The building is six stories and is an example of Spanish
Renaissance Revival with Italian influence. The lower floors of the building
are more distinctive than the upper floors. A notable design feature are large,
arched second-story windows on the south and west sides. These areas contain
bas-relief shield motifs and lions’ heads topping the ornamental keystones. A
curved staircase leads to the second floor and the ballroom. The ballroom
features wood paneling and a decorative painted ceiling. 

The Club has long been a favorite of Columbus’ business and
political communities. Some of its notable past members have included former
President Warren G. Harding, Ohio Governors John W. Bricker and James Rhodes,
and the founder of Wendy’s, Dave Thomas, among others. The list of famous
visitors includes former Presidents Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush, U.S.
Senator John McCain and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, media personality Katie
Couric and musician Harry Connick, Jr., among many others. It has about 2,000
members. 

The Club offers guest rooms, a spa, a wide range of fitness
and athletic endeavors as well as multiple dining options and special events
such as weddings and corporate meetings.

The Athletic Club of Columbus is on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Website

History of Sport in the Americas and Europe through the Nineteenth Century

More Info

The New American Sport History from the University of Illinois Press

Book

This is a private club located in an historic building. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012 during its centennial celebration. The Club was founded in 1912 and first was located in what is called the Atlas Building. The current building was dedicated in 1915 and was designed by Richards, McCarty & Bulford. Frank Packard was the Advisory Architect. 

The Athletic Club of Columbus

This short walking tour includes historic buildings, monuments, theaters, and sites throughout Capitol Square.

Columbus Capitol Square Walking Tour

This tour begins at two of Columbus's most popular museums, the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) and the National Veterans Memorial and Museum. The tour then makes its way across the river with stops at landmarks like LeVeque Tower, Huntington Park, and the former archway of Union Station before winding back to the Capitol Square area. 

The Scioto Mile Tour

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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 one arrives at the entrance to the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, one first notives the unique structure and its incorporation of the colors of the flag of the United States of America. The entrance plaza features flags representing the United States Army, the United States Marine Corps, the United States Air Force, the United States Navy and the United States Coast Guard. Inside visitors are greeted with a big open space, high ceilings, and modern design. In the first main hallway next to the wrap around staircase, one finds individual portraits of veterans wearing uniforms from the different branches of service.The exhibits begin along the left wall which curves its way through the museum and offers exhibits that share the history of the Armed Services in chronological order with a timeline. Interpretation begins with 1775, and each era has different photos and exhibits that incorporate important facts related to equipment, training, leadership, and various wars and conflicts. Letters home, medals, weapons, combat gear, and military technology can be seen throughout each part of the museum.While a visitor follows the timeline on the left, they can see different exhibits on their right along with videos depicting actors and actual veterans from different eras and wars telling their story. The museum is unique in its focus on stories as told by veterans, and the interpretive side of the museum works to place these stories into a single narrative. Veterans are able to tour the museum at no cost, and staff is on hand for guided tours and questions from patrons who opt to take a self-guided tour of the museum.Outside the museum one sees an outdoor Memorial Grove against the Columbus. The 2.5 acre park outside wraps around the entire perimeter of the museum. The center of the garden features a rock wall with a waterfall witch leads into a waterway. The Memorial Grove has whats known as a “field cross” which shows a pair of combat boots, a rifle and a helmet with the quote “Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. American will never forget their sacrifices.” - President Harry S Truman

The National Veterans Memorial and Museum (NVMM) began with a vision from the late senator, and Veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, John Glenn who understood the value of telling and sharing the stories of American Veterans. The museum opened to the public in October 2018 and is a powerful and personal experience designed to bridge the gap between the Veteran experience and civilian understanding through storytelling.The museum takes guests on a narrative journey telling individual stories and shared experiences of Veterans throughout history and celebrating the service and sacrifice of our nation's service members and their families. History is presented in a dynamic, participatory experience with photos, letters, personal artifacts, multi-media presentations, and interactive exhibits. Together, these elements link our national story to the larger context of world events since our country's earliest days and demonstrates the importance of individuals in shaping our history.

National Veterans Memorial and Museum

The LeVeque Tower was originally constructed as the American Insurance Union Citadel. The groundbreaking on the new tower, which would replace the AIU’s previous four-story building on the same site, was held in 1924. Work was completed three years later. At a height of 555.5 feet, the tower became the fifth tallest building in the world, beating out the Washington Monument by 3/8 of an inch (as opposed to the previously thought six inches). It remained the tallest building in Columbus until the Rhodes State Office Tower was built in 1973.

