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In
1852, the Franklin County Agriculture Society purchased eighty-eight acres of
land located east of downtown Columbus. This land became the official grounds
of the Ohio State Fair in 1874. Ten years later, Ohio Legislature set aside
this land as the Franklin Park for public use.

Following
the success of Chicago’s World Fair and Columbian Exposition in 1893 and the
inspiration of City Beautiful movement, a grand Victorian-style glass
greenhouse named The Palm House was built in Franklin Park. In 1895, it opened
for public use as Franklin Park Conservatory.

Columbus
Recreation and Parks Departments owned and operated the Conservatory until
1989. Thanks to their renovation efforts, the facility earned a flattering
reputation. Based on that reputation and the park’s condition, Franklin Park
Conservatory was selected to be the host site for AmeriFlora ’92. AmeriFlora is
a six-month international horticulture exposition. After AmeriFlora ’92, the
Franklin Park Conservatory Joint Recreation District was established by the Ohio
Legislature for managing and operating the Franklin Park Conservatory.

Today,
the Franklin Park Conservatory features Himalayan mountain, rainforest, and desert
biomes as well as a Pacific Island water garden. Other botanical gardens on
site include the Crane Conifer and Ornamental Grass Collection, the Trial
Gardens, and the Daylily Garden. There is also the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company
Community Garden Campus, which serves as a living classroom and idea center.

Conservatory: Pacific Island Water Garden

Official Website of the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

Website

Video

The Franklin Park Conservatory is a botanical garden and conservatory that offers visitors a view of over 400 species of plants. Inspired by the Chicago World's Fair and built in 1895, the conservatory is on the National Register of Historic Places. The conservatory is a favorite for locals and tourists alike, showcasing exotic plant collections, special exhibitions, and Dale Chihuly artworks.


Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

This tour takes users to a variety of museums that are each located within a few miles of the center of Columbus, starting with the museum of the Ohio History Connection (formerly known as the Ohio Historical Society). The tour includes the museum at the state capitol, COSI, the Central Ohio Fire Museum, and many others. Those wishing to explore further should consider visiting the Ohio Railway Museum, Early Television Museum, and Motts Military Museum which are located along the interstates that surround the city center.

Museums of Columbus Ohio Tour

<div><div>Ohio History Connection was established in 1885 as the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and for many years it was known as the Ohio Historical Society. The organization preserves and shares a collection of historical records and artifacts that connect residents and visitors to Ohio’s history from prehistory to the present. In addition to this museum, the organization operates several other museums and historic sites throughout the state.</div><div> </div></div>

The headquarters of the Ohio History Connection, which was known as the Ohio Historical Society until 2014, features a museum, archives/library, historic preservation office, and Ohio Village. The museum's exhibits feature a variety of topics including the Civil War, natural history, glass, pottery and interactive children activities. The Connection is also home to the premier research library on Ohio History. The Archives include 70,000 cubic feet of records including historic newspapers, government records, manuscripts, film, video, photographs, books and maps. In all, the Connection contains 100,000 historical objects of all sizes including automobiles and other modes of transportation, and manages 50 historical sites and museums throughout the state. The Connection was founded in 1885 and its full name was The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. 

Ohio History Connection (Ohio Historical Society)

