The Establishment of Marietta

April 7, 1788:

American Pioneers to the Northwest Territory arrive at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, establishing Marietta, Ohio, as the first permanent American settlement of the newUnited States in the Northwest Territory, and opening the westward expansion of the new country.

Plaque at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio commemorating the first permanent (United States) settlement of the Northwest Territory and the first forty-eight settlers of the Ohio Company of Associates. The plaque reads:

This tablet commemorates the first permanent settlement in the territory northwest of the Ohio, consecrated to freedom by the Ordinance of 1787, and the first organization of its free institutions. Manasseh Cutlerrepresenting soldiers of the Revolutionary Army organized as “The Ohio Company of Associates” purchased from the Board of Treasury of the United States on authority granted by the Continental Congress July 27th 1787 a million and a half acres of these waste and vacant lands. The first body of settlers forty-eight in number headed by General Rufus Putnam landed at the mouth of the Muskingum on April 7th 1788. GeneralArthur St. Clair first governor reached Fort Harmar on July 9th 1788 and upon his official entry into Marietta on July 15th civil government in the Territory was established.
This photograph was taken and provided by Mr. Kevin Carr during July 2008.

American pioneers to the Northwest Territory included soldiers of the Revolution and members of the Ohio Company of Associates. During 1788 these pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta, Ohio as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory, and opened the westward expansion of the new country. General George Washington commented about these pioneers: “I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community.”
The first group of these early American pioneers to the Northwest Territory is sometimes referred to as “the forty-eight” or the “first forty-eight”, and also as the “founders of Ohio”. These first forty-eight men were carefully chosen and vetted by several of the co-founders of the Ohio Company of Associates, Rufus Putnam and Manasseh Cutler, to ensure not only men of high character and bravery, but also men with proven skills necessary to build a settlement in the wilderness.

Happy 226th Birthday to Marietta.