Discover Columbus – One Neighborhood at a Time
By Marilyn Loeser
 Looking
at my mother’s photo album, I always wondered why she and my father chose
Columbus as their honeymoon destination.
Sure, it was just after WW II. He had met my mother in
Minneapolis — he out with his Navy buddies, she out window-shopping with her
girlfriends — and after they married at a USO in Chicago, my dad wanted her to
meet his family back in Ohio.
But Columbus?
Turns out my parents were just 50 years ahead of their
time. If you’ve been to Columbus lately, you too know this is a great
date-destination, weekend getaway and kick-back-and-relax kind of town.
I think the best reason to visit Columbus are its
neighborhoods; mini-destinations in and of themselves. Each has its own history
and personality.
Columbus’ most famous cross streets are Broad and High.
Heading north on High Street you’ll find yourself in the Short North Arts
District.
 Now a fashionable area of the city, 30 years ago the Short
North was known for
its dilapidated buildings, crime, drugs and prostitution.
Because of an innovative bridge and two “caps” crossing
I-670, there’s now seamlessness between downtown and the Short North. The caps,
one located on each side of High Street, house restaurants and shops.
 As
you continue to walk north, you’ll pass dozens of upscale restaurants, art
galleries, small boutiques and shops, and quality homes and residences.
“Pocket parks” are popular here too. Tiny innovative green
spaces contain a few places to sit, artwork including murals, statuary and
mosaics, and plants including shrubbery and flowers.
But the Short North has other personalities as well.
Italian Village is bordered by I-670 on the south, Fifth
Avenue on the north, North High Street on the west and the Conrail railroad
tracks to the east.
This area was one of Columbus' first suburbs, annexed to
the city of Columbus in 1862.
In the early 1970s, residents here took action against the
deteriorating physical condition of the area and the threat of having historic
buildings demolished. Several sections of Italian Village are now listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
To the west of High Street is Victorian Village.
 In 1827, William Neil purchased a 300-acre farm north of
Columbus that ultimately became the site of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical
College, now Ohio State University. By 1853, Neil had purchased almost all the
land west of High Street to the Olentangy River, and between the city and the
original farm.
In 1879 — a street railway connecting downtown and the
university — was completed along Neil Avenue making it a major north-south
connection. The area between High Street and Neil Avenue was already a thriving
residential area. The addition of the rail line made land west of Neil and south
of Fifth desirable for development.
 Some of the finest examples of Victorian Era homes can be
found here:
Italianate
Queen Anne,
Second Empire,
Carpenter-Stick and
Four Square. Many homes incorporate other styles as well including
Tudor,
Shingle Style,
Gothic Revival,
Greek Revival, and
Richardsonian Romanesque.
Anchoring the entire area is Goodale Park located at Front
Street and Goodale Avenue. The 35-acre public space is more than 150 years old
making it the oldest park in the city and among the oldest in the nation.
 Heading
back into the downtown area you’ll find the Arena District, the newest
designated area of the city featuring restaurants, office space, entertainment
venues, residencies and, of course, the arena.
The neighborhood centers around
Nationwide Arena, home of the Columbus Blue Jackets National Hockey League
team and the Columbus Destroyers Arena Football team.
Currently,
Huntington Park is under construction and will be home to the Columbus
Clippers AAA baseball team.
Before its creation in the late 1990s, the area was home to
the closed-down
Ohio Penitentiary.
Following High Street south and across I-70/71 is the
Brewery District. Bounded by the
Interstate on the north, Pearl Street on the east, Greenlawn Avenue on the
south, and the
Scioto River on the west, this area of the city welcomed its first brewery
in
1836. Eventually five breweries were located in the area.
For nearly a century, the neighborhood prospered until in
1919 the
18th Amendment, prohibition, was approved.
In recent years, restaurants, bars and clubs called the
area home. Now the neighborhood is largely residential with a few upscale
restaurants remaining.
German Village is best know neighborhood in the city and is
located just south of downtown.
Settled by German immigrants in the mid-a800s, the area
suffered a decline due to anti-German sentiment during WW I and later to the
closing of the local breweries.
 In the 1960s, concerned citizens managed to save its
historic architecture from demolition by lobbying for a local commission to have
power over external changes made to buildings and by getting the area listed on
the
National Register of Historic Places. German Village is currently considered
one of the most desirable areas to live in the city.
The area’s main commercial strip is centered along Third
Street, just east of High Street. But the main attraction here the beautiful
red-brick, working-class cottages with
wrought iron fences along brick-paved streets.
At the southern end of German Village is Schiller Park,
named after
Friedrich Schiller, a
German
poet,
philosopher,
historian and
dramatist.
 The park is the site of recreational facilities, gardens
and an amphitheater, which hosts free live performances of
Shakespearean plays during the summer months courtesy of The Actor's
Theatre.
The last Columbus area you’ll want to investigate is the
Discovery District, located to the east of downtown and the Columbus Museum of
Art, Thurber House, Topiary Garden and Kelton House are its cornerstones.
 The art museum has a wonderful permanent collection with
fine examples of 19th and early 20th century American and European modern art.
The collection includes major works by Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Renoir, Hopper
and O'Keeffe. {place art photo here}
The museum is also known for having the largest public
collection of woodcarvings by Columbus folk artist Elijah Pierce, the largest
repository of paintings and lithographs by Columbus native George Bellows and
often hosts national and international traveling exhibitions.
For more information check the website at
www.columbusmuseum.org.
Thurber House was the home of author, humorist and New
Yorker cartoonist James Thurber and his family when Thurber was a student at
Ohio State University.
Visitors experience Thurber's life by becoming a “guest” of
the Thurber family. While in the house — furnished in the style of the 1913-1917
period — visitors are invited to sit on the chairs, play a tune on the
downstairs piano and touch the typewriter that was Thurber's while he was at the
New Yorker.
For more information check the website at
www.thurberhouse.org.
 At the corner of East Town Street and Washington Avenue is
the Topiary Garden in Old Deaf School Park. Here, Georges Seurat's famous post
impressionist painting, A Sunday On The Island Of La Grande Jatte, is created in
topiary.
It’s the only topiary interpretation of a painting in
existence and consists of 54 topiary people, eight boats, three dogs, a monkey
and a cat. The largest figure is 12' tall.
A project of the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department,
the concept came from artist James T. Mason who teaches sculpture at the
Department's Cultural Arts Center. For more information, check the website at
www.topiarygarden.org.
The Kelton House Museum represents a snapshot 19th century
life and everything Victorian from the silver to a woven-hair brooch worn by
Kelton family members. {place flowers here}
A scrapbook kept by Anna Kelton from 1860 to 1870 offers a
glimpse of what one young woman thought worth saving: pressed flowers, society
page articles, news clippings and letters describing Civil War military
engagements, and a telegram relating her brother Oscar’s death at the Battle of
Brice’s Crossroads.
When Grace Kelton died in 1975, her will entrusted the
Kelton property to the Columbus Foundation with the stipulation that her family
home be preserved and used for educational purposes. The Junior League of
Columbus took on the task of renovating and restoring the house and garden to
create a museum of 19th century life.
For more information check the website at
www.keltonhouse.com.
If you go:
The Westin Great Southern Hotel has a personality of its
own as well. {place hotel photo here}
Located right on High Street, it’s within easy driving
distance to all areas of downtown and the many districts surrounding it.
For more information check the website at
www.greatsouthernhotel.com.
For information about other hotels, attractions and events,
check the website
www.experiencecolumbus.com.
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