Marietta: Ohio’s First Settlement

Governor Kasich choose Marietta for his sixth state of the state, delivered this week.  Marietta is the first permanent U.S. settlement in the Northwest Territory in what would become Ohio, established in 1788 with 137 original settlers.  Marietta is named for Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, ally in the Revolutionary War.

The governor’s speech took place in the historic, recently renovated People’s Bank Theater. The theater opened in 1919, and, until the renovation, sat unused since 1985.

Marietta is home to Ohio’s first female governor, Nancy Putman Hollister, wife of OMA director and former chairman Jeff Hollister, Ohio’s first first-guy.