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.