The northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) was once prized as a pet, but its sale as a cage bird was banned in the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

In 1788, General Rufus Putnam and a group of Revolutionary War veterans established Marietta as the first permanent settlement of the new United States in the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio. The original settlement, built by General Putnam and 48 men who had served under him, was called Campus Martius. It was a walled-in fortification designed to guard against potential attacks from Native Americans.

Joining the likes of Loch Ness and Lake Champlain, Ohio has its own lake monster. The first recorded sighting of Bessie occurred in 1793, with witnesses describing the creature as 30 to 40 feet long and grayish in color. There have been further sightings over the years, and Ohio seems to have embraced its cryptid: The American League hockey team in Cleveland is called the Lake Erie Monsters.

The Ohio Burgee is a triangular swallowtail flag, the only non-rectangular U.S. state flag. Its red, white, and blue elements symbolize the state's natural features and order of admission into the Union.

The first known hospital-based ambulance service was based out of Commercial Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio (now the University of Cincinnati Medical Center) in 1865. Hospital interns rode in horse drawn carriages designed specifically for transporting sick and injured patients.

Toledo is known as the "Glass City" because of its long history of glass manufacturing, including windows, bottles, windshields, construction materials, and glass art, of which the Toledo Museum of Art has a large collection.

In the late 1800s, Cincinnati was commonly referred to as the "Paris of America", due mainly to such ambitious architectural projects as the Music Hall, Cincinnatian Hotel, and Shillito Department Store.

Before Ohioan Alexander W. Livingston developed the Paragon Tomato in 1870, most Americans thought of tomatoes as small fruits with a bitter taste. The Paragon was larger and sweeter, leading Livingston to develop more than 30 other varieties of tomatoes. Livingston's work, along with that of other Ohioans boosted the popularity of the tomato with American gardeners, cooks and diners.

Fostoria is located at the convergence of Hancock, Seneca, and Wood counties. The city is known for its railroads, as 100 trains pass through the city each day.

Entomologists prefer the name ladybird beetles as these insects are not classified as true bugs.