Ohio State Seal

Description, Symbols, Icons and Emblems of the Ohio State Seal
In 1803, William Creighton, Jr., Ohio’s first Secretary of State, joined Governor Thomas Worthington on the steps of his Adena mansion. The sun rose up over the Scioto Valley behind Mount Logan in the distance and this was was believed to be the inspiration for the central motif of the original Great Seal of the State of Ohio. The description and meaning of the symbols, icons and emblems are as follows:

	The beautiful landscape of the state is illuminated by the rays of the rising sun. The 13 rays of the sun represent the original thirteen states shining over the first state of the Northwest Territory
	The sun rising on the horizon symbolizes Ohio's hope for the future
	The full sheaf of wheat on cultivated fields symbolizes agriculture and bounty.
	In heraldry a wheatsheaf is called a garb and it symbolizes that harvest of one's hopes has been secured
	The cluster of seventeen arrows, symbolizes Ohio's admittance as the seventeenth of the United States of America. In heraldry an arrow symbolizes readiness for battle.
	The seal is kept and used as required by the Constitution and laws of the state.

Ohio & the Seal for the Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio
The Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio (the Old Northwest) covered more than 260,000 square miles and consisted of the modern states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, as well as northeastern Minnesota. The first recorded use of The seal of the Northwest Territory (the Old Northwest) was in a proclamation made on July 26, 1788. Congress passed legislation on May 8, 1792, that directed the U.S. Secretary of State to "provide proper seals for the several and respective public offices in the said Territories". The Great Ohio seal was introduced when the state was admitted to the Union.

The Ohio Seal of 1876
This is an early flyer depicting the 1876 design of the Ohio seal which is very similar to the modern version. The pictures surrounding the seal represent the importance of agriculture to the early economy of the state especially in relation to cattle ranching. The other picture depicts the cultivation of hops used primarily for brewing beer. Ohio brewed more beer than almost any of the other states. The image shows the the trellis on which the hops bines grew and flowered. Every spring the roots produced new bines that would be started up strings that were attached from the ground to an overhead trellis.