Governor Portraits

The Governors portraits were painted to benefit the people of Ohio - telling "the story" of our great state. Over the years some of the early Governors of Ohio were painted by various portrait artists in a hit or miss fashion, and some of these found their way into what was then a motley collection of works housed at the Statehouse.

In 1867, Governor Rutherford B. Hayes decided to form a permanent and proper collection of Ohio Governor's portraits to hang in what was a new Capitol building. His vision was to ensure that the history of Ohio and its leaders was not lost. Prior to 1867, only a few of the past Governors had been painted. After collecting any graphical representations that were available from the past governors, Hayes set out to complete the collection of those that were missing.

Prior to Ohio being admitted to the Union, Arthur St. Clair served as the first Territorial Governor of the N.W. Territory, which Ohio was carved. St. Clair served as the territory's governor until shortly prior to the end of the territorial form of government in 1802. Ohio became the 17th state admitted to the Union on March 1, 1803.

The most recent portrait to be added to the Statehouse art collection was that of Ohio's 67th Governor, Bob Taft. The Taft portrait was unveiled and hung on March 27, 2007.

From 1803-1954, each governor was elected to a two-year term. In 1954, a state constitutional amendment extended the governor's time in office from a two-year term to a four-year term, although no governor could serve more than two successive terms. In 1992, another constitutional amendment limited Ohio's governor to a total of two four-year terms.

Edwin Tiffin 1803-1807	Thomas Kirker 1807-1808	Samuel Huntington 1808-1810	Return Jonathon Meigs 1810-1814	Othniel Looker 1814	Thomas Worthington 1814-1818
Ethan Allen Brown 1818-1822	Allen Trimble 1822	Jeremiah Morrow 1822-1826	Allen Trimble 1826-1830	Duncan McArthur 1830-1832	Robert Lucas 1832-1836
Joseph Vance 1836-1838	Wilson Shannon 1838-1844	Thomas Corwin 1840-1842	Wilson Shannon 1838-1844	Thomas Bartley 1844	Mordecai Bartley 1844-1846
William Bebb 1846-1848	Seabury Ford 1848-1850	Ruben Wood 1850-1853	William Medill 1853-1856	Salmon P. Chase 1856-1860	William Dennison 1860-1862
David Tod 1862-1864	John Brough 1864-1865	Charles Anderson 1865-1866	Jacob Dolson Cox 1866-1868	Rutherford B. Hayes 1868-1872	Edward Noyes 1872-1874
William Allen 1874-1876	Rutherford B. Hayes 1876-1877	Thomas Young 1877-1878	Richard M. Bishop 1878-1880	Charles Foster 1880-1884	George Hoadly 1884-1885
Joseph Foraker 1886-1890	James Edwin Campbell 1890-1892	William McKinley 1892-1896	Asa Smith Bushnell 1896-1900	George K. Nash 1900-1904	Myron T. Herrick 1904-1906
John M. Pattison 1906	Andrew Harris 1906-1909	Judson Harmon 1909-1913	James M. Cox 1913-1915	Frank Willis 1915-1917	James M. Cox 1917-1921
Harry Davis 1921-1923	A. Victor Donahey 1923-1929	Myers Y. Cooper 1929-1931	George White 1931-1935	Martin L Davey 1935-1939	John W. Bricker 1939-1945
Frank J. Lausche 1945-1947	Thomas J. Herbert 1947-1949	Frank J. Lausche 1949-1957	John W. Brown 1957	C. William O'Neill 1957-1959	Michael V. Disalle 1959-1963
James Rhodes 1963-1971	John J. Gilligan 1971-1975	James Rhodes 1975-1983	Richard F. Celeste 1983-1991	George V. Voinovich 1990-1998	Nancy P. Hollister 1998-1999
Bob Taft 1999-2007