From an early collection of political cartoons to Magna anime in Japanese and English1, students and comic enthusiasts will find endless enjoyment from this museum's collections and exhibits. Originally, two converted classrooms in the Journalism building at The Ohio State University2,&nbsp;The Museum has undergone several name changes and a move to a beautiful, large building since its inception in 1977. Originally called the Milton Caniff Reading Room, based on the 12,000 comic strip donation from Caniff,&nbsp;as the Library expanded with donations, it was soon called the Cartoon Research Library in 1989, when it became apparent that the volume of material needed to be housed in a separate facility. Still, space was an issue, because the material wasn't accessible3.&nbsp;In 2009, with an endowment from a donor, Sullivant Hall was renovated to house the vast amount of material. The Museum and Library were&nbsp;renamed in honor of local cartoonist, Billy Ireland, who from 1908 until his death in 1935, penned and illustrated "Passing Snow" for the&nbsp;Columbus Dispatch,&nbsp;as well as seven editorial cartoons4.&nbsp;In December 2013, the newly renovated 30,000 sq foot building opened to the public, and the reading room is on the west side of the lobby while the galleries with the exhibits are upstairs5.&nbsp; The Permanent Exhibit at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum is called "Treasures from the Collections" and features famous comic strips such as Mort Walker's&nbsp;Beetle Bailey,&nbsp;Bill Watterson's&nbsp;Calvin and Hobbes,&nbsp;and Jeff MacNelly's Shoe, among others. The Museum also hosts temporary exhibits every season. One of the&nbsp;current exhibits that run from June 4, 2016-October 23, 2016 is "Good Grief! Children and Comics," which explores the role of children in the comic genre, as well as the "complicated relationship" children have had with comics. Cartoons explored are&nbsp;Peanuts. Archie and Jughead,&nbsp;and&nbsp;Calvin and Hobbes. The second traveling exhibit for the summer-fall is "Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream," which features famed artist's Winsor McCay's (1867-1934)&nbsp;Little Nemo in Slumberland, reinterpreted as an anthology called&nbsp;Little Nemo Dream Another Dream,&nbsp;which is a summation of 100 "comic artists and illustrators" new creations of this beloved comic6.&nbsp;Information on upcoming and past exhibits can be found on their website, and past exhibits cover a myriad of themes and topics, including&nbsp;Puck,&nbsp;the political humor magazine,&nbsp;interpretations of World War I through the medium, Jewish comics, and Japanese anime comics, among others. In addition, online exhibits can be accessed through the Library &amp; Museum's website. Collections housed in the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library &amp; Museum include: The Jim Borgman Collection, The WIll Eisner Collection,The Edwinna Dumm Collection, The Bill Watterson Deposit Collection. and the Walt Kelly Collection2. &nbsp;In an interview with NPR, former curator Lucy Shelton Caswell, discusses how they acquired one of their largest collections, the San Francisco Academy of Art Collection,&nbsp; <blockquote>[U]nfortunately, librarians bought into this [the loss of the newspaper industry] a little bit too much and dumped all of their bound newspapers in the ‘50s and ‘60s. And in fact, we now own quite a number of those, which were acquired by the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art, and its founder, Bill Blackbeard, and his friends clipped comics from those newspapers and filed them by title. So we have about 2.5-million comic-strip clippings as a result of that plus almost 800 bound volumes from the 20th century. And they're in wonderful shape1. </blockquote>In addition, the the library carries "a biographical registry&nbsp;of cartoonists containing files for more than 5,000 cartoonists and clipping files organized by cartoon-related subjects"2. &nbsp;The Library and museum also hosts visiting cartoonists and illustrators to talk about their work.&nbsp; There is no admission fee to the Library &amp; Museum and the building is wheelchair accessible with elevator access to the galleries. In addition, visitors can don white gloves and hold original comic strips or browse specific pages&nbsp;in the Reading Room. In addition to hosting guided tours, the Library also invites college classes to visit in order to learn more about the comic medium.&nbsp; &nbsp;

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is located on The Ohio State University's Campus, at the north end of Sullivant Hall. The Museum & Library was established in 1977. It is the world's largest repository and research facility for "all materials related to comics and cartoons." According to the Museum's website, these materials are: "original art, books, magazines, journals, comic books, archival materials, and newspaper comic strip pages and clippings." Like many great establishments that provide resources to the community, their first collection consisted of donated artwork of OSU alumnus, Milton Caniff. Many of their materials are gifts to the library. Boredom is never a problem for visitors or researchers as their holdings contain "300,000 original cartoons, 45,000 books, 67,000 serials, 3,000 feet of manuscript materials, 2.5 million comic strip clippings and newspaper pages." There are guided museum tours available for youth, university, family, or friend groups. Guided Tour Requests must be made three weeks in advance by emailing cartoons@osu.edu. 

