Ohio marks 200 years as 17th state.

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It's a birthday party of almost epic proportions. Ohio began celebrating 200 years of statehood this summer. And the birthday bash will continue through October.

In preparation for the gala, dozens of community historical markers were erected. And at least one barn in every Ohio county was painted with the bicentennial logo.

A joint session March 1 of the Ohio General Assembly in Chillicothe, the site of the first Statehouse, observed the anniversary of the nation's 17th state. Presiding over the occasion was Senate President Doug White, a 12-year legislator whose ancestors arrived in Ohio in 1788.

But it was the average citizen who was celebrated as Ohio marked its bicentennial. "Ohio's glory lay in the ordinariness of its citizens," said Andrew Cayton, Miami University history professor. And in the audience were descendants of early pioneers, like Representative Nancy Putnam Hollister, whose ancestor, Rufus Putnam, helped settle the Northwest Territory from which Ohio was carved.

Speaker Larry Householder told of how his...