The tower is extremely stable because the foundation goes all the way down to bedrock. C. Howard Crane devised a system derived from the method used to build the foundations for the towers of the Brooklyn Bridge. Caissons were sunk into the ground and workers dug out the dirt from inside their pressurized walls. This method was necessary due to the tower's proximity to the Scioto River which meant groundwater was only a few yards below the surface. This method was, however, very costly. Both from the standpoint that the equipment and power needed to run it (air compressors, decompressors) but also because working in a pressurized environment is very taxing on the workers. It was also time-consuming to get workers ready to work and they also had to go through a process of depressurization to prevent decompression sickness. All said, some workers would only spend 30 minutes actually digging before heading back up to the surface. The foundation resulted in the longest leg of the building process.

The AIU Citadel, or just “the Citadel,” cost not only $8 million but also five lives. One man fell from the steel framing. Four others died during the construction of the foundation when a pocket of noxious gas was opened during digging. The gas overwhelmed the workers, and they fell into the hole of the foundation.

Partly because of the expense of the new building, the AIU went bankrupt in 1937. In 1945, the building was sold to a group led by Leslie LeVeque of Columbus and John Lincoln of Cleveland (founder of Lincoln Electric). They then changed the name to the Lincoln-LeVeque Tower. LeVeque would later come to fame for hiring engineers to develop an automatic pin-setting machine for bowling. After the deaths of both Lincoln and LeVeque, the edifice was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Two years later, the name was officially changed to the LeVeque Tower.

LeVeque Tower, once the American Insurance Union Citadel, was part of a larger urban beautification and improvement project aimed at rejuvenating the area around the Scioto River after the flood of 1913. The building was dedicated on September 21, 1927 when it became the tallest building between NYC and Chicago and the fifth tallest in the world. Leslie LeVeque and John Lincoln purchased the building in 1945 after the AIU went out of business. More recently, the LeVeque Tower changed hands in the 2000s before being renovated into the Hotel LeVeque, which opened in 2017.

LeVeque Tower

Edoardo Alfieri’s 22 ft. Bronze sculpture titled, “Christopher Columbus,” or “Columbus,” was built at the Micheluccio Foundry in Pistoia, Italy, for $16,000. The three-ton statue depicts Columbus wearing a cloak and holding a rolled document in his right hand while his left-hand lies on his chest. The sculpture celebrated Christopher Columbus and his five voyages to what he believed was Asia but would be referred to by his contemporaries as "The New World." The statue was a gift from the citizens of Genoa, Italy, the city where Columbus was born. The statue was shipped from Genoa to Columbus on the Italian liner titled, “Cristoforo Columbo,” and unboxed outside of the City Hall in Columbus, Ohio, on October 10, 1955. The statue’s dedication became the main attraction for the city’s Columbus Day celebration as 100,000 people gathered for it’s unveiling. The statue was located on the south side of City Hall on West Broad Street.At the unveiling of the statue, a 20-inch-crack was found but the damage was not repaired until 1979. When the repair was taking place, a copper time capsule was uncovered. Inside, they found a railroad bill for shipment of the statue. The statue became a part of the Smithsonian Institution’s “Save Outdoor Sculpture!” program in 1992 to preserve and document outdoor art in the United States.In recent decades, a growing number of citizens called for the removal of the statue. In August of 2017, around 150 protesters rallied outside of the Christopher Columbus statue. The protesters emphasized their belief that the lionization of Columbus presented a false narrative that failed to account for the actions of Columbus and his men as they enslaved, killed, and colonized Native Americans. Counter-protesters equated removal to the erasure of history, while those who called for removal countered that they did not want people to forget about Columbus, they simply did not want to honor him anymore. Mayor Andrew Ginther announced in 2017 what he hoped would be a compromise that would settle the controversy. Ginther announced his decision to keep the statue but distance the city from association with its namesake. He also announced that the city would focus on the healing the racial divide in Columbus. The 2020 protests in response to the killing of George Floyd led to a national movement that coalesced around Confederate statues and other symbols that protesters viewed as celebrating the actions of men who committed acts of violence against African Americans and Native Americans. On June 17, the sculpture was vandalized with the word “Rapist” painted across the base. Along with the vandalism, a petition circulated Change.org to remove the statue outside of Columbus City Hall. The petition explicitly stated that removing the sculpture is not about erasing history, but rather to educate residents with his full history and why their city was named after Columbus. Ginther announced on June 18 that the statue would be removed and replaced with artwork that demonstrates the city's fight to end racism. The Columbus Piave Club protested the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue, claiming that the Italian community saw the statue as one of inclusion. Other residents of Italian descent countered this by stating that they wanted no association with Columbus. The city had celebrated every Columbus Day since 1955, and for many residents, the end of these celebrations was experienced as a loss of tradition. A lawsuit was filed by a Columbus citizen named Michael Young, in hopes to stop the removal of the statue after a public hearing. The public hearing didn’t take place, and instead, the Columbus Art Commission approved the mayor’s order to remove the Christopher Columbus Statue on June 24, 2020. On July 1, 2020, the Christopher Columbus Statue was removed and placed in storage. The Columbus Art Commission announced that when the time comes, the public will have a chance to choose what art replaces the statue and who the artist will be.

