Growing up in the early 70s, I knew I was lucky to be in Ohio. The state was home to so many innovative people and living in the Miami Valley, I grew up learning about the Wright Brothers, Charles Kettering, and the National Cash Register company. My hometown of West Alexandria was small, but thriving and built a new elementary just in time for my graduating class. Major League Baseball’s MVP Pete Rose even dropped our town to sign autographs in the mid-1970s.
And our home (pictured above) felt like heaven on earth. We were tucked away about a mile off the road, with a gravel pit in front of the house — woods and creek in the rear. I learned to drive on front end loaders and pickup trucks with ‘4 on the floor’ and ‘3 on the tree.’
It was a great place to be. (To be fair, though, we had problems — as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young succinctly reminded us in their hit song, Four Dead in Ohio.)
Ohio Presidents:
- President Warren Harding — A Lady’s Man?
- Rutherford B. Hayes & The Original, Contentious, Deceptive Presidential Election
- Ulysses S. Grant — Good Guy — Bad Crowd
- President James Garfield: Angry Diplomat Cuts Presidency Short
- William Harrison — America’s One-Month President
Stories About Ohio
Stories About Ohio Politics
Charlie R. Claywell 