alphabetical / by state
56 Traditional Schools in Ohio
There may be no more quintessentially American state than Ohio. Part of the Northwest Territory - the region won from France by Great Britain before the American Revolution, which subsequently passed into the hands of the United States - Ohio was part of America’s first frontier, the first land Americans settled into free of British or French influence. As a valuable passageway from the east coast to the Midwest, Ohio became a crucial trade route and a dynamic mix of cultures. Both Southern and Northern (though admitted as a free state in 1803), and mixing urban and rural, wealthy and impoverished, Ohio’s religious and cultural diversity have made it a crucial swing state in American elections, as well as a critical bellwether state that usually predicts the mood of the country in general. It’s a great rarity that a candidate wins the Presidency without winning Ohio.
While, like other Midwestern states, Ohio was originally heavily dependent on agriculture, the state embraced manufacturing and industry in a big way, and developed a number of manufacturing centers, including Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Toledo. Ohio has widely been noted as one of the most business-friendly states in the union, attracting industries ranging from bioscience to automotive manufacturing. Much of Ohio’s success is due to its excellent higher education, which includes some of the strongest STEM research universities in America, and some of the nation’s most prestigious liberal arts colleges.
Ohio’s standouts include The Ohio State University and Case Western Reserve University, a major public and a major private research university, respectively. Together they have helped define higher education research in STEM and business, graduating top-rated professionals for Ohio’s business and industrial sectors. Meanwhile, nationally and internationally-known liberal arts colleges like Kenyon College, Oberlin College, and Xavier University have kept classical education current and relevant. It’s through education excellence like this that Ohio stays at the forefront of American life.