Between 1955 and 2020, this was the location of a 22-foot bronze statue of the city's namesake, Christopher Columbus. The statue was crafted in Pistoia, Italy, by sculptor Edoardo Alfieri. The statue arrived in Columbus on October 10, 1955, and was dedicated on October 12, 1955. At that time, most Americans accepted the narrative of Columbus as a great explorer. For some Italian Americans, the statue and other images and positive references to Columbus stood as a symbol of the role of Italians in the discovery and growth of America. But by the close of the 20th century, a growing desire to remove the statue reflected the tendency for Americans to acknowledge the actions of Columbus in enslaving native peoples and committing acts of violence. In August of 2017, around 150 protesters called on the city to remove this statue. The city chose not to celebrate Columbus Day for the year  2018 and instead focus on veterans. In the summer of 2020, protests for racial equality swept the nation, and many petitions called for the removal of statues. On June 18, 2020, Mayor Andrew Ginther decided to remove the statue despite the objections of the Columbus Piave Club. On July 1, 2020, the statue was removed and placed in storage, awaiting a decision from city leaders about it fate.

Christopher Columbus Monument at City Hall (1955-2020)

Cooper Stadium was home to several minor league teams between 1931 and 2008. The Columbus Red Birds called Cooper Stadium home from 1931 to 1954. The Columbus Jets played at Cooper Stadium from 1955 to 1970. Columbus was without a minor-league affiliate from 1970 to 1977, when the Columbus Clippers came to town.&nbsp;The Columbus Blue Birds of the Negro Leagues also played their home games at Cooper Stadium from their founding in 1931 to 1954, when the Major Leagues and Minor Leagues of Northern cities began to integrate.&nbsp;

One of the newest additions to Columbus, this park was completed in 2009 and is home to the Columbus Clippers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. Prior to this time, the Clippers played at Cooper Stadium in the suburb of Franklinton, which was built in 1931 to host the Columbus Red Birds, a minor-league affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. 

Huntington Park

<div>The first Union Station was built in 1851 at what is now Nationwide Boulevard and High Street. This wooden structure was soon replaced by&nbsp;a second Union Station just north of the first.&nbsp;The structure was much larger but&nbsp;presented a traffic problem as the city and rail service expanded, with over ten rail tracks&nbsp;crossing High Street-an increasingly important thoroughfare for the city. </div><div>As a result, the city decided to create a new station on&nbsp;High Street that would&nbsp;include a viaduct over the railroad tracks. (Th current "hump" over the city's Convention Center reveals the location of this historic&nbsp;viaduct.) At the&nbsp;apex of this hump in High Street stood this arch and the grand arcade of the third and final Union Station.&nbsp;The station served as the primary transportation hub for Columbus from the late 1800’s through the mid 1900’s. As automobiles and aircraft replaced rail service, traffic&nbsp;dwindled to only a few trains per day. Between 1971 and the closing of the&nbsp;station, only one train arrived in the city per day.&nbsp;The arch, like the rest of Union Station,&nbsp;might have been lost. Fearing that their ambitious plans might be derailed, promoters of the Arena District and new convention center rushed to demolish the crumbling arcade before historic preservationists could act. However, preservationists had earlier succeeded in placing the arch on the National Register of Historic Places and were able to secure a restraining order. Although preservationists were not able to prevent the demolition of the historic arcade, they were able to preserve this arch. &nbsp; </div>

