Campus Martius Museum

The Campus Martius Museum highlights migration in Ohio's history. The museum is on the site of the first organized American settlement in the Northwest Territory. Founded by the Ohio Company of Associates in 1788, Campus Martius was a fort that served as home for some of the pioneers while they established Marietta. The restored Rufus Putnam house, part of the original fort, is now enclosed within a wing of the museum. Behind the museum is the Ohio Company's Land Office.

Exhibits on the main floor of the museum pertain to this early settlement and contain many of the original pioneer artifacts. They explore the prehistoric Indian populations that occupied this area and relations with the historic Indians as the white settlers moved in. These exhibits also deal with the organization of the Ohio Company of Associates, surveying of the land, early government in the old Northwest Territory, and life in eighteenth century Marietta. A separate area exhibits a variety of material from the Marietta area down through the years, from items of household furnishings, to toys, to tools, to fire prevention equipment.

The focus of the exhibit Paradise Found and Lost: Migration in the Ohio Valley, 1850-1970 goes beyond Ohio's early settlement. 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 indutrial centers such as Dayton and Akron between 1910 and 1970.

The exhibit includes 90 objects from OHS collections, ranging from an early mechanized seed drill to a jacket worn during performances by contemporary country music singer Dwight Yoakam, the son of Appalachian emmigrants. In addition to artifacts, exhibits contain audio accounts taken from diaries and journals kept by these people on the move, video views of factory and city life, and interactive computer programs showing migration patterns and Ohio's economic development.

A changing exhibit gallery presents temporary exhibits on various topics pertaining to the overall museum theme throughout the course of the year. Please call for the latest scheduled exhibits or look at the Society's calendar.

A classroom allows OHS educators to present workshops as well as to conduct distance learning sessions for Ohio school classrooms through computer networks such as Ohio SchoolNet.

Location
Campus Martius Museum is at the corner of Washington (State Route 7) and Second streets in Marietta (Washington County).

Handicapped Accessibility
The museum is handicapped accessible. The 2nd floor of the Putnam House and the Ohio Company Land Office are not. One wheelchair is available free for use on site.

Call to arrange group/school/bus tours.

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