OHIO IN KNEE PANTS
by VIRGINIUS
C. HALL
Director, Historical and
Philosophical Society of Ohio
Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen:
Here in Columbus on December 31, 1831,
there was formed
the first historical society west of the
mountains. That Society,
the Historical and Philosophical Society
of Ohio, later removed
to Cincinnati. So in coming to Columbus
as the representative
of that Society, I am coming back to the
birthplace, back to the
old home town, back to our raising.
It seemed to your committee and me that
it might be appro-
priate to bring out this evening some
impressions of our region
as it was at the time the Historical and
Philosophical Society was
founded--i. e., the decade of the
1830's. Ohio by that time had
come out of its pinafores and was
running about in knee pants.
A disproportionate share of this talk is
going to revolve
around Cincinnati, not because my bump
of narrow civic con-
sciousness is overdeveloped, but rather
because some aspects of
life in Ohio which I want to talk about
are best illustrated in
Cincinnati newspapers and periodicals.
The ambition and desire for improvement
which impelled
gentlemen of the State to establish a
historical society in the
1830's are traits highly characteristic
of our region at that time.
Everybody knows that people were coming
out here because the
desire for personal improvement could be
gratified best in a new
country. That lust evinced itself in a
multitude of ways. News-
papers and travelers' accounts convey
the impression of restless
energy, of a region with a head full of
extravagant dreams,
erratic passions, and a willingness to
try anything--the charac-
teristics of a boy in knee pants.