| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fp8psoz_6422.jpg]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:Not entirely accurate. They grow ''soy'' too! ([[https://www.reddit.com/r/Columbus/comments/2f9m04/ohio_map/ large version]])]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->''"If you're such a big shot, how come I've never heard of you?"\ |
| 5 | "I'm... from Ohio."'' |
| 6 | -->-- '''A cliched joke''' |
| 7 | |
| 8 | Ohio, the Buckeye State,[[note]]Named after a nut-bearing tree native to Ohio. The nuts are poisonous, but "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckeye_candy buckeye candy]]"--chocolate-covered balls of peanut butter--are a favorite local confection. (They're so delicious in fact that even UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}}ders are known to make them for holiday gifts.)[[/note]] is the seventh-most populous state in the UsefulNotes/UnitedStates, and is often stereotyped as boring, rural farm country. This isn't a total lie--there is at least one working farm in all 88 counties--but it's not the whole truth either. With over 11 million people, Ohio is the densest state outside the Atlantic coast. It has six cities of 100,000 or more; three of which--the "Big C's" Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland--have metro areas in the millions. As such, Ohio is more diverse in people and belief than most outsiders realize. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Most of its major cities are known for their industrial base, with the notable exception of Columbus. Like elsewhere in the Great Lakes region, current major cities started as industrial towns that grew along trade routes and attracted job-seeking immigrants from all over. Irish, Germans, and African Americans are the largest ethnic groups in the state, and the major cities also house significant Eastern European, Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, and African[[labelnote:Fun Fact]]Columbus has the second-largest Somali-American community in the US (the UsefulNotes/TwinCities are #1), thanks to refugee resettlement programs in the 90's[[/labelnote]] populations as well. The strong presence of racial minorities and a long legacy of labor unions have given Ohio's urban and working-class suburban areas a Democratic lean, though Republicans perform strongly in the more well-off suburban and rural areas (although, like the rest of the country, the suburban coalitions began to invert around the 21st century). This combined with Ohio's size made it a battleground state during election seasons. Presidential candidates on both sides will make an effort to appeal to Ohio, and since the state has voted for the winning president all but three times (in 1944, 1960 and 2020) since 1896--the longest "winning streak" in the nation--this makes the political furor that much more intense. However, the state has become staunchly Republican in recent years due to the party's consolidation of working-class support. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Unfortunately, the state was hit hard when industrial and manufacturing companies left the Great Lakes region around the 1970s, and most of its cities except Columbus (more on that later) became {{Dying Town}}s and {{Wretched Hive}}s overnight. The low employment led to high crime rates that the state still struggles to contain. However, TheNewTens have seen some improvement in this regard, as the cities have been trying to base their economies around health care, education, finance, technology, etc. