Chillicothe ( CHIL-ih-KOTH-ee) is a city in and the county chair of Ross County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Scioto River 45 miles (72 km) south of Columbus, Chillicothe was the first and third capital of Ohio. It is the by yourself city in Ross County and is the center of the Chillicothe micropolitan area. The population was 22,059 at the 2020 census. Chillicothe is a designated Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation.

The region re Chillicothe was the middle of the ancient Hopewell tradition, which flourished from 200 BC until 500 AD. This Amerindian culture had trade routes extending to the Rocky Mountains. They built earthen mounds for ceremonial and burial purposes throughout the Scioto and Ohio River valleys.

Later Native Americans who inhabited the Place through the period of European get into included Shawnees. Present-day Chillicothe is the most recent of seven locations in Ohio that bore the name, because it was applied to the main town wherever the Chalakatha settled. Other population centers named Chillicothe in Ohio at one time include: one located at present-day Piqua, in Miami County; one located south of present-day Circleville, Pickaway County, on the Scioto River; a third about three miles (4.8 km) north of Xenia in Greene County, Ohio; a fourth at present-day Frankfort, Ross County, on Paint Creek; and a fifth as well as located in Ross County, at Hopetown, three miles north of avant-garde Chillicothe.

In 1758 a deal was customary at this site by Shawnee Indians who had been irritated to abandon their village of Lower Shawneetown after it was destroyed by floods in November of that year. A outfit of Shawnees from Logstown also joined them.