The last remaining piece of the grand entrance arcade that was part of Columbus’s third and final Union Station, this arch was relocated to its present location and now serves as a reminder of this historic building and Columbus's history as a railroad terminus. Union Station was located where the Greater Columbus Convention Center now stands. Columbus was served by three Union Stations, each larger and grander than the first and built in 1851, 1875, and 1897. The arch served as the entrance to the third Union Station's grand arcade that connected the rail station with retail stores and offices. now serves as a focal point of the Arena District. 

Union Station Arch

At this location on December 10, 1886, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Union merged with the Knights of Labor to create the American Federation of Labor. Delegates elected Samuel Gompers president and dedicated the Federation to improving the life of America's working men and women. This historic marker was placed in Richter Worker's Memorial Park. However, the park is presently closed due to the Scioto Greenways construction project. 

American Federation of Labor Historic Marker

The groundbreaking ceremony for
the Columbus Savings and Trust Building was held in 1904. Construction was
completed a year later at a cost of $500,000. In 1913, the Depositors Realty Company
moved in after the Columbus Savings and Trust went out of business. The building
was renamed the Ferris Building in 1920 after being purchased by Warren B, Ferris.
Seven years later, Depositors Realty consolidated with Atlas Realty, and the edifice
became known as the Atlas Building.

During the 1970s, the Atlas
Building was sold to Brunner-Mackenbach and was added to the National Register
of Historic Places. In 1982, the building underwent a major renovation headed by
architect David Hughes. More recently, work was done on the structure to turn
it into an apartment building. The renovation involved restoring and
maintaining the white marble staircase and brass elevators.

The Atlas Building was designed by architect Frank Packard on behalf of Columbus Savings and Trust and completed in 1905. Like many other bank buildings at this time, the lobby was designed to emulate strength and stability with large terracotta columns, high ceilings, and ornate marble staircases. In 2013, the building was purchased for $2.5 million by a consortium of investors who announced plans to spend an additional $20 million to renovate the historic building and convert it into a luxury apartment building. 

Atlas Building

Hayden was known for iron works around the Scioto River in Columbus, Ohio. He then built the four-story Hayden building that he later ran his financial business Hayden-Clinton Bank out of. In 1906, he built the 13-story New Hayden Building next door at 16 E. Broad Street in 1901. The structure was the tallest building in Columbus, Ohio until the LeVeque Tower was built in 1926. The office building was designed by architect Frank Packard, and it housed the National Football League headquarters and offices on the 11th floor in the 1920s and 1930s.

Hayden named many places and structures after himself, such as Hayden Run that is near the Norwich and Washington towns along the Scioto River. He also named a town Haydenville after he began running his tile and brick manufacturing business out of the Hocking County town. His business went out more than 50 years ago, but many structures remain such as brick houses, a church made of mismatched bricks, and a cemetery of clay headstones.

After being closed in the early 2000s due to fire safety issues, the Hayden building is set for rehabilitation by the Tomko Co. that will be almost $20 million. The project began in 2017, and the rehabilitation will include the original Hayden building and the New Hayden building. The structure is projected to reopen as an office building complex by the end of 2019.&nbsp;

Built by businessman Peter Hayden in 1869, the Hayden building was once the home of Hayden-Clinton Bank. Hayden built the structure to have a base for his banking business. The structure is the oldest in the Columbus Capitol Square. Known for his ironwork and brick and tile manufacturing, Hayden named an entire town after himself after placing his business there. Haydenville is along the Scioto River, and many brick structures of Haydenville still remain today. 

