Columbus () is the
state capital
Below is an index of pages containing lists of capital cities.
National capitals
*List of national capitals
* List of national capitals by latitude
*List of national capitals by population
* List of national capitals by area
* List of capital c ...
and the
most populous city in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
. With a
2020 census population of 905,748,
it is the
14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the
Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
, after
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
, and the third-most populous state capital. Columbus is the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...
of
Franklin County; it also extends into
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...
and
Fairfield counties. It is the core city of the
Columbus metropolitan area, which encompasses 10 counties in central Ohio. The metropolitan area had a population of 2,138,926 in 2020, making it the
largest
Large means of great size.
Large may also refer to:
Mathematics
* Arbitrarily large, a phrase in mathematics
* Large cardinal, a property of certain transfinite numbers
* Large category, a category with a proper class of objects and morphisms (o ...
entirely in Ohio and
32nd-largest in the U.S.
Columbus originated as numerous Native American settlements on the banks of the
Scioto River
The Scioto River ( ) is a river in central and southern Ohio more than in length. It rises in Hardin County just north of Roundhead, Ohio, flows through Columbus, Ohio, where it collects its largest tributary, the Olentangy River, and meets t ...
.
Franklinton, now a city neighborhood, was the first European settlement, laid out in 1797. The city was founded in 1812 at the
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
of the Scioto and
Olentangy rivers, and laid out to become the state capital. The city was named for Italian explorer
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
.
The city assumed the function of state capital in 1816 and county seat in 1824. Amid steady years of growth and industrialization, the city has experienced numerous floods and recessions. Beginning in the 1950s, Columbus began to experience significant growth; it became the largest city in Ohio in land and population by the early 1990s. The 1990s and 2000s saw redevelopment in numerous city neighborhoods, including
Downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...
.
The city has a diverse economy based on education, government, insurance, banking, defense, aviation, food, clothes, logistics, steel, energy, medical research, health care, hospitality, retail and technology. The metropolitan area is home to the
Battelle Memorial Institute
Battelle Memorial Institute (more widely known as simply Battelle) is a private nonprofit applied science and technology development company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Battelle is a charitable trust organized as a nonprofit corporation und ...
, the world's largest private research and development foundation;
Chemical Abstracts Service
CAS (formerly Chemical Abstracts Service) is a division of the American Chemical Society. It is a source of chemical information. CAS is located in Columbus, Ohio, United States.
Print periodicals
''Chemical Abstracts'' is a periodical index th ...
, the world's largest clearinghouse of chemical information; and the
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
, one of the
largest universities in the United States. As of 2022, the Greater Columbus area is home to the headquarters of six corporations in the U.S.
Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...
:
Cardinal Health,
American Electric Power
American Electric Power (AEP), (railcar reporting mark: AEPX) is a major investor-owned electric utility in the United States, delivering electricity to more than five million customers in 11 states.
AEP ranks among the nation's largest g ...
,
L Brands
Bath & Body Works, Inc. (formerly known as L Brands, Inc., Limited Brands, Inc. and The Limited, Inc.) is an American specialty retail company based in Columbus, Ohio. It owns Bath & Body Works, posted $11.9 billion in revenue in 2021, and was ...
,
Nationwide,
Bread Financial
Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. is an American publicly traded provider of loyalty and marketing services, such as private label credit cards, coalition loyalty programs, and direct marketing, derived from the capture and analysis of transaction- ...
and
Huntington Bancshares
Huntington Bancshares Incorporated is an American bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company is ranked 521st on the Fortune 500, and is 26th on the list of largest banks in the United States.
The company's banking sub ...
.
Name
The city of Columbus was named after 15th-century Italian explorer
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
at the city's founding in 1812.
It is the largest city in the world named for the explorer, who sailed to and settled parts of the Americas on behalf of
Isabella I of Castile
Isabella I ( es, Isabel I; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''la Católica''), was Queen of Castile from 1474 until her death in 1504, as well as Queen consort of Aragon from 1479 until 1504 b ...
and Spain. Although no reliable history exists as to why Columbus, who had no connection to the city or state of Ohio before the city's founding, was chosen as the name for the city, the book ''Columbus: The Story of a City'' indicates a state lawmaker and local resident admired the explorer enough to persuade other lawmakers to name the settlement Columbus.
Since the late 20th century, historians have criticized Columbus for initiating
the European conquest of America and for abuse, enslavement, and subjugation of natives.
[Bigelow, B. (1992). ''Once upon a Genocide: Christopher Columbus in Children's Literature''.] Efforts to remove symbols related to the explorer in the city date to the 1990s.
Amid the
George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internat ...
in 2020, several petitions pushed for the city to be renamed.
Nicknames for the city have included "the Discovery City," "
Arch City," "Cap City," "
Cowtown," "The Biggest Small Town in America" and "Cbus."
History
Ancient and early history
![Shrum Mound aerial 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Shrum_Mound_aerial_3.jpg)
Between 1000 B.C. and 1700 A.D., the Columbus metropolitan area was a center to indigenous cultures known as the
Mound Builders
A number of pre-Columbian cultures are collectively termed "Mound Builders". The term does not refer to a specific people or archaeological culture, but refers to the characteristic mound earthworks erected for an extended period of more than 5 ...
, including the
Adena Adena may refer to:
Artists
* ADENA, Romanian singer-songwriter
*Adeena Karasick (born 1965), Canadian poet, performance artist, and essayist
* Adena Halpern (born 1968), American author
*Adena Jacobs (born 1982), Australian theatre director
Place ...
