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Campus Martius
Campus Martius was the Northwest Territory's first organized settlement. Begun in 1788 on a bluff
overlooking the Muskingum River, this fort played home to early pioneers while they established Marietta on the flat
plain below. The promise of land and freedom brought many, including Revolutionary War veterans, to the territory.
Until 1790, Campus Martius served as the seat of government for territorial governor Arthur St. Clair who convened
the first court of justice to uphold territorial laws. Campus Martius was completed in 1791, the same year the
freedoms of the Northwest Ordinance were protected within the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution.
The lower level of the museum goes beyond early settlement, featuring the exhibit Paradise Found and Lost: Migration
in the Ohio Valley, 1850-1970. It explores two later waves of migration that shaped the state's history: the
movement of many rural Ohioans to cities between 1850 and 1910, and the influx of Appalachians from Kentucky and
West Virginia into Ohio's industrial centers such as Dayton and Akron between 1910 and 1970.
Campus Martius is one of more than sixty sites operated by the Ohio Historical Society. The Ohio
Historical Society is a private, nonprofit organization that serves as the state's partner in
preserving and interpreting Ohio's history, archaeology, and natural history.
Questions about Campus Martius or Ohio River Museum? Call 740-373-3750 or 800-860-0145.
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