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | After UsefulNotes/{{Virginia}}, Ohio is the state with the second most presidents born within its borders, with seven -- all late-19th to early 20th century Republicans ([[UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant Grant]], [[UsefulNotes/RutherfordBHayes Hayes]], [[UsefulNotes/JamesGarfield Garfield]], UsefulNotes/BenjaminHarrison, [[UsefulNotes/WilliamMcKinley McKinley]], [[UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft Taft]], [[UsefulNotes/WarrenHarding Harding]]),[[note]]An eighth (UsefulNotes/WilliamHenryHarrison -- Benjamin's grandfather) moved from Virginia. The younger Harrison, however, was raised in Indiana, and Grant was elected out of Illinois[[/note]] and is also the birthplace of UsefulNotes/NeilArmstrong, the first man to walk on the Moon. Other luminaries include fellow astronaut and long-time Democratic Senator UsefulNotes/JohnGlenn (the namesake of Columbus's airport), Creator/JamesThurber, and a number of professional athletes, actors, and musicians. The United States Air Force maintains two bases in Ohio, one in Toledo and one in Dayton, the latter being where the 1998 Dayton Peace Accords were signed and the location of the Air Force's National Museum. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | The state is generally divided into five regions: |
| 17 | |
| 18 | * '''Northeast:''' By far the most populous and urbanized region, this is where you'll find UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}} along with the smaller metropolises of Akron, Canton, and Youngstown (the former two cities are included in Cleveland's CSA and TV market, while the latter is its own metro area and TV market). Akron is the "Rubber Capital" of America, as Firestone and Goodyear both got their start here, forming the backbone of the city's industrial base. Both companies have long since moved manufacturing elsewhere, though Goodyear's corporate headquarters is still here. Even though Cleveland and Akron are technically separate metro areas, they're less than an hour apart and close enough to effectively function as one, not unlike UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC and UsefulNotes/{{Baltimore}} (in fact a number of hotels in northern Summit County identify as being in the Cleveland area rather than the Akron area despite being in the same county as the latter city, this also occurs for a number of hotels in Streetsboro, located in Portage County, which is also technically in the Akron MSA which as mentioned above is in the Cleveland CSA; one of the communities in northern Summit County, Richfield, once served as the home for several sports teams branding themselves as being from Cleveland, notably the Cavaliers of the UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation). Then there's Canton, where in 1920, a handful of semi-professional football teams from all over Ohio (and one from Illinois) met to form the American Professional Football Association, now known as the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]]. The Pro Football Hall of Fame & Museum is in Canton for this reason, and the city hosts the NFL's annual preseason Hall of Fame Game. As for Youngstown, it used to be a steel town until the abrupt closure of Youngstown Sheet and Tube in 1977, which laid off 5,000 workers and cost the city an additional 400 satellite businesses and 35,000 manufacturing jobs connected to ''them'', an event known locally as "Black Monday." Since then, the city has been trying to rebrand itself as a college town since it isn't known for much else these days other than crippling poverty and the crime that comes with it. Northeast Ohio, much like neighboring UsefulNotes/{{Pennsylvania}}, is also notorious for getting loads of snow in the winter thanks to Lake Erie's effect on the weather. The "Snow Belt" starts around here and extends to Buffalo, UsefulNotes/{{New York|State}}. |
