Ohio Bicentennial

From 1997 to September 2002,{{cite encyclopedia|title=Ohio Bicentennial Barns|encyclopedia=Ohio History Central|date=July 1, 2005|access-date=April 6, 2011|url=http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1725| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110427014735/http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1725| archive-date= April 27, 2011 | url-status=live}} the Committee commissioned Scott Hagan of Belmont County to paint a barn in each county with the committee's logo and colors. Nearly 2,000 barn owners volunteered their barns to be painted.{{cite web|title=Bicentennial Barns Project: General Information|publisher=Ohio Bicentennial Commission|year=2003|url=http://www.ohiobicentennial.org/barns/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031202173610/http://www.ohiobicentennial.org/barns/|archive-date=December 2, 2003}} In the end, Hagan painted 101 barns freehand, including one in each county.{{cite web|title=Ohio Bicentennial Barns|first=Mike|last=MacCarter|work=Ohio Barns|date=December 27, 2007|access-date=April 6, 2011|url=http://www.ohiobarns.com/ohbarns/}} One was destroyed by a tornado shortly after its painting and was replaced.{{cite web|title=Ottawa Co|first=Mike|last=MacCarter|work=Ohio Barns|date=July 1, 2009|access-date=April 6, 2011|url=http://www.ohiobarns.com/ohbarns/obicbarott.html}} The barn painting program was conceived as a cost-effective way to advertise: each barn cost $1,500 to paint, about $500 less than the rent for a billboard. The painted barns celebrated the state's 200th anniversary in 2003. By 2013, many of the painted barns had faded or been repainted or torn down.{{cite news|title=Some Ohio Bicentennial Logos In Barns Are Fading|work=WBNS-TV|agency=Associated Press|date=August 11, 2013|access-date=September 8, 2013|url=http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2013/08/11/oh--barns-ohio-logos.html}} Hagan went on to paint barn advertisements across the country.{{cite news|title=Ohio bicentennial barn painter Scott Hagan: Whatever happened to ...?|first1=Diane|last1=Suchetka|work=The Plain Dealer|publisher=Advance Publications|date=June 27, 2011|access-date=September 8, 2013|url=http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2011/06/ohio_bicentennial_barn_painter.html}} (The barn painting program is not to be confused with the Ohio Department of Agriculture's Bicentennial Farm program.)

The Commission also commissioned The Verdin Company of Cincinnati to cast a bronze bell on site, out in the open, in each county throughout the bicentennial year.{{cite web|title=Bicentennial Bells Project: General Information|publisher=Ohio Bicentennial Commission|year=2003|url=http://www.ohiobicentennial.org/bells/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031206075321/http://www.ohiobicentennial.org/bells/|archive-date=December 6, 2003}} Each {{convert|250|lb|adj=on}} bell took two days to cast using a mobile foundry.{{cite magazine|title="Foundry on wheels" casts bicentennial bells in Ohio counties|magazine=Modern Casting|location=Des Plaines, Illinois|publisher=American Foundry Society|volume=92|issue=10|date=October 2002|page=14|issn=0026-7562|id={{ProQuest|225617903}}}}{{cite web|publisher=Farm & Dairy|location=Salem, Ohio |title=Bells scheduled to ring in Ohio's 2003 bicentennial celebration across state|date=December 5, 2002 |url=http://www.farmanddairy.com/news/bells-scheduled-to-ring-in-ohios-2003-bicentennial-celebration-across-state/2062.html }}

During the summer of 2003, a wagon train traveled across the state on the historic National Road from Martins Ferry to the Indiana state line at New Paris.{{cite web|title=Ohio Celebrates Bicentennial-1803-2003|first1=Rickie|last1=Longfellow|publisher=Federal Highway Administration|date=April 7, 2011|access-date=September 8, 2013|url=https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/back0603.cfm}}

File:Ohio license plate sample 2001.jpg

The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles also issued a radical redesign of the state’s license plate that bore the Commission's logo to the left, the words "1803 Ohio Bicentennial 2003" across the top, and a new six-digit numbering scheme. Previously, commemorative license plates had been issued for the state's sesquicentennial in 1953 and for the Northwest Territory's sesquicentennial in 1938.

• In 2002, the United States Mint released 632,032,000 quarters commemorating Ohio's bicentennial as part of its 50 State Quarters program.{{cite news|title=Ohio Quarter Debuts Today|work=Orlando Sentinel|publisher=Tribune Publishing|date=March 11, 2002|access-date=January 1, 2015|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2002/03/11/ohio-quarter-debuts-today/}}
• In 2003, the Ohio Historical Society restored the Adena Mansion, originally the home of Thomas Worthington.{{cite encyclopedia|title=Ohio's Bicentennial|encyclopedia=Ohio History Central|publisher=Ohio Historical Society|date=May 23, 2013|access-date=September 8, 2013|url=http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Ohio%27s_Bicentennial?oldid=29843}}
• In 2000, the Commission sponsored a sculpture, Hammy Birthday Ohio, as part of Cincinnati's Big Pig Gig event. The sides of the pig-shaped sculpture depict a bicentennial barn on one side and a cornfield on the other. After the event concluded, the sculpture was moved to the Earth's Harvest Agricultural Garden at the Ohio Governor's Mansion.{{cite web|title=Hammy Birthday Ohio!|publisher=Ohio Governor's Residence and Heritage Garden|url=http://www.governorsresidence.ohio.gov/residence/favorites.aspx}}
• The Blaine Hill "S" Bridge in Blaine, the oldest standing bridge in the state, was designated the "Ohio Bicentennial Bridge".

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{{reflist|2}}

• {{cite book|title=Bicentennial Barns of Ohio: A Tribute to the Barns and Their Owners|first=Christina|last=Wilkinson|publisher=Rosewood Press|date=January 1, 2003|isbn=0-9742020-0-2}} A history of the bicentennial barns licensed by the Bicentennial Commission.
• {{cite AV media|title=Opening the Door West|date=2003|medium=television production|location=Reedsville, Ohio|publisher=Shelburne Films|url=http://www.openingthedoorwest.com/}}

{{Commons category|Ohio Bicentennial}}

• {{cite web|url=http://www.ohiobicentennial.org/ |title=Ohio Bicentennial Commission |access-date=September 8, 2013 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031224205346/http://www.ohiobicentennial.org/ |archive-date=December 24, 2003 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20030212103338/http://www.ohiobarns.com/ohbarns/ohio_barns_.htm Ohio Bicentennial Barns] – photos and addresses of Bicentennial Barns
• [http://barnartist.com/ The Barn Artist]{{spaced ndash}} website of the Bicentennial Barn artist

Category:2003 in Ohio

Category:Bicentennial anniversaries

Category:History of Ohio

Category:United States historical anniversaries