Delaware

Delaware dĕl´ewâr, -wer , city (1990 pop. 20,030), seat of Delaware co., central Ohio, on the Olentangy River; inc. as a city 1903. A trade center in a fertile farm area, it also has some manufacturing. Ohio Wesleyan Univ. is in Delaware, which is also the birthplace of President Rutherford B. Hayes. During the War of 1812, the city served as Gen. William Henry Harrison 's headquarters.

Delaware, USA A state, two towns in Ohio and Oklahoma, a river, and a bay; in the state itself is Delaware City. Named after Sir Thomas West (1577–1618), 12th Baron De La Warr, first governor of Virginia (1610–11). The Dutch were the first to arrive in Delaware in 1631, but the first permanent settlement was made by Swedes in 1638; they called their territory New Sweden. The Dutch from New Amsterdam took the area in 1655 but yielded it nine years later to the English. It then became part of New York until 1682. Although the name Delaware had been in use since 1610 for the bay and gradually thereafter for the surrounding area, the name did not become official for the colony until the Revolution broke out in 1775. Because Delaware was the first to ratify the constitution in 1787 it is known as the First State. The Delaware tribe of Algonquian‐speaking Native Americans, also known as the Lenni Lenape, were given their name because they lived in the Delaware River valley.