| 19 | * '''Northwest:''' Home of UsefulNotes/{{Toledo|Ohio}}--a war was fought with neighboring UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}} over the territory.[[note]]although there wasn't much actual fighting; the only recorded military confrontation had a lot of ATeamFiring and zero injuries, and the only casualty of the "Toledo War" was a Michigan deputy who was stabbed non-fatally by an Ohioan in an earlier incident[[/note]] From this is born a rivalry between two universities -- ''[[InsistentTerminology The]]'' [[UsefulNotes/PowerFiveConferences Ohio State University and the University of Michigan]] -- and two states.[[note]]as Ohioans say, "We don't give a damn about the whole state of Michigan..." to the tune of "The Old Gray Mare." Michiganders reply "Fuck Ohio", deeming Ohio unworthy of a song, and also recognizing that Michigan has ''two'' top-rank state colleges, as opposed to Ohio's one.[[/note]] As for Toledo itself, the city's chief industry was glass and it was popularly known as "The Glass City," but like elsewhere in the Midwest, Toldeo's days as a manufacturing giant are a distant memory. You'll also find some popular summer getaways here like Cedar Point, generally considered the best amusement park in the country, sometimes the world. There's also Kelley's Island, a popular island and resort town in Lake Erie. Fans of ''Series/{{Glee}}'' may be interested to know that Lima is located in this region as well, though the real city is unsurprisingly nothing like on the show ([[CaliforniaDoubling there are no palm trees, for starters]]). Has a tendency to have very wet summers, as it was formerly known as the Black Swamp and had to be drained by ditches and canals before it could be settled en masse. |
| 20 | * '''Southwest:''' Anchored by Cincinnati, this region culturally includes Northern Kentucky (where its main airport is located) and a tiny bit of Indiana due to Cincy's metro area extending into both states. Cincy has a better reputation and economic outlook than Cleveland, which isn't hard to accomplish, but the city has a mediagenic glamor that most of Ohio lacks; quite a few TV shows, movies, and books are set here. It also has a solid counter-park to Cedar Point in Kings Island (both owned by the same company). Dayton is in this region as well, hometown of Wilbur and Orville Wright, inventors of the modern airplane (though their first flight was in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina). Several institutions are named after the Wright Brothers, including the city's main airport and public university, and aviation technology is a big field here. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, home of the National Museum of the United States Air Force, is located 10 miles northeast of the city. Cincinnati is also home to Union Terminal, an art-deco train station that was the artistic basis for the [[WesternAnimation/SuperFriends Hall of Justice]] (Cincy-based Taft Broadcasting owned Creator/HannaBarbera at the time, and several HB artists visited Taft's corporate headquarters, likely explaining the similarities). In a case of full-circle irony, stock footage of Union Terminal was used as a Hall of Justice-esque building by Creator/TheCW's Series/{{Arrowverse}} crossover event ''Invasion!''. |
| 21 | * '''Southeast:''' Welcome to Coal Country. Sparsely populated, Southeast Ohio lacks an urban presence other than the college town of Athens, home of [[UsefulNotes/GroupOfFiveConferences Ohio University]]. It is part of the larger UsefulNotes/{{Appalachia}} region and culturally has more in common with neighboring West Virginia than the rest of Ohio. Mining, natural gas, and lumbering are the order of the day. Unlike much of rural Ohio, this area was historically a Democratic stronghold thanks to the strength of the miners' unions, though clashes between the labor and environmentalist wings of the Democratic Party have pushed it (along with much of Appalachia) into the Republican camp. The region is also known for its beautiful scenery, as it is the only part of Ohio to avert TheMountainsOfIllinois trope (as most of the rest of Ohio was flattened by glaciers). Hiking, hunting, and camping are popular here. |
