Chillicothe and Ross County Are Known for Many Firsts in the State of Ohio

Chillicothe and Ross County, Ohio Firsts:

·  First settlement in the interior of Ohio -- Chillicothe, 1796

·  First state constitutional convention in Chillicothe,1802

·  First capital of Ohio -- 1803

·  First governor of Ohio -- Edward Tiffin

·  First Ohio secretary of state -- William Creighton, Jr.

·  First treasurer of Ohio -- William McFarland

·  First speaker of the Ohio Senate -- Nathaniel Massie

·  First speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives -- Michael Baldwin

·  First U.S. Senator from Ohio -- Thomas Worthington

·  The first cattle drive from the western country to the eastern markets -- led by George Renick, of Chillicothe, in 1805

·  The first steam-operated mill in Ohio -- opened in Chillicothe, 1817

·  The first dental school in the U.S. -- established in Bainbridge by Dr. John Harris, 1826.

·  First wife of a U.S. president to be called “The First Lady” -- Chillicothe-born Lucy Webb Hayes, wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes (elected 1876)

·  First American company to export trucks from the U.S. -- The Logan Construction Company of Chillicothe (two delivery trucks to China in 1905).

Other Significance Facts:

·  The last battle between Indians and white settlers prior to the Greenville Treaty of 1795 was fought at Reeves Crossing near Bainbridge in Ross County.

·  The Chillicothe Gazette, established in April 1800, is the oldest newspaper in continuous publication west of the Allegheny Mountains.

·  The Mount Logan range of hills east of Chillicothe forms the background of the Great Seal of the State of Ohio.

·  Camp Bull, located north of Chillicothe, was the only prisoner of war camp in the interior of the U.S. during the War of 1812.

·  Camp Sherman, a World War I army training camp, was located north of Chillicothe.

·  Chillicothe was the home of four of Ohio’s governors: Edward Tiffin, Thomas Worthington, Duncan McArthur, and William Allen.

·  Ross County is home to one of the largest concentrations of pre-historic earthworks in the U.S.

·  Paper has been manufactured in the Chillicothe area since 1812.