>A Historical Guidebook to Old Columbus
Finding the Past in the Present in Ohio’s Capital City
Bob Hunter
Photographs by Lucy S. Wolfe
Ohio University Press Athens
To Andrew Miller, who lives within these pages.
Preface
As Columbus, Ohio, celebrates its bicentennial, this book takes you on a historical tour of the city, stopping at each address, street corner, park, or riverbank where history was made. In some cases, the original building or site is unchanged; in others, no trace remains of what was there before. But in all cases, we’ve tried to pinpoint the location as accurately as possible.
The definition of “history” is subjective. Some events are obviously important: no one would deny that Abraham Lincoln’s funeral procession down High Street was a historical highlight. But in addition to political history—the“Theodore Roosevelt spoke here” stuf—we’ve also included some social and entertainment history. If you want to know where Bob Dylan is rumored to have spent the night, you can find it in these pages.
Many rare and historic photos illuminate the city’s past, and for many sites, contemporary photos of what is there now ofer readers a before-and-after perspective on how and why these sites have changed.
The book is divided into seventeen chapters, each corresponding to a diferent section of the city—Statehouse Square, German Village, Franklinton, and so on—and the sites visited in each chapter are numbered and located on maps that enable the reader to find the spots described. But the chapters are not meant to provide specific walking tours, though readers are encouraged to plot their own with the aid of the maps.
Each chapter opens with an intriguing and entertaining story that precedes the site listings for that section of town. We’ve tried to make understanding the city’s rich history as much fun as possible.
Like Columbus itself, the city’s history is underrated. For those who think Columbus is the definition of “average,” for those who can’t distinguish the city from a hundred other places, this book promises a lot of surprises.
Acknowledgments
A book such as this one could never be compiled by one or two people. The eforts of scores of people over the past two hundred years were necessary to bring this project to fruition.
There is some original research here—some—but the authors owe a debt of gratitude to all of the local historians over the past two centuries who either preserved the unfolding history around them or dug up information that might have been lost.
William T. Martin wrote his History of Franklin County in 1858, using primary sources and his personal acquaintance with many early residents to leave us with an image of what life was like in Columbus in the era before the Civil War. He was followed by Jacob H. Studer, Lida Rose McCabe, Alfred E. Lee, and others, local historians and writers who either introduced new material or expanded on the old with their research and experience. Without the base of knowledge provided by all those early historians, this book would not have been possible.
When this book was still a germ of an idea, we read Bill Arter’s four volumes of Columbus Vignettes and were fascinated both by his drawings and by the research that underlay the stories. Arter’s feature ran in the Sunday Magazine of the Columbus Dispatch in the 1960s and early 1970s, and that feature formed the basis of those books. Not only did Bill have an eye for history and art, but he also knew how to spot a good story and dig into it. His work uncovering and preserving those tales for later generations was invaluable. Some of them are retold here, and he deserves our thanks.
Since then, many local historians have enlarged our base of knowledge. While it would be impossible to name them all, several immediately spring to mind: Ben Hayes, Ed Lentz, Dick Barrett, Phil Sheridan, and Bob Thomas. Columbus Clippers historian Joe Santry also merits mention here; he has an extensive knowledge of sports history in the Columbus area and is always willing to help.
Although we are deeply indebted to local historians for providing us with a wealth of material, we must also rely on the judgments they made in accepting what they believed to be accurate accounts of places and events in local history. An example of this reliance is the acceptance of what are reputed to be various stops on the Underground Railroad noted in these pages. Because the act of helping runaway slaves reach freedom was done in secrecy, there is often little concrete evidence to prove which homes sheltered these fugitives. This information was often passed by word of mouth, and legend sometimes trumps truth in this oral reporting of history. As one of our editors noted early in this process, if there were as many stations on the Underground Railroad as there seem to have been, it would not have to have been underground. We have tried to objectively weigh the merits of these claims and use the ones that seem most plausible. But readers should be aware of the possibility that myths can be perpetuated for generations.
The staf of the Columbus Metropolitan Library have been generous with their time throughout the writing and preparation of this book. Particular thanks go to Nick Taggart, Bonnie Chandler, and Andrew “Andy” Miller. Miller died while this book was being written, and his loss is keenly felt by all of us. Taggart was especially helpful with the library’s photo archives, and many of the fine photos in these pages are here because of his help, but he was also quick to provide a historical answer whenever possible. CML research provided by the late Sam Roshon has been invaluable.
We would also like to extend our heartfelt thanks to John F. Wolfe, publisher of the Columbus Dispatch, for allowing us to use several photos from the Walter D. Nice collection. Nice was a photographer for the Ohio State Journal and/or the Columbus Dispatch from 1906 to 1958 and was considered the dean of the city’s news photographers. He entered the business when photographers still used flash powder instead of bulbs and had to ride streetcars to get to their assignments. We are especially appreciative of the help given us by Linda Deitch, archive and collection manager of the Columbus Dispatch library. Dispatch editor Benjamin J. Marrison and Dispatch library director Julie Albert also were kind enough to assist in this process.
Thanks are also due to Rebecca Felkner at the Grandview Heights Public Library, who generously provided photos from the Columbus Citizen-Journal photo collection for use in this book.
We also want to extend our gratitude to Jay and Genie Hoster of the Tri-Village Book Company in Grandview. Jay is a member of the Hoster brewing family. They were both on the board of trustees of the Columbus Historical Society, and they are experts on local history. In addition to their knowledge of local history, they are also first-rate editors; they found numerous mistakes in the first draft of this manuscript. Their assistance was invaluable.
Columbus Historical Society president Doug Motz also gave the manuscript an early read and provided considerable insight. Motz did this while he was both helping orchestrate the historical society’s move from its Jeferson Avenue building to COSI and getting married, and we appreciate the time he took out of his busy schedule to help us with this project.
Special thanks are also extended to Bruce F. Wolfe, Chris Lewie, Bruce Warner, Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessy, David Myers, Arnett Howard, Elizabeth Hamrick, Tom Glass, Bryan Boatright, Lisa Haldi Gorman, Whitney B. Dillon, Fritz Harding, John Haldi, Franklin County Recorder Daphne Hawk, Lisa Minken of the Columbus Academy of the Performing Arts, Father Joshua Wagner of the Community of Holy Rosary and St. John the Evangelist, Jillian Carney of the Ohio Historical Society, Rebecca Jewett of the Ohio State Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Father Kevin Lutz of Holy Family Church, Georgeanne Reuter of the Kelton House, Susan Mansfield of the Columbus chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Lucy Ackley and Christine Neubauer from the development office at Columbus School for Girls, and Jennie McCormick of the Worthington Historical Society for providing photos and/or information and expertise.
Finally, we are especially grateful to Tad Jefrey, Jameson Crane, Richard Wolfe, Norina Wolfe, and Michael P. and Linda A. Stickney for providing financial support to this project.
This book has been more than two hundred years in the making, and we hope that its many contributors are as proud to be part of it as we are.
Bob