| 22 | * '''Central:''' This region is essentially the Columbus Metro Area. As mentioned earlier, Columbus is an anomaly among Ohio cities. Its economy is centered around the state government and [[SpellMyNameWithAThe The]] Ohio State University, the largest college in the U.S. by enrollment, rather than any specific industry at the mercy of economic trends. Snarkier observers refer to Columbus as the world's largest college town, but on the other hand, it hasn't been subjected to the Midwest's usual woes. For this reason, along with the city's low cost of living and relatively low crime, Columbus is becoming increasingly attractive to young professionals looking to build their lives. Not only is it the largest city proper in Ohio in both physical size and population, but as of the 2020 census, it has surpassed Cleveland as the state's second-largest metro area, and it's expected to overtake Cincinnati within the decade. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | !!Notable People |
| 25 | People from Cleveland and Toledo (including their surrounding areas) can be found in those cities' pages. |
| 26 | [[folder:People from Ohio]] |
| 27 | * Creator/JakeAbel (Canton) |
| 28 | * Roger Ailes, founder of Fox News Channel (Warren) |
| 29 | * UsefulNotes/NeilArmstrong (born and raised in Wapakoneta, retired to the Cincinnati area) |
| 30 | * Creator/SamAyers (Youngstown) |
| 31 | * Creator/ThomBarry (Cincinnati) |
| 32 | * Wrestling/AlexaBliss (Columbus) |
| 33 | * Creator/MarkBooneJunior (Cincinnati) |
| 34 | * Creator/AndreaBowen (born in Columbus, but raised mainly in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity) |
| 35 | * Creator/JonBriddell (Dayton) |
| 36 | * Creator/ClancyBrown (Urbana) |
| 37 | * Wrestling/SamiCallihan (Bellefontaine) |
| 38 | * Creator/RockyCarroll (Cincinnati) |
| 39 | * Creator/NancyCartwright (Dayton) |
| 40 | * Creator/GeorgeChakiris (Norwood, an inner suburb of Cincinnati) |
| 41 | * Creator/MaxCharles (Dayton) |
| 42 | * Creator/CarrieCoon (Copley) |
| 43 | * Creator/JimCummings1952 (Youngstown) |
| 44 | * UsefulNotes/StephenCurry (born in Akron, but raised mainly in the [[UsefulNotes/NorthCarolina Charlotte area]]) |
| 45 | * Creator/BeverlyDAngelo (Columbus) |
| 46 | * Creator/CharlesMichaelDavis (Dayton) |
| 47 | * Creator/DorisDay (Cincinnati) |
| 48 | * Creator/AlanaDeLaGarza (born in Columbus, raised in El Paso, UsefulNotes/{{Texas}}) |
| 49 | * Music/{{Devo}} (all members of the classic lineup were from Akron and the surrounding area) |
| 50 | * Creator/JohnDiehl (Cincinnati) |
| 51 | * Creator/RyanDrummond (Lima) |
| 52 | * Creator/MikeFaist (Gahanna, an inner suburb of Columbus) |
| 53 | * Joe Flynn (Youngstown) |
| 54 | * Creator/CodyFranklin (doesn't specify where exactly in Ohio, but makes no bones about his Ohioanness; lives in Texas these days) |
| 55 | * Creator/ClarkGable (born in Cadiz, raised mainly in the Akron area) |
| 56 | * UsefulNotes/JamesGarfield (Orange Township) |
| 57 | * Creator/LillianGish (Springfield) |
| 58 | * UsefulNotes/JohnGlenn (born in Cambridge, raised in New Concord, returned to Ohio after retiring from NASA and spent more than 20 years as one of the state's US senators) |
| 59 | * UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant (Born in Point Pleasant, although spent most of his adulthood in Galena, Illinois) |
| 60 | * Creator/LukeGrimes (Dayton) |
| 61 | * Music/DaveGrohl (born in Warren, but mostly grew up in DC's Virginia suburbs) |
| 62 | * UsefulNotes/WarrenHarding (Marion) |
| 63 | * Creator/DorianHarewood (Dayton) |
| 64 | * Creator/WoodyHarrelson (born in Texas, but spent his teen years in the Cincinnati area) |
| 65 | * UsefulNotes/BenjaminHarrison (born in North Bend, but spent most of his political career in Indiana) |
| 66 | * UsefulNotes/WilliamHenryHarrison (North Bend; born in Virginia, but spent most of his adult life in Ohio) |
| 67 | * Jessicka Havok (Massillon) |
| 68 | * UsefulNotes/RutherfordBHayes (Delaware, today a suburb of Columbus) |
| 69 | * Creator/AnneHeche (born in Aurora) |
| 70 | * Wrestling/ChrisHero (Dayton) |