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

<div>An effort was made in 1990 to begin the process of restoring the front of the building. After seven hundred thousand dollars were raised, restoration began. Future plans include the renovation of the second floor to increase exhibit space.&nbsp;</div><div> </div><div>The results were partially realized in October, 2002, when the restored front of the building and the first floor were opened as the Central Ohio Fire Museum. The museum is wanting to be able to restore the second floor as an additional part of the museum. The Engine House has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Schools will often take children to the museum for field trips. The museum sees nearly four thousand visitors a year. The museum is set up to be an interactive learning experience. There are relics from the past that depict the way fire departments worked in the past. The classic fire trucks are certain to gain visitors’ attention. Additionally, photographs capture the horse-drawn carriages that were utilized so long ago. The stall doors towards the back of the museum are embedded with proof that the horses that were used to pull the fire engines, would on occasion kick the doors. The museum has on display an engine that was not pulled by horse but rather by hand and it features a hand pump. Various nozzles, megaphones and other pieces of equipment help paint a picture of some of the history of firefighting.&nbsp; </div><div>	The museum has a learning center that children enjoy. There is a fire room that illustrates the damage a fire does to a structure. The graphic depiction really drives home the importance of fire safety. The museum is not large but is very interesting and educational. The fire safety education is an important lesson that will probably be remembered by most for the rest of their life.&nbsp;</div>

Located in the old Engine House No. 16, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Central Ohio Fire Museum honors the legacy of firefighting in Columbus and its mission is to teach fire prevention and safety. Its collection is comprised of horse-drawn and motorized engine apparatus and other firefighting-related items. The museum features several hands-on exhibits including a "safety kitchen" and "safe bedroom." Visitors can learn about potential fire dangers in a kitchen and children are allowed to practice escaping from a bedroom. The station was built in 1908 and operated until 1981. The museum opened in 2002.

Central Ohio Fire Museum

COSI runs the largest outreach education program of any science museum in the United States. This is done&nbsp;through COSI in the Classroom, 21st Century Lab field trip experiences, international distance education Interactive Video Conferencing programs, and COSI On Wheels traveling outreach program.&nbsp; Also, COSI started the Camp-In overnight program for Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts in 1972. This&nbsp;concept is now commonplace in museums nationwide. COSI has&nbsp;had nearly 30 million visitors through on-site and outreach programs since 1964.COSI is&nbsp;a not-for-profit organization that is&nbsp;supported by ticket sales, a network of community, and statewide partnerships. The museum is also&nbsp;backed by&nbsp;a volunteer program that has 10,000 volunteers annually, and nearly 20,000 member households.&nbsp;In 2008, COSI was named the #1 science center in the United States for families by Parent Magazine.COSI programs inspire your interest in science and encourage you to learn more about your world. COSI does this through offers workshops, lectures, camps, and overnight experiences that will help you and your family understand connections between science and everyday life.&nbsp;&nbsp;The museum also has the National Geographic Giant Screen Theater, which is the largest digital screen in Ohio&nbsp;and an outdoor Big Science Park.The museum's interactive exhibits are broken down into different areas: Ocean, Energy, Space, Progress, Gadgets, Life, and Adventure. There is also a little kidspace that is designed for younger aged children up through kindergarten. COSI also has had many traveling exhibits come to the museum including Titanic, Star Wars, Einstein, and LEGO Castle Adventure just to name a few. These exhibits have helped with the funding of the museum.&nbsp;The planetarium was part of the original COSI when the center opened in 1964 and part of the move in 1999 when the museum relocated. Because of financial hardships, the planetarium was closed. As part of its 50th-anniversary celebration, a fundraiser was launched for the planetarium. Renovations have been made to the planetarium.&nbsp; It was reopened on November 22, 2014. Even though the original 60-foot dome remains,&nbsp;the seats are all new. For an additional cost, COSI will offer six shows daily and not all&nbsp;will be the&nbsp;same.

The Center of Science and Industry, also known as COSI, is a science museum and research center located in Columbus, Ohio. It was first opened on March 29, 1964, then COSI was relocated to a 320,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility in 1999. COSI features more than 300 interactive exhibits and live shows throughout themed exhibition areas. These exhibits are designed for children and adults.

The Center of Science and Industry (COSI)

