Ohio: A Bicentennial History (States and the Nation)

Historically, Ohio seems to have had everything--great physical beauty; rich resources of coal, oil, gas, and fertile soil; a central location with easy means of transportation by land and water; inventive and dynamic people; and the kind of national political influence that wealth and a large population can give a state. It was no accident that eight of the nation's presidents had an Ohio connection. In character, the first Ohioans exhibited qualities that seemed typical of Americans in general