| 71 | * Chrissie Hynde, frontwoman of Music/{{Pretenders}} (Akron) |
| 72 | * UsefulNotes/LeBronJames (born in Akron--in the same hospital as Steph, no less--but also raised there) |
| 73 | * Creator/AllisonJanney (born in UsefulNotes/{{Boston}}, but raised in Dayton) |
| 74 | * Creator/MelinaKanakaredes (Akron) |
| 75 | * Creator/RobertKnepper (Fremont) |
| 76 | * Creator/MattLanter (Massillon) |
| 77 | * Creator/RexLee (Warren) |
| 78 | * Music/JohnLegend (Springfield) |
| 79 | * Creator/TedLevine (Bellaire) |
| 80 | * Creator/ChadLowe (Dayton) |
| 81 | * Creator/RobLowe (Dayton) |
| 82 | * Creator/JohnMagaro (Akron) |
| 83 | * Music/MarilynManson (as in the person; born in Canton and raised in its suburbs) |
| 84 | * Music/DeanMartin (Steubenville) |
| 85 | * Creator/EddieMcClintock (Canton) |
| 86 | * Creator/GatesMcFadden (born in Akron, raised in the suburb of Cuyahoga Falls) |
| 87 | * UsefulNotes/WilliamMcKinley (Niles) |
| 88 | * Music/JasonMolina aka Songs:Ohia (Oberlin) |
| 89 | * Creator/SumaleeMontano (Columbus) |
| 90 | * Creator/AgnesMoorehead (went to college at Muskingum University and maintained a residence in Rix Mills) |
| 91 | * [[Wrestling/JonMoxley Jon Moxley/Dean Ambrose]] (Cincinnati) |
| 92 | * Jack Nicklaus (Columbus) |
| 93 | * Creator/EdONeill (Youngstown) |
| 94 | * Creator/SarahJessicaParker (Nelsonville, not far from Athens) |
| 95 | * Creator/LukePerry (born in Mansfield, raised nearby in Fredericktown) |
| 96 | * Wrestling/BrianPillman (born in Cincinnati, raised in the inner suburb of Norwood) |
| 97 | * Creator/JoshRadnor (born in Columbus, raised in Franklin County) |
| 98 | * Wrestling/MadisonRayne (born in Columbus, raised in West Lafayette) |
| 99 | * Creator/WendyRobie (Cincinnati) |
| 100 | * Pete Rose (Cincinnati) |
| 101 | * Creator/JeffreyDSams (Cincinnati) |
| 102 | * Creator/SherriSaum (Dayton) |
| 103 | * Wrestling/RandySavage (born in Columbus, raised in Zanesville before his family moved to the Chicago area in his teens) |
| 104 | * Wrestling/SharkBoy (Lima) |
| 105 | * Creator/MartinSheen (Dayton) |
| 106 | * Creator/PtolemySlocum (born in UsefulNotes/{{Kenya}}, but raised in Cincinnati) |
| 107 | * Wrestling/AlSnow (Lima) |
| 108 | * Creator/StevenSpielberg (born in Cincinnati, later moved to UsefulNotes/NewJersey) |
| 109 | * UsefulNotes/WilliamHowardTaft (Cincinnati) |
| 110 | * Creator/AndreaThompson (Dayton) |
| 111 | * Music/TwentyOnePilots (all members born, raised, and based in Columbus) |
| 112 | * [[Literature/HillbillyElegy J.D. Vance]] (Middletown, though he spent much time in eastern Kentucky during his youth) |
| 113 | * Creator/JonathanWinters (Dayton) |
| 114 | * Creator/RayWise (Akron) |
| 115 | * Creator/{{Chris Wood|Actor}} (born in Dublin, Franklin County) |
| 116 | * [[WebVideo/ScottTheWoz Scott Wozniak]] (Toledo) |
| 117 | * UsefulNotes/TheWrightBrothers — Wilbur was born in Indiana, but Orville was born in Dayton. After a number of childhood moves, they returned to Dayton, where they developed their airplanes and lived out their days. |
| 118 | * Creator/BrianYang (Columbus) |
| 119 | * Creator/AmyYasbeck (the Cincinnati suburb of Blue Ash) |
| 120 | * Creator/ChrisZylka (Warren) |
| 121 | * 98 Degrees (Cincinnati) |
| 122 | * Music/TheBlackKeys |
| 123 | * Tim Richmond |
| 124 | * Kevin Martin |
| 125 | * Music/{{Sanguisugabogg}} (Columbus) |
| 126 | * WebVideo/{{Markiplier}} (Cincinnati) |
| 127 | * Tom Fishbach, author of ''Webcomic/TwoKinds'' (Cincinnati) |
| 128 | * Creator/EricKripke, Creator of '''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' and showrunner on ''Series/TheBoys'' (Toledo) |
| 129 | [[/folder]] |
| 130 | |
| 131 | !!Works that feature Ohio (excluding works set in Cleveland since it has its own page): |
| 132 | |
| 133 | [[folder:Ohio Media]] |
| 134 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Anomalisa}}'' - The movie focuses on an author who is in Cincinnati for a customer service conference. |
