First Principal Meridian Initial Point, Ohio

This Initial Point was established for the survey of northwest Ohio, an area covering less than 1/6th of the state. Ohio was a surveying proving ground in the late 18th century, as the federal land survey got going. Starting from the Point of Beginning in 1785, the survey was complicated by unsettled Indian treaties, and previous territorial claims. The state was divided into several different surveyed areas by the time it joined the union in 1803. The federal land survey was back on track by 1819, when this First Principal Meridian (north/south line) was established, becoming the western edge of Ohio, and the eastern edge of Indiana, a straight line 175 miles long. The monument lies under the asphalt of a north/south road that straddles the state line, and is occasionally dug out for surveyors. It is one of the earliest of the 37 federal survey points of origin covering the USA (outside of the 13 original colonies), known as Initial Points, selected over a span of 150 years, to anchor newly acquired federal land to the legal and cartographic grid.