian and eventually became one of their greatest leaders. their greatest chiefs. . . .

Venomous Snakes

On average, 8,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes in the United States each year. However, only 9 - 15 of these victims actually die. More people are struck and killed by lightning each year. . . .

French and Indian War

The French and Indian War (1754 -1763) was one in a series of wars fought between England and France beginning in the late 1600s. . . .

Ohio

Ohio is the seventeenth state within the United States of America. . . .

Hopewell Culture

The Hopewell culture grew out of the earlier Adena culture of prehistoric Native American people. The mounds and enclosures built by the Hopewell were larger and more varied in design, but Hopewell farming villages still were small and scattered around the great ceremonial centers. . . .

Iroquois Indians

The Iroquois Indians originally lived along the Genesee River, the Mohawk River, and in the Finger Lakes region south of Lake Ontario in New York State. Around 1600, five tribes, the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas, banded together to form a confederacy. . . .

Northern Water Snake

The northern water snake (Natrix sipedon sipedon) is abundant and can be found throughout Ohio around any permanent body of water, including lakes, ponds, swamps, marshes, streams, and rivers as habitats. . . .

Chippewa Indians

The Chippewa Indians, also known as the Ojibwa, lived mainly in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Ontario, Canada. . . .

Black Rat Snake

The black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta) is the largest species of snake in Ohio. It can reach lengths of up to eight feet, averaging 42 - 72 inches. It is black with a faint gray or brown checkerboard pattern and white between its scales. . . .

National Cash Register Company

In 1884, John Henry Patterson bought out his fellow investors in the National Manufacturing Company and formed the National Cash Register Company, the predecessor of NCR Corporation. . . .

Flint Ridge

Flint Ridge is a nearly eight-mile long vein of high-quality flint located in Licking and Muskingum counties of eastern Ohio. Hundreds of quarry pits and workshop sites are scattered across more than 2,000 acres of ridgetop in these Appalachian foothills. . . .

Ohio's State Rock Song - Hang On Sloopy

In 1985, the Ohio General Assembly approved "Hang on Sloopy" as Ohio's official rock song. . . .

Battle of Fallen Timbers

The Battle of Fallen Timbers was an important victory for the United States Army against natives in the Northwest Territory. . . .

Cincinnati, Ohio

From modest beginnings, Cincinnati soon became the "Queen City of the West". . . .

Ohio Penitentiary

The Ohio Penitentiary opened in Columbus in 1834 and continued to house prisoners until 1979. The state had built a small prison in Columbus in 1813. But as the state's population grew the earlier facility was not able to handle the number of prisoners sent to it by the courts. . . .

Black Racer Snake

There are two racers in the state of Ohio, the Black Racer (Coluber constrictor constrictor) and the Blue Racer (Coluber constrictor foxi). The black racer is black with no markings. The blue racer is a gun metal gray, with a greenish cast. . . .

Eastern Garter Snake

There are three species of garter snakes in Ohio -- the Eastern garter, Easter plains garter, and the Butler’s garter snake. The Eastern garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) is the most common, ranging throughout Ohio. . . .

Northern Copperhead Snake

The northern copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) has a stocky body that may be copper, orange or pinkish with dark hourglass-shaped crossbands. . . .

Eastern Milk Snake

Nocturnal and secretive, the milk snake (Lampropeltis doliata triangulum) is often confused with the northern copperhead. It has similar reddish-brown, black bordered blotches on its back and sides but the milk snake has a Y or V shaped patch on its neck. . . .

Grave-robbing

During the 1800s, medical schools routinely stole recently-buried cadavers to demonstrate medical procedures to their students. . . .

Zoar, Ohio

Zoar, a small community in Tuscarawas County, was founded by a group of German separatists in 1817. . . .