When the state government relocated to the new city of Columbus in 1816, it occupied a modest two-story building on the corner of High and State Streets. In 1838, Ohio's government announced a competition to select the design for a new Statehouse. This strategy was not unusual at the time, as important public buildings such as the U.S. Capitol had resulted from similar contests. From about fifty entries, three winners were selected: first prize was awarded to Henry Walter of Cincinnati, the second to Martin Thompson of New York, and the third to painter Thomas Cole, also of New York. However, the organizing committee responsible for choosing the winners was unable to agree on a final design for construction.When the cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1839, the commission was still without a final design. Consultation with New York architect Alexander Jackson Davis resulted in a composite design that merged some key features of the three winning entries, but it was rejected as being too expensive. Henry Walter, the first-place winner of the design contest, was chosen to supervise construction of the new capitol building and he began working on another composite design that was based largely on the design of third-place winner, Thomas Cole. It seems likely that Henry Walter was chosen to receive the first premium basically because he was an Ohioan and though the entry submitted by Cole may have been more favored by the commission overseeing the design process, his status as an "outsider" may have been a problem. Cole had a personal friendship with one of the commissioners, a man named William A. Adams who was from Steubenville. Cole's nephew, William Henry Bayless, coincidentally a Steubenville native, was apprenticed in the office of Alexander Jackson Davis.Work on the building's foundation and lower level had only just begun when the Statehouse project encountered the first of many difficulties. The legislation that made Columbus the official capital city of Ohio was set to expire. While various factions within the government engaged in a debate over relocating the capital to another city, construction of the Statehouse was stopped. Open excavations were refilled with earth, and Capitol Square served as pasture lands for livestock.The Statehouse remained incomplete and largely neglected until 1848 when construction resumed. This work all but stopped in the summer as a cholera epidemic spread through the area. Comparing plans of the various architects it is apparent that perhaps the most striking change, and one that has endured in the finished building, was the fact that West and Russell eliminated the rounded dome that all previous designers had suggested for the building, instead replacing it with a low conical roof.A fire consumed the old two-story capitol building in 1852, which created a new urgency to complete the new Statehouse. While some suspected arson, the exact cause of the fire remains a mystery to this day.The statehouse is built in the Greek revival style, a type of design based on the buildings of Ancient Greece, and very popular in the US from 1820 through the early 1860s. The Greek revival was simple and straightforward and didn't look anything like the revival buildings that were popular in Europe at the exact time period. The statehouse was opened to legislators and the public in 1857 when the House and Senate began meeting in their chambers and most of the offices were occupied. It was completed in 1861, and the statehouse has been a national historic landmark by the secretary of the US Department of the Interior. This honor recognizes the long history of the building and the continued role it will have in the life and lawmaking of the state of Ohio. During the restoration project, original graffiti sketched by some of the Ohio penitentiary prisoners was uncovered. One sketch is a profile of a man's face with the word Badger scrawled above it. By searching records at the Ohio Historical Society, the restoration team was able to locate information about Ephraim Badger who was imprisoned from 1846-1849 for burglary. His record states that he was pardoned in 1849 for service to the state.

Constructed in stages between 1839 and 1861, the Ohio Statehouse serves as the meeting place of the state legislature and the offices of the governor. The design comes from a competition where the judges selected a structure that blended many of the standard classical features of state legislature buildings and the United States Capitol. Although it features the Greek Revival style, the building does not feature the nearly-ubiquitous dome that became common following the completion of the Capitol Dome in Washington. The State House features Doric columnns made of Columbus limestone from the Scioto River. In addition to skilled workers and supervisors, much of the labor for the building was provided by prisoners. The central feature of the building is the Cupola which provides natural light for the rotunda.

Ohio Statehouse and Museum

In 1878, the Columbus Gallery of
Fine Arts became the first art museum in Ohio to register its charter with the
state. In 1919, its present location, formerly the property of businessman
Francis C. Sessions, was deeded to the museum. Construction on the new museum
began almost a decade later in 1928. It was designed by local architects Richards,
McCarty, and Bulford in the Renaissance Revival style. The museum opened at a
cost of $600,000 on January 22, 1931. Four years later, author Gertrude Stein
came to the museum and wrote about her visit in her book Everyone’s Autobiography.

Since then, the museum has
undergone several changes. The outdoor court of the Gallery was named after
Mrs. Earl C. Derby who, in 1954, donated money to enclose it and to acquire
more works for the museum. In 1974, the museum expanded to include the Ross
Wing, home to temporary exhibitions. During the museum’s centennial in 1978,
the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts changed its name to the Columbus Museum of
Art. And in 2011, the museum completed its restoration of the Broad Street building.


The Columbus Museum of Art held a
grand reopening in 2015 after finishing a two-year, $37.6 million renovation.
The renovation was intended to make the museum feel more welcoming to a variety
of guests and less “dowdy and off-putting.”2 The project also increased the
square footage of the museum by sixty-seven percent.

