Description: Domed building constructed for the centennial of the Northwest Territory at the Ohio State Fair, held in Columbus, Ohio, 1888. 1888 marked the centennial of an important event in Ohio's history--the creation of the Northwest Territory. Ohio became the first state formed from the Northwest Territory in 1803. Ohio cancelled the State Fair in 1888 and held a celebration of the centennial of the Northwest Territory in its place. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04166
Subjects: Northwest Territory--History; Cultural Ohio--Popular Culture; Expositions and fairs
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Photograph of the Executive Journal of the Northwest Territory, 1788-1803. This journal served as a record of all official actions and communications of the territorial government, as kept by secretaries Winthrop Sargent from July 9, 1788 to May 31, 1798; by William Henry Harrison from June 28, 1798 to October 1, 1799 and by Charles Willing Byrd from December 31, 1799 to January 15, 1803. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02976
Subjects: Northwest Territory--Politics and government; Ohio History
Places: Northwest Territory
 

Description: Caption below the photograph reads: "View of a special day parade, showing horse car blockade." Caption on back of the photograph reads: "One of numerous parades during Northwest Terr. Centenial Celebration (1888). Shows blockade of horse cars on High St." In 1888, Ohioans celebrated the centennial of the land that would become the State of Ohio. 1888 marked the centennial of an important event in Ohio's history -- the creation of the Northwest Territory. Ohio became the first state formed from the Northwest Territory in 1803. Ohio cancelled the State Fair in 1888 and held a celebration of the centennial of the Northwest Territory in its place. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B05F04C_004_1
Subjects: Northwest Territory; Parades & processions; Floats (Parades)
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: This image is an engraved portrait of Major Ebenezer Denny (1761-1882), Revolutionary War soldier and first mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In this portrait, Denny is wearing a ruffled shirt and a high-collared waistcoat and coat. This engraving appears opposite the title page of his book "Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny, An Officer in the Revolutionary and Indian Wars" (1859), published in Philadelphia. Denny was born March 11, 1761, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and joined the Continental Army in 1778. He witnessed the British surrender at the 1781 Siege of Yorktown (Yorktown, Virginia) and wrote a description of that event in his war journal. It is one of the most frequently quoted accounts of the event. After the Revolutionary War, Denny also witnessed two of the worst military defeats of U.S. military forces by American Indians: Harmar’s Campaign and St. Clair’s Defeat. Both events occurred in the Northwest Territory, in present-day Ohio. In fall 1790, Josiah Harmar, commander of the U.S. army in the Northwest Territory, was stationed at Fort Washington (present-day Cincinnati). He received orders from Secretary of War Henry Knox to end the threat of American Indian attack in western Ohio. Harmar marched from Fort Washington with 320 regular soldiers and roughly 1,100 militiamen, primarily from Pennsylvania and Kentucky. The militiamen were poorly trained and badly equipped, and the U.S. forces were soundly defeated in a series of battles with the American Indian forces led by Miami chief Mishikinakwa (Little Turtle). Following Harmar's defeat, native attacks against settlers increased. In 1791, Major-General Arthur St. Clair, governor of the Northwest Territory, led another campaign against the American Indian tribes in western Ohio, hoping to succeed where Harmar had failed. Lieutenant Ebenezer Denny was St. Clair’s aide-de-camp. St. Clair ordered the construction of forts in what is now western Ohio. He and his men left Fort Washington in September 1791. After a two-day journey, the troops stopped and built Fort Hamilton. Then they advanced forty-five miles northward and built Fort Jefferson. From the beginning of his campaign, St. Clair had trouble with his poorly trained and demoralized troops. Although it was still early fall, his men faced cold temperatures, rain, snowfall, and insufficient food. Despite these problems, St. Clair continued to advance against the Miami natives. By November 3, his men had arrived on the banks of the Wabash River, near some of the Miami villages. The next day Little Turtle, along with Shawnee chief Weyapiersenwah (Blue Jacket), led a large alliance of seasoned volunteer warriors from nine different American Indian tribes against the U.S. troops and soundly defeated them. In his account of the day’s events, Denny wrote, “The ground was literally covered with the dead.” The battle known as “St. Clair’s Defeat” remains the worst defeat of the U.S. Army at the hands of American Indians. On November 19, Denny left for Philadelphia, where he had the unenviable task of informing President George Washington and Secretary of War Knox of the defeat. Washington demanded that St. Clair resign from the army. St. Clair did so on April 7, 1792, but remained governor of the Northwest Territory. In 1794, Washington dispatched General Anthony Wayne to succeed where St. Clair had failed. Wayne defeated the Native Americans at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in August 1794. In 1795, most natives in modern-day Ohio signed the Treaty of Greeneville, relinquishing all of their land holdings in Ohio except what is now the northwestern corner of the state. Denny continued his military service until 1794, when he resigned his commission and settled near Pittsburgh. He entered local politics and held several offices before being elected the city’s first mayor in 1816. He resigned the office in 1817 because of ill health. He died in July 1822. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07028
Subjects: American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783; Kekionga, Battle of, Ohio, 1791; American Indians--Warfare; Northwest Territory--History; Veterans; Mayors
Places: Carlisle (Pennsylvania); Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania);
 

