Forgotten Columbus

Andrew Henderson

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2002
• Print ISBN: 9780738519616
• eBook ISBN: 9781439613429
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

A fascinating and insightful look at a forgotten era in Columbus, Ohio's history, today the state's largest city with a robust and exciting past. Columbus, Ohio, "an odd amalgam of the planned and the spontaneous," was founded on the banks of the Scioto River in 1812 as the new seat of this young state's government. Located in the wilderness of central Ohio, nearly equidistant to the "real" cities of Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Toledo, Columbus experienced 100 years of unprecedented growth from which it would emerge the state's capital in more than title alone. Today, it is Ohio's largest city. Forgotten Columbus features many people, places, and events that defined this burgeoning 19th and early-20th century city. And above all, the places--from the Old Ohio Penitentiary, to Fort Hayes, to the recently revitalized Brewery District--which either no longer exist, or have changed so dramatically over the years that they are barely recognizable. Residents and visitors alike will find this a fascinating, insightful, and at times surprising look back at a forgotten era in Columbus's history.

Six

SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

Columbus has been a college town since 1870, when the Ohio General Assembly voted to create the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College under the auspices of the Morrill Act—also known as the Land Grant Act. It would have remained the Agricultural and Mechanical College if it hadn’t been for the efforts of Joseph Sullivant, a member of the first board of trustees who led a “broad gauge” faction which favored the inclusion of the liberal arts in the college’s curriculum. By a single vote the college avoided becoming Ohio A&M, and classes began there on September 17, 1873. In 1878, the first class—consisting of six men—graduated, and the school’s name changed to The Ohio State University (OSU). The panorama above shows OSU as it appeared shortly after the first graduation, from across the central green which would come to be known as the Oval. At the left is University Hall; the Armory is at far right.

The old Central High School at 303 East Broad Street is shown here in 1883. Central was the first school in Columbus built to serve high school students exclusively. Constructed in 1862, its name was changed to The High School of Commerce in 1911, and it was finally closed at the end of the school year in 1924, when the new Central High took its place. It was used by the city for office space for four more years, until its demolition in December 1928.

The new Central High School opened with the 1924-1925 school year and much fanfare. With its 18-acre campus and beautiful location on the west bank of the Scioto River, it was considered the pride of the Columbus Public Schools. For six decades it remained the definitive Columbus high school, highly visible from downtown and the Broad Street Bridge. By the 1980s, suburban high schools had taken over, and Central’s Franklinton neighborhood had deteriorated considerably. The last students left the building on June 6, 1982, and the building remained largely unused until it was heavily remodeled in 1999, for use as the new home of Columbus’s Center of Science and Industry (COSI).

Central High School was the first of five major Columbus high schools built to serve students on each side of town. Shown here is the second North High School on Arcadia Avenue. The old North High occupied a distinctive structure at Dennison and Fourth, built in the Jacobethan Revival style. It opened in 1892, and operated until 1924, when it became Everett Junior High. The following year the new North High School was dedicated.

Like North, South High School replaced an older version. The original South on Deshler Avenue became Barrett Junior High, and the new one was built in 1924 on Ann Street. This postcard photo is of the original South, now Barrett, in German Village.

This is the “new” West High School at 179 South Powell Avenue. It opened in 1929, a little later than its north and south counterparts, replacing the old West High on South Central Avenue. Today the old West High is Starling Middle School.

This, the original East High School, became Franklin Junior High in 1923, when the new high school was built on East Broad Street. The school is shown here in 1912, when its address was still 1390 Franklin; the street’s name was later changed to Bryden Road.

The pride of Columbus schools and colleges in the early part of the twentieth century was James Grover Thurber, author, humorist, and political cartoonist for The New Yorker....

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• One - THE OLD OHIO PENITENTIARY
• Two - THE HARTMAN EMPIRE
• Three - THE BREWERY DISTRICT
• Four - FORT HAYES
• Five - FRANK PACKARD’S COLUMBUS
• Six - SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
• Seven - HOSPITALS AND ASYLUMS