Chillicothe and Ross County

Firsts and Significant Facts

www.chillicotheohio.com

Mission statement: The Chillicothe Ross Chamber of Commerce promotes economic and community development by providing services and addressing issues important to business.

• 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.