Ohio calls itself the "birthplace of aviation," and that boast is no flight of fancy: The Midwestern state can back up its bragging big time. Not only were aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright born in Dayton, but they grew up in a town only 60 miles (97 km) from Wapakoneta, Ohio, the birthplace of Neil Armstrong. For those spacing out on astronaut adventures, Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon, which he did as a member of NASA's Apollo 11 mission in July 1969. Ohio taught Armstrong to love flying early on, with a trip to the Cleveland Air Races when he was just two years old. That was followed by his first trip in a plane at age five -- also, of course, in Ohio. If that's not enough, keep in mind that Ohio can also crow about being home to the National Museum of the United States Air Force, the oldest and largest military aviation museum in the world, Like the birthplace of those brave Wright brothers, the museum is also in Dayton. Not to be outdone, Armstrong's hometown of Wapakoneta has the Armstrong Air and Space Museum.
Only in Ohio:
- Ohio was the first U.S. state to install a traffic light; it happened in Cleveland on August 5, 1914.
- John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, was also born in Ohio. Glenn represented Ohio in the U.S. Senate for 25 years.
- Ohio is also the birthplace of seven U.S. presidents: Ulysses S.Grant, James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, and Warren G. Harding.