The Robinson Library
Famous Ohioans

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a city/town name in italics means the individual was born there

Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, Wapakoneta.
Kathleen Battle, opera singer, Portsmouth.
George Bellows
, painter and lithographer.
Halle Berry
, actress, Cleveland.
Albert J. Beveridge, political leader, Highland.
Ambrose Bierce, journalist, Meigs County.
Erma Bombeck, journalist/humorist.
William Boyd, actor best known for portraying Hopalong Cassidy.
Milton Caniff, cartoonist.
Drew Carey, actor/comedian, Cleveland.
John R. Commons, economist, Hollansburg.
Hart Crane, poet.
George Armstrong Custer, army officer and Indian fighter, New Rumsley.
Dorothy Dandridge, actress.
Clarence Seward Darrow, lawyer.
Doris Day, actress and singer.
Ruby Dee
, actress.
Phyllis Diller, comedian, Lima.
Rita Dove, U.S. Poet Laureate.
Hugh Downs, television news journalist.
Paul Laurence Dunbar, known as the poet laureate of African-Americans, Dayton.
Thomas Alva Edison, noted and prolific inventor, Milan.
John Evans, physician and educator, Waynesville.
Clark Gable, actor.
Cass Gilbert, architect, Zanesville.
John Gilman, the first to use x-rays in surgery, Marietta.
Lillian Gish, actress.
John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, Cambridge.
Charles Goodyear, inventor of vulcanized rubber, Akron.
Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States, Point Pleasant.
Zane Grey, author.
Warren G. Harding, President of the United States, near Blooming Grove.
Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States, near North Bend.
Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States, Delaware.
Robert Henri, painter.
Hal Holbrook, actor.
Bob Hope, comedian, Cleveland.
William Dean Howells, author and critic, Martins Ferry.
DeHart Hubbard, the first African-American to earn an Olympic gold medal, Cincinnati.
Charles Kettering, inventor of the automobile self-starter, Loudonville.
John Lambert, maker of America's first automobile, Ohio City.
Kenisaw Mountain Landis, first baseball commissioner.
John Mercer Langston, the first African-American elected to public office, Cincinnati, Brownhelm, Oberlin.
Dean Martin, singer and actor.
William McKinley, President of the United States, Niles.
Marilyn Monroe, actress, Akron.
Garrett Morgan, inventor of the traffic light, Cleveland.
Toni Morrison, Pulitzer Prize winning author, Lorain.
Paul Newman, actor, Cleveland.
Jack Nicklaus, professional golfer.
Annie Oakley, world champion sharpshooter, Darke County.
Jesse Owens, winner of four track-and-field gold medals during the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Cleveland.
Norman Vincent Peale, clergyman and author.
Luke Perry, actor, Frederickstown.
Roy J. Plunkett, inventor of Teflon, New Carlisle.
Tyrone Power, actor.
Judith Resnik, astronaut.
Eddie Rickenbacker, aviator, Columbus.
James Ritty, co-inventor of the cash register, Dayton.
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., historian.
William Tecumseh Sherman, army general.
W.F. Semple, inventor of chewing gum, Mount Vernon.
Steven Spielberg, film director, Cincinnati.
Gloria Steinem, feminist.
Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, Cincinnati.
William Howard Taft, President of the United States, Cincinnati.
Tecumseh, Shawnee Indian chief, near Columbus.
Lowell Thomas, commentator and author, Woodington.
James Thurber, author and cartoonist.
Henry Timken, inventor of the roller bearing, Canton.
Debra Winger, actress, Cleveland.
Wilbur and Orville Wright
, aviation pioneers, Dayton.
Cy Young, baseball player.

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The Robinson Library--History: America.--United States Local History.--Old Northwest. Northwest Territory.--Ohio.--General Information.

This page was last updated on 08/19/2008.