| 135 | * ''Series/TheEdgeOfNight'' – Although set in the fictional Midwestern city of Monticello, the Cincinnati skyline stood in for that of Monticello for the large majority of the series run. |
| 136 | * ''Series/FamilyTies'' - Set in the suburbs of Columbus. |
| 137 | * Website/ForgottenOhio - An online collection of Ohio folklore and urban legends. |
| 138 | * ''Series/{{Glee}}'' - Set in Lima, and numerous references are made to other Ohio cities. |
| 139 | * ''Film/TheKillingOfASacredDeer'': Filmed and set in Cincinnati. |
| 140 | * ''Film/{{Ma}}'' - The town is never named, but all the cars have Ohio license plates. |
| 141 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' - Roughly 2/3 of the state are part of a vast untamed wilderness called The Federation of Magic which is named for the high concentration of magic users and ley lines present in the area. The southern half of Ohio in particular is also home to several important settlements such as the mage haven city of Dweomer. |
| 142 | * ''VideoGame/Shivers1995'' - An old Sierra game that takes place in a haunted museum in Mt. Pleasant. |
| 143 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' - The episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS32E8TheRoadToCincinnati The Road To Cincinnati]]" focuses on Skinner and Chalmers taking a road trip to an educator conference in Cincinnati. The titular city itself only appears near the very end but plays a very important role in the climax of the story. |
| 144 | * ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'' - Most of the last major story arc takes place in a large Ohio settlement called The Commonwealth. |
| 145 | * ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati'' - A show that ran from the late 70s to early 80s about a radio station in Cincinnati. |
| 146 | * ''Film/WildHogs'' - The movie opens in Cincinnati and features four middle-aged guys going on a cross country road trip on motorcycles. |
| 147 | * ''Literature/HillbillyElegy'' - A memoir about growing up in poverty as part of the Appalachian diaspora in Middletown. |
| 148 | * ''Film/{{Gummo}}'' - Set in Xenia after the town has been destroyed by a tornado. (About half of the real town ''was'' wiped off the map by a 1974 tornado.) |
| 149 | * ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' - Set in Piqua. The city was chosen due to its now discontinued annual Underwear Festival. |
| 150 | * ''Film/TommyBoy'' - The film focuses on Sandusky. |
| 151 | * ''Literature/InCryptid'': The third book, ''Half-Off Ragnarok'', and part of the fourth book, ''Pocket Apocalypse'', as well as the novella ''The Measure of a Monster'' are all set in and around Columbus. |
| 152 | * ''Film/{{Heathers}}'' - Set in the fictional city of Sherwood, Ohio |
| 153 | * ''Film/ANightmareOnElmStreet1984'' - Set in the fictional city of Springwood, Ohio |
| 154 | * ''Literature/ReadyPlayerOne'': Set in a dystopian Columbus |
| 155 | * ''Film/LiberalArts'' - The movie is set in Ohio. No exact place mentioned but it was shot in Kenyon College, which is in Gambier. |
| 156 | * ''Film/TheKingsOfSummer'' |
| 157 | * ''ComicStrip/{{Agnes}}'' is set in a trailer park somewhere in Ohio, although it's never mentioned exactly where. |
| 158 | * ''Film/RainMan'' - Part of the movie is set in Cincinnati. |
| 159 | * ''Film/BlackWidow2021'' - The DistantPrologue sees Natasha, Yelena, Melina, and Alexei on a mission in Ohio pretending to be a family. |
| 160 | * ''Film/LittleGiants'' - Set in Urbania. |
| 161 | * ''WebVideo/ScottTheWoz'' is set in the creator's native Ohio, and the state is not spared from the show's offbeat sense of humor. |
| 162 | * ''Film/WhiteNoise2022''- while the original novel never specifies a location, in the film adaptation, College-On-The-Hill is located in Ohio, and was shot on-location in the state. |
| 163 | [[/folder]] |
| 164 | |
| 165 | ---- |
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