Campus Martius Museum

601 Second Street
Marietta, OH 45750
740/373-3750 1-800/860-0145

"No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at the Muskingum"

--George Washington, 1788

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 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.

This settlement was the beginning of migration to Ohio. In the 1800s, the growth of cities and factories continued to draw people to Ohio. The museum's exhibits relate the nineteenth century movement of Ohio farm families off the farm into the cities, and the 1910-1970 migration of people from neighboring Appalachia into Ohio's industrial centers. 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.

LOCATION

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