State abbreviation - OH
State Nickname - Buckeye State
State Motto - "With God, all things are possible."
State Song - Beautiful Ohio
State capital - Columbus
Area - 40,948 square miles (U.S. Census Bureau in 2000)
Population - 11, 464,042 (2005 U.S. Census Bureau estimate).
Major Rivers - Ohio River, Cuyahoga River, Miami River, Sandusky River and the Maumee River.
Major Lakes - Lake Erie, Grand Lake
Highest point - Campbell Hill - 1,550 feet above sea level
Bordering states - Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan.

Text courtesy of Michelle and Jerry Mock

What state is round on the sides and high in the middle? Well, O-HI-O of course!! The name "Ohio" comes from the Iroquois Indian word meaning "good river" or "large river". The Ohio River is a principle tributary of the grand Mississippi River. It had great importance to both the Native Americans and the settlers as they expanded westward. The Ohio River was also a natural boundary flowing along the border of 6 states. During the 18th century, the Ohio river was the southern boundary of the Northwest territory (making a border between the free and slave territories).

Image courtesy of http://orsanco.org.

Another boundary was created by the Maumee River and Lake Erie. Years before country singer John Denver crooned that "Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio, is like being nowhere at all", the Toledo War (1835-1836) put Toledo on the map.  It wasn't actually a war but more of a very large dispute over the boundary between the State of Ohio and the Territory of Michigan.  Ohio had become a state in 1803 and had claimed the Toledo area, at the mouth of the Maumee River was part of Ohio.  Michigan officials disagreed.  The dispute continued until Michigan was admitted to statehood (on the condition that they accept the border which include the mouth of the Maumee River as part of Ohio).

There are many different industries in Ohio: Advanced Electronics, Aerospace/Defense, Agriculture, Food Processing, Information, Insurance, Iron & Steel, Machinery, Motor Vehicle, Minerals, Tourism, Petroleum & Chemical Manufacturing and Rubber & Plastics.  The glass industry is another major industry.  Toledo is known as the "Glass Capital of the World".

Ohioans also have bragging rights to many famous people who were born in their state:  The first astronaut to orbit the earth, John Glenn, was born in Cambridge, Ohio.  Neil Armstrong, the first astronaut to step on the moon, hails from Wapakoneta.  Judith Resnick, the second female American astronaut to go into Space, was born in Akron.  Thomas Edison, inventor, was born in Milan.  The inventors of the first powered airplane, Orville and Wilbur Wright also came from Ohio.  "Goosebumps" author R.L. Stine was from Bexley, Ohio.  Movie director, Stephen Spielberg, was born in Cincinnati.

Eight U.S. Presidents were from Ohio: William Harrison (9th), Ulysses S. Grant (18th), Rutherford Hayes (19th), James Garfield (20th), Benjamin Harrison (23rd), William McKinley (25th), William Taft (27th), Warren Harding (29th).