The Hayden Building 

Prior to the violent clash that left four students dead, Rhodes declared that the students at Kent State were worse than the Nazi Brownshirts and night-riding terrorists of the Klu Klux Klan. Rhodes, like all other Ohio residents, mourned the death of the students at Kent State and modified his rhetoric in the wake of the tragic events.&nbsp;

Rhodes Tower is the tallest building in Columbus, completed in 1974 at a cost of over $60 million. Five years later, the 41-story office building was re-named in honor of James A. Rhodes, Ohio's longest-serving governor who held office from 1963-1971 and again from 1975-1983. Rhodes was instrumental in establishing Ohio's two-year college system, an achievement recognized in  in 2002, one year after his death, when Lima Technical College changed its name to James A. Rhodes State College. Rhodes is best known for another event at one of Ohio's colleges. He was governor during the Vietnam conflict and expressed little support for the rights of students and other war protesters prior to his fateful decision to send troops to quell the anti-Vietnam War protests at Kent State University. The statue of Rhodes in front of the office building was financed by private donors and dedicated on the statehouse grounds in 1982. The ceremony was marked by praise from long-serving politicians of both parties, as well as protesters who chanted and held signs asking participants to remember the Kent State Massacre. The statue was moved to its present location in front of the Rhodes Tower in 1991. 

James Rhodes Statue and Tower

The church is home to numerous works of art, including&nbsp;a Russian 18th-century piece is
on display above the credence table in the church. The stained glass windows of
the church are sights to behold and collectively tell the story of the community with images of the
Ohio Stadium, the Statehouse, Port Columbus, the Main Library, LeVeque Tower, and
the Christopher Columbus statue that is at the City Hall of Columbus, Ohio. 

Roger Nichols, the rector of the church from 1960 to 1969, first
thought of the idea to install these stained glass windows in the church. The stained
glass windows were created by the rector and memorials committee of the church
in 1965. William Kielblock designed the windows, and James Helf of the Franklin
Art Glass Company helped with the creation of the windows. The stained glass pieces
were dedicated on May 2, 1965. 

Rector Roger Nichols is said to have gotten the nickname St
Brevity, because his sermons were never longer than ten minutes. He was also an
Ohio State University fan and he would have the congregation sing hymns to the
beat of “Carmen Ohio” as a way to celebrate an Ohio State University win. 

Nichols tired to promote downtown revival. He and other clergy
formed the Metropolitan Area Church Board. Even though Nichols held a
modernistic view, some members of the congregation did not. A new organ was moved
in 2 years after the windows were installed. The stained glass windows were
hidden from view inside the church in 1970. The stained glass display was
modern at the time. 

The church, along with St. Joseph Cathedral and First
Congregational Church, opened the Cracked Cup. In 1966 this was the first coffee
shop ran by churches in Columbus, Ohio. The coffee shop featured open mic
nights, folk rock concerts, and art exhibits. The Freshbox Café opened in May
2014 in the church’s basement as a place to feed the homeless of Columbus,
Ohio. The church still engages with and gives back to the community.

Columbus's Trinity Episcopal Church was founded in 1834. This sandstone Gothic Revival style structure was built by the Episcopal parish in 1869. After three years of construction, the church was opened for service and continues to serve the congregation. The building has many historic art pieces on display throughout the structure which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. 

Trinity Episcopal Church

In 1981, two Vietnam veterans, Carl Chandler and Harry Edwards, hand painted
a four-by-eight-foot sheet of plywood as a tribute to Vietnam Veterans on the grounds
of the Ohio Statehouse.&nbsp;They were going to be charged with trespassing and
destruction of state property until State Senator Richard Pfeiffer, who was
also a Vietnam Veteran, sided with them.&nbsp;Pfeiffer worked to keep their
tribute in place until the Ohio Congress passed legislation to create a
permanent veteran's monument.&nbsp; 

The Ohio Veterans Plaza, designed by John Schooley, is intended to serve as
"a symbol that our government could not exist without the sacrifices Ohio
veterans have made."&nbsp;1 The&nbsp;monument is constructed of two curved
limestone walls inscribed with&nbsp;letters from veterans that were sent home
to friends and family members. The letters were chosen from over 1,500 that literary
consultant John H. Mitchell, a Navy and Vietnam veteran from Greenfield, Ohio
sorted through. The variety of letters reveal the trials and sacrifices made by
veterans. There also are two fountains with benches for visitors who want to
sit and reflect. The names of all eighty-eight Ohio counties are lined through
the grass, and the American, Ohio and POW/MIA flags are on display.

The Ohio Veterans Plaza was dedicated in 1998 and honors veterans from World War II into the future. The plaza is a grassy lawn featuring flowers, two fountains, benches, and limestone walls inscribed with veterans’ letters to home. The idea for the monument came in the 1980s after two local Vietnam veterans took matters into their own hands and built a temporary tribute to other veterans on statehouse property. Local legislation was then passed to construct a permanent reminder of the sacrifices made by Ohio’s veterans.

