Ohio's Centennial

Street scene in Chillicothe depicting decorations for the celebration of the Ohio centennial, 1903.

Ohio became the seventeenth state in the United States in 1803. One hundred years later, Ohioans celebrated the state's centennial. A number of events occurred across Ohio to mark this occasion. Poets memorialized the event with romantic poems that honored the state for its beauty. Phrases such as "Fair Buckeyeland," "skies of azure overspread," and "beautiful, peerless Ohio" described aspects of the state.

In 1888, Ohioans also celebrated the centennial of the land that would become the State of Ohio  1888 marked the centennial of an important event in Ohio's history -- the creation of the Northwest Territory. Ohio became the first state formed from the Northwest Territory in 1803. Ohio cancelled the State Fair in 1888 and held a celebration of the  centennial of the Northwest Territory in its place.