Description: Portrait of Winthrop Sargent by Gilbert Stuart. Winthrop Sargent (May 1, 1753 – June 3, 1820) was a United States politician, soldier and writer. He was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard University in 1771. With the outbreak of the American Revolution, he joined the Continental Army and attained the rank of major by the war's end. In 1786, Sargent helped survey the Seven Ranges of townships in what is now eastern Ohio. Using the knowledge that he had attained while surveying parts of the Ohio Country, he helped organize the Ohio Company and Associates. He also was one of the principal shareholders of the Scioto Company. He became secretary of the Ohio Company in 1787 and assisted Manasseh Cutler in securing land from the Confederation Congress. That same year, the Congress appointed Sargent as the secretary of the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio. He accompanied some of the first Ohio Company settlers to Marietta in 1788. During the late 1780s and early 1790s, Sargent played a major role in the governance of the Northwest Territory. Governor Arthur St. Clair was commonly away from his position, and Sargent served as de facto governor in his absence. He also served under St. Clair in his expedition against the American Indians living in western Ohio in 1791. At St. Clair's Defeat on November 4, 1791, Sargent was twice wounded but survived. In 1798, Winthrop Sargent resigned as secretary of the Northwest Territory to accept an appointment as the first governor of the Mississippi Territory. Sargent was a devoted member of the Federalist Party. In 1801, Thomas Jefferson, founder of the Democratic-Republican Party, became President of the United States. Jefferson removed Sargent from the governor's seat due to their differing political views. Sargent then retired from public life. He died in 1820 in New Orleans or aboard a steamboat on the Mississippi Rivers at Natchez, according to varying accounts. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL07518
Subjects: Ohio History--Military Ohio; American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783; Ohio Company (1786-1795); Northwest Territory--History; Ohio--Politics and government
 

Description: The tomb of John Cleves Symmes (1742-1814). Symmes would come to be a prominent figure in the history of the early United States. He served some time in Congress and was also at one time a judge for the state of New Jersey. Symmes would eventually decide that it would be a good idea to start a settlement in what is today Ohio, pooling money together with others to acquire land out in the rugged frontier. Despite his good investment, there were glaring issues that soon cropped up and caused him trouble. Because of his disregard for policies about land ownership, there were cases where many people paid Symmes for land he didn't even own, which became a disaster for these settlers. Because of this disaster, private owners were no longer able to buy up land and then sell it. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06776
Subjects: Symmes, John Cleves, 1742-1814; Northwest Territory--History; Northwest Territory--Politics and government; Land settlement--Ohio
Places: Northwest Territory; North Bend (Ohio); Hamilton County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated ca. 1930-1943, this photograph shows a model of Gutzon Borglum's model for the Northwest Territory Monument. Gutzon Borglum was an American artist and sculptor famous for creating the monumental presidents' heads at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, the famous carving on Stone Mountain near Atlanta, as well as other public works of art. A note on the photograph's reverse reads "Code: D 11 Class: Colleges & Art Galleries Ident: Borglum's model for North-west Territory Monument, Marietta-a WPA project Location: Marietta." This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B10F04_040_001
Subjects: Northwest Territory; Monuments & memorials; Sculpture; Works Progress Administration
Places: Marietta (Ohio); Washington County (Ohio)
 

Description: Mrs. Elmer Fulton, descendent, unveiling memorial marker to Governor Charles Willing Byrd, appointed Secretary of the Northwest Territory in 1798, then Governor of the Northwest Territory in 1802, October 19, 1941, Sinking Spring, Highland County, Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL00288
Subjects: Northwest Territory--Politics and government; Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood
Places: Sinking Spring (Ohio)
 

