Before there were cities, before there was even the state of Ohio, there was Marietta. Nestled at the meeting point of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers, it was here, in 1788, that Ohio's story begins.
Marietta was the first permanent American settlement in what would become Ohio. The city was named in honor of Marie Antoinette, the French Queen at the time, as a gesture of gratitude to France for their support during the Revolution.
General Rufus Putnam led Revolutionary War veterans from the original 13 colonies on a journey west. They called themselves the Ohio Company of Associates, an organization determined to build a new society in the wild & fertile lands of the Ohio Valley. They arrived on April 7, 1788, bringing with them the ideals of democracy, education, and order as they built their new city.
Today, Marietta is a city of heritage. From the preserved walls of Campus Martius to the quiet flow of the Ohio River, it stands as a living monument to courage, compromise, and community.