,
Hopewell and
Fort Ancient
Fort Ancient is a name for a Native American culture that flourished from Ca. 1000-1750 CE and predominantly inhabited land near the Ohio River valley in the areas of modern-day southern Ohio, northern Kentucky, southeastern Indiana and western ...
peoples. Remaining physical evidence of the cultures are their burial mounds and what they contained. Most of Central Ohio's remaining mounds are located outside of Columbus city boundaries, though the
Shrum Mound
Shrum Mound is a Native American burial mound in Campbell Memorial Park in Columbus, Ohio. The mound was created around 2,000 years ago by the Pre-Columbian Native American Adena culture. The site was added to the National Register of Historic ...
is maintained, now as part of a public park and historic site. The city's Mound Street derives its name from a mound that existed by the intersection of Mound and
High Street
High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...
s. The mound's clay was used in bricks for most of the city's initial brick buildings; many were subsequently used in the
Ohio Statehouse
The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the H ...
. The city's
Ohio History Center
The Ohio History Center is a history museum and research center in Columbus, Ohio. It is the primary museum for Ohio's history, and is the headquarters, offices, and library of the Ohio History Connection. The building also houses Ohio's state ar ...
maintains a collection of artifacts from these cultures.
18th century: Ohio Country
![Ohio Country en](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Ohio_Country_en.png)
The area including modern-day Columbus once comprised the
Ohio Country, under the nominal control of the
French colonial empire
The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that exist ...
through the Viceroyalty of
New France
New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...
from 1663 until 1763. In the 18th century, European traders flocked to the area, attracted by the
fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...
. The area was often caught between warring factions, including American Indian and European interests. In the 1740s, Pennsylvania traders overran the territory until the French forcibly evicted them. Fighting for control of the territory in the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...
(1754-1763) became part of the international
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
(1756-1763). During this period, the region routinely suffered turmoil, massacres and battles. The 1763
Treaty of Paris ceded the Ohio Country to the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
.
Until just before the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
, Central Ohio had continuously been the home of numerous indigenous villages. A
Mingo
The Mingo people are an Iroquoian group of Native Americans, primarily Seneca and Cayuga, who migrated west from New York to the Ohio Country in the mid-18th century, and their descendants. Some Susquehannock survivors also joined them, and ...
village was located at the forks of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, with Shawnee villages to the south and Wyandot and Delaware villages to the north. Colonial militiamen burned down the Mingo village in 1774 during a raid.
Virginia Military District
After the American Revolution, the
Virginia Military District
The Virginia Military District was an approximately 4.2 million acre (17,000 km²) area of land in what is now the state of Ohio that was reserved by Virginia to use as payment in lieu of cash for its veterans of the American Revolutionary ...
became part of the Ohio Country as a territory of Virginia. Colonists from the East Coast moved in, but rather than finding an empty
frontier
A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts ...
, they encountered people of the
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
,
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...
,
Wyandot,
Shawnee
The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
and
Mingo
The Mingo people are an Iroquoian group of Native Americans, primarily Seneca and Cayuga, who migrated west from New York to the Ohio Country in the mid-18th century, and their descendants. Some Susquehannock survivors also joined them, and ...
nations, as well as European traders. The tribes resisted expansion by the fledgling United States, leading to years of bitter conflict. The decisive
Battle of Fallen Timbers
The Battle of Fallen Timbers (20 August 1794) was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between Native American tribes affiliated with the Northwestern Confederacy and their British allies, against the nascent United State ...
resulted in the
Treaty of Greenville
The Treaty of Greenville, formally titled Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., was a 1795 treaty between the United States and indigenous nations of the Northwest Territory (now Midwestern United States), including the Wyandot and Delaware peoples ...
in 1795, which finally opened the way for new settlements. By 1797, a young surveyor from Virginia named
Lucas Sullivant had founded a permanent settlement on the west bank of the forks of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. An admirer of
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...
, Sullivant chose to name his frontier village "
Franklinton." The location was desirable for its proximity to the navigable rivers – but Sullivant was initially foiled when, in 1798, a large flood wiped out the new settlement. He persevered, and the village was rebuilt, though somewhat more inland.
After the Revolution, land comprising parts of Franklin and adjacent counties was set aside by the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
for settlement by
Canadians
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
and
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
ns who were sympathetic to the colonial cause and had their land and possessions seized by the British government. The
Refugee Tract The Refugee Tract is an area of land in Ohio, United States granted to people from British Canada who left home prior to July 4, 1776, stayed in the US until November 25, 1783 continuously, and aided the revolutionary cause.
Location
The Refu ...
, consisting of , was long and wide, and was claimed by 67 eligible men. The Ohio Statehouse sits on land once contained in the Refugee Tract.
19th century: state capital, city establishment, and development
After Ohio achieved statehood in 1803, political infighting among prominent Ohio leaders led to the state capital moving from
Chillicothe to
Zanesville
Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 census, down from 25,487 as of the 2010 census. Historically the state capi ...
and back again. Desiring to settle on a location, the state legislature considered
Franklinton,
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
,
Worthington and
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...
before compromising on a plan to build a new city in the state's center, near major transportation routes, primarily rivers. As well, Franklinton landowners had donated two plots in an effort to convince the state to move its capital there.
The two spaces were set to become
Capitol Square
Capitol Square is a public square in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The square includes the Ohio Statehouse, its Capitol Grounds, as well as the buildings and features surrounding the square. The Capitol Grounds are surrounded on the north and west ...
(for the
Ohio Statehouse
The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the H ...
) and the
Ohio Penitentiary
The Ohio Penitentiary, also known as the Ohio State Penitentiary, was a prison operated from 1834 to 1984 in downtown Columbus, Ohio, in what is now known as the Arena District. The state had built a small prison in Columbus in 1813, but as the ...
. Named in honor of Christopher Columbus, the city was founded on February 14, 1812, on the "High Banks opposite Franklinton at the Forks of the