Description: Map drawn ca. 1785 by Manasseh Cutler (1742-1823) entitled "A map of the Federal Territory from the Western Boundary of Pennsylvania to the Scioto River laid down from the latest Informations and divided into Townships and fractional parts of Townships agreeably to the Ordinance of the Hon[orab]le Congress passed in May 1785." Visible on the map is an inset of a plan for the city of Marietta, Ohio, which would be founded in April of 1788. This map was originally offered for sale with an accompanying pamphlet in 1788 to encourage immigrants to purchase lands from the Ohio Company in the newly-settled Northwest Territory. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: MAPVFM_0003_2
Subjects: Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood; Northwest Territory--History; Maps--Ohio; Surveying;
Places: Northwest Territory; Ohio;
 

Description: This color image shows a stone marker denoting Zane's Trace, a travel route, and Treber Inn, which provided lodging for travelers during the early 19th century. The marker, made of pinkish stone, reads: "Zane Trace, Ohio's first highway and mail route authorized by Congress in 1796 / Marked and cleared in 1797 by Col. Ebenezer Zane / A blazed trail, it became the route of the old stage line from Maysville to Wheeling used by noted statesmen to and from the Southwest and Washington. "Tremor Inn, Erected in 1797. Became "traveler's rest" in 1798 / Here, for over sixty years, distinguished guests and weary foot travelers found entertainment / Nearby, in 1793, Asahel Edgington was slain by Indians / the first white man killed in Adams County. "Erected by Adams County Historical Society 1933." Zane's Trace was an early road in the Northwest Territory that connected Wheeling, Virginia, to Limestone, Kentucky (present-day Maysville). It was a major road in early Ohio until well after the War of 1812. In 1796, Ebenezer Zane petitioned Congress for permission to build a road through the region, with the stipulation that the American government would grant him land where the road crossed the Muskingum, Hocking, and Scioto Rivers. The government agreed to his terms and required the road to be open by January 1, 1797. It was widely believed that a road would encourage increased trade and settlement in Ohio. Zane's Trace was more a trail than a road. Zane used existing Native American trails wherever possible and cut down trees to create a primitive path. Tomepomehala, an Indian guide, helped Zane plot the road. Prior to Ohio's statehood, Zane's Trace was not accessible by wagon. It was so narrow and rough that it was only passable on foot or on horseback. Zane built ferries at each of the river crossings and profited from the travel over the road. A small town began to develop where the ferry was located at the mouth of the Licking River. It came to be known as Zanesville. After Ohio became a state in 1803, the state legislature set aside money to improve the road. The goal was to make Zane's Trace accessible to wagons. By 1804, trees had been cut down to make the road twenty feet wide. Logs were laid across marshy areas to create corduroy roads, and several bridges were built. It was now possible to travel by wagon from Wheeling to Chillicothe, although many tree stumps were still standing in the middle of the road. People who traveled the road began to refer to it by a number of different names, including the Wheeling Road, the Wheeling-Limestone Road, or just the Limestone Road, rather than Zane's Trace. Zane's Trace encouraged significant economic and population growth in the Northwest Territory and the young state of Ohio. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06963
Subjects: Historical marker; Zane's Trace (Ohio); Zane, Ebenezer, 1747-1812; Transportation--Ohio--History; Northwest Territory; Adams County (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio)
Places: New Concord (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio); Adams County (Ohio)
 

Description: Portrait of Arthur St. Clair (1734-1818). St. Clair served as governor of the Northwest Territory from 1788 to 1802. As Ohio moved towards statehood, St. Clair actively opposed Ohio's admittance to the United States. He hoped that what is now Ohio would not become a single state but rather two states. Thomas Worthington, Nathaniel Massie, Michael Baldwin, and several others urged President Thomas Jefferson, the founder of the Democratic-Republican Party, to make Ohio a state. Jefferson and the Democratic-Republican-controlled United States Congress responded by issuing the Enabling Act of 1802. This act called on the people of Ohio to form a constitutional convention and to fulfill the other requirements of the Northwest Ordinance to become a state. St. Clair denounced the Enabling Act. Jefferson responded by removing St. Clair as governor. Ohio became the seventeenth state of the United States on February 19, 1803. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SC4029_001
Subjects: Governors; Northwest Territory--Politics and government; Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood; St. Clair, Arthur, 1734-1818;
Places: Northwest Territory; Ohio
 

Description: Governor's portrait of Arthur St. Clair (1736-1818) that hangs in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. St. Clair served as governor of the Northwest Territory from 1788 to 1802, and actively opposed Ohio's admittance to the United States. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04038
Subjects: Governors; Northwest Territory--History; Ohio History--Settlement and Early Statehood
Places: Northwest Territory