Ohio Veterans Plaza

Known as The Daily Dispatch, the first issue of the paper was published on July 1, 1871. It had four pages, and it cost 3 cents. The entire organization cost $900 at the time. The paper’s first full-page ad was for the Columbus Buggy Co. on April 2, 1888. On December 17, 1899, the paper published its first Sunday paper. The price of a daily paper went down from 3 cents to 2 cents.

The papers first color comic was published on March 3, 1901. In 1905, Brothers Harry Preston Wolfe and Robert Frederick Wolfe purchased the Dispatch. The brothers owned a Columbus show company and had purchased the Ohio State Journal in 1903.

On December 16, 1906, the paper publishes the first color advertisement. On April 9, 1907, the building burnt down, and the newspaper worked out of another facility until 1910 when the Columbus Dispatch building was rebuilt. Larger printing presses were installed in 1909.

The organization used its electrograph to inform citizens during World War I about the most important news. A typewriter was connected to light bulbs on the sign above the building and spelled out messages.

In the 1930s to 1950s, subscribers of The Dispatch placed markers on their houses indicating to paperboys they were subscribed. After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the organization had telephone operators that assisted citizens when they called for more information.

&nbsp;

In 1955, the paper began the “Cook’s Corner” recipe exchange that is still a favorite of readers today. On March 24, 1975, The Columbus Evening Dispatch changes its name to The Columbus Dispatch.

The paper published the first online newspaper on July 1, 1980. The news was transferred to home computers through CompuServe dial-up. Readers paid $5 an hour for this service. On January 1, 1986, the paper changed from an afternoon paper to a morning paper. They used an early bird mascot to mark the change. And in 1990, the paper opened a new production and printing building in Columbus, Ohio. The paper’s main offices remained at their main building. In June 1995, the paper launched its first website.

In 2010, the paper launched an application that could be used on Apple iPads to enable online reading. In 2016, the paper moved from the original structure on Third Street to 62 E. Broad Street, which is the original structure of the Ohio State Journal. &nbsp;

A notable contributor to the paper is cartoonist Billy Ireland’s “The Passing Show” was first published as a full-page on February 9, 1908. James Thurber, a Columbus native illustrator wrote for the paper, then known as The Columbus Evening Dispatch, from 1920 to 1924. His column was “Credos and Curios,” and he went on to write for The New Yorker magazine. Another notable contributor is Milton Caniff, who worked as an artist for the paper. He is well known for his “Steve Canyon” and “Terry and the Pirates” comics. Columnist Mike Harden wrote for the paper from 1983 until his death in 2010.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Built in 1925, The Columbus Dispatch Building served as the printing facility for the Columbus, Ohio newspaper for many years. The structure was built in a second renaissance revival style. The Dispatch was the first newspaper in the United States to publish online in 1980. Editors used CompuServe dial-up to transfer the news to computers at home. The neon sign above the building marks the history of the paper and how news has evolved over time. 

The Columbus Dispatch Building

After the old Columbus City Hall burned down in January 1921, the property remained empty until the construction of the Ohio Theatre. Originally called the Loew's and United Artists Ohio Theater, the project was shaping up to be theater magnate Marcus Loew’s favorite. It was designed by Scottish-born architect Thomas W. Lamb who intended for the theater to be “a palace for the average man.” He had previously designed Madison Square Garden and the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York as well as the RKO Palace Theatre in Columbus. The interior was decorated by Anne Dornan, one of the first women to graduate from the Columbia School of Architecture. She brought in furniture from around the world at a cost of over $1 million to give the theater a luxe feel. This was more than the total cost of construction, which was $865,000.

Marcus Loew died just six months before the Ohio Theatre’s grand opening, never getting to see his favorite theater fully realized. For the March 17, 1928 opening, the theater showed a newsreel, live performance, and the film Divine Women starring Greta Garbo and Lars Hanson. This first night demonstrated that the theater could be used for both film exhibition and live performances. Some famous vaudevillians to perform at the theater after its premiere include Milton Berle, Cab Calloway, Buddy Ebsen, Ginger Rogers, and Jack Benny.

One of the exceptional features of the theater that survives today is the “Mighty Morton” organ. The Robert Morton Theatre Pipe Organ was installed in the theater in 1928 to accompany live shows and silent films. Despite the booming popularity of sound films in the 1930s, the organ was never removed. Of more than 10,000 pipe organs in operation in the 1920s, fewer than forty survive today in their original installation.