The premier cultural attraction in central Ohio, the Columbus Museum of Art dates back to 1878 with the founding of the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts. Since 1931, the museum has been located in its current home, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Highlights of its permanent collection include the work of European and American artists, ranging from Columbus native George Bellows to early Cubist paintings by Picasso. The museum recently completed a three-year, $30 million expansion project that includes the new Margaret M. Walter wing and the Center for Creativity which includes space for classes and hands-on art projects for all ages and skill levels. In 2013, the Institute for Museum and Library Service gave CMA a National Medal, the nation’s highest honor bestowed on museums.

Columbus Museum of Art

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Fernando and Sophia Kelton&nbsp;built their home on Town Street in Columbus in 1852. Fernando had come to Ohio from Vermont. He&nbsp;was a prominent merchant in Columbus. He and his wife were staunch abolitionists and it is believed that their house was a stop on the Underground Railroad.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The Underground Railroad was an informal collection of safe houses in the northern states that functioned from the early 1800s through the Civil War as an unofficial route to freedom for runaway slaves. Even though slavery was outlawed in northern states such as Ohio, because of the Fugitive Slave Acts a runaway slave could be captured anywhere in the United States and returned to his/her owner. A runaway was only truly safe in Canad or Mexico. Those helping the slaves could be fined or imprisoned. One route had runaways coming from the Ohio River north through Chillicothe to Circleville, Columbus, Worthington, Westerville and further north toward Lake Erie. Cities with safe houses along the lake were Ashtabula, Painesville, Cleveland, Sandusky and Toledo. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;From Kelton House programming you can learn the story of runaway slave Martha Hartway. Sophia found Martha and her sister one day in 1864 hiding in the bushes. Both girls wanted to continue on to Canada but Martha was too sick. She stayed with the Keltons through the end of the Civil War and beyond. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The Kelton family is also notable for other reasons. Fernando was selected to be a pallbearer for President Lincoln's body when it passed through Columbus on its way to Illinois. His daughter-in-law was one of the first four women to attend Ohio State University.&nbsp;The last owner, Grace Bird Kelton, was one of the first individuals to make a living as an interior decorator. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

     The Kelton House, located in the Town Street Historic District in downtown Columbus, was a stop on the Underground Railroad. The house is furnished to represent the time period from 1850-1900. Within the house is the Underground Learning Station where interactive presentations on the abolitionist movement are available. The house is open for tours and the garden can be rented for events.

Kelton House Museum and Garden

In
1852, the Franklin County Agriculture Society purchased eighty-eight acres of
land located east of downtown Columbus. This land became the official grounds
of the Ohio State Fair in 1874. Ten years later, Ohio Legislature set aside
this land as the Franklin Park for public use.

Following
the success of Chicago’s World Fair and Columbian Exposition in 1893 and the
inspiration of City Beautiful movement, a grand Victorian-style glass
greenhouse named The Palm House was built in Franklin Park. In 1895, it opened
for public use as Franklin Park Conservatory.

Columbus
Recreation and Parks Departments owned and operated the Conservatory until
1989. Thanks to their renovation efforts, the facility earned a flattering
reputation. Based on that reputation and the park’s condition, Franklin Park
Conservatory was selected to be the host site for AmeriFlora ’92. AmeriFlora is
a six-month international horticulture exposition. After AmeriFlora ’92, the
Franklin Park Conservatory Joint Recreation District was established by the Ohio
Legislature for managing and operating the Franklin Park Conservatory.

Today,
the Franklin Park Conservatory features Himalayan mountain, rainforest, and desert
biomes as well as a Pacific Island water garden. Other botanical gardens on
site include the Crane Conifer and Ornamental Grass Collection, the Trial
Gardens, and the Daylily Garden. There is also the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company
Community Garden Campus, which serves as a living classroom and idea center.

The founder of Rickenbacker Motor Company, a local car manufacturer that operated from 1922 and 1927, Rickenbaker is most significant historically for his purchase of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Eastern Airlines.&nbsp;

The Edward V. Rickenbacker House commemorates the early life of Eddie Rickenbacker, who at various times in his life was a flying ace, Medal of Honor recipient, race car driver and a pioneer in air transportation. The home was saved from demolition in 1998 and serves as a historic site that many residents hope will serve as an anchor for community revitalization. 

Museums of Columbus Ohio Tour

Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information