As more and more residents of Columbus moved into the suburbs during the 1950s and 1960s, the Ohio Theatre saw a decline in business and closed. It was set for demolition, and even held a farewell performance, but the end was not near. After a packed theater heard the Columbus Symphony Orchestra perform at the theater on March 2, 1969, people realized that the theater was still beautiful with impressive acoustics. A “Save the Ohio” campaign that same year raised $2 million, allowing the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA) to purchase and renovate the Ohio Theatre.

The Ohio Theatre reopened in October 1970 with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra playing Beethoven's Consecration of the House. Renovations in the later part of the decade included redesigning the stage, backstage area, and orchestra pit as well as recreating the original carpeting. In 1984, the stage was expanded to twice its original depth and resurfaced in fir and maple. During recent work, the main floor and loge seats were replaced with wider ones. The $16.5 million John W. Galbreath Pavilion was also built at the same time.

According to CAPA’s website, “Today, the Ohio Theatre is home to the Columbus Symphony, BalletMet, and Broadway in Columbus, and also hosts CAPA-presented performances, as well as a wide variety of touring artists and shows each year." 1

The Ohio Theatre was built in the Beaux-Arts style from stone and terra-cotta in 1928. It served as both a movie and live performance theater until its closure in 1969. That same year, locals saved the Ohio from demolition, and it was purchased and renovated by the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts. The Ohio Theatre is now the Official Theatre for the State of Ohio and is used primarily for stage performances, with some movies shown throughout the year.

Ohio Theatre

&nbsp; &nbsp;The memorial seemed to be an idea that came from out of the blue. Governor Kasich was listening to Holocaust survivor Barbara Turtletaub speak at a Holocaust remembrance event in 2011. When he rose to speak after her&nbsp;he said, "We need to have a remembrance in the Statehouse. Let's put a program together, let's construct something in this rotunda that can teach people about man's inhumanity to man, best exemplified by what happened in the Holocaust."&nbsp;(from source #4) &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The idea caught on and a designer was chosen. The designer was world renowned, Polish-born&nbsp;architect Daniel Libeskind. The memorial includes an 18 foot bronze, cracked Star of David. There's also a limestone wall that honors the liberators by quoting the Talmud, "If you save one life, it is as if you save the world." The memorial makes clear the importance of both the liberators and surviving&nbsp;men and women with a dedication that reads: Inspired by the Ohio soldiers who were part of the American liberation and the survivors who made Ohio their home. &nbsp; &nbsp; There was some controversy about whether to build a Holocaust memorial on public property. The head of the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board felt this type of memorial did not fit in with other the historical features of the statehouse. But Ms. Turtletaub had no reservations. "This is not a Jewish story. It's a universal story..."&nbsp;(from source #4)

On the south side of the grounds of the Ohio Statehouse you will find the Ohio Holocaust and Liberators Memorial. Dedicated in 2014, this newest addition to the historical markers on the statehouse grounds honors the memory of those who died in the Holocaust as well as paying tribute to the men and women who liberated Europe. The memorial was begun at the urging of Governor John Kasich who said at the dedication, "Our young people need to know about the injustice and how it happened and what we can do so it doesn't happen again."

Ohio Holocaust and Liberators Memorial

The building was inspired by the Ohio Statehouse, and it replaced
the Neil House, which was a hotel from 1925 to 1981 at the same location. The structure
has one million square feet in office space, four atriums, a nine-story lobby,
covered walkways, and two stories of greenhouses at the top. 

The architecture of the building implements imperial red granite
and bronze glass throughout the 512 feet tall structure. It creates the
illusion that the two towers are linked by the bronze glass. 

The center houses the Huntington Plaza, Doubletree Hotel Guest Suites,
and the Huntington Bank building. It also features coffee shops, eateries, a
florist, hair salon, shoe repair shop, variety store, medical center, and taxi
stand.&nbsp;

Built in 1984, the 37-story Huntington Center is an office complex that is the fourth tallest structure in Columbus, Ohio. The structure was built by architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP. It is the tallest structure built during the 1980s in Columbus, Ohio.

Huntington Center

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.

The Scioto Mile Tour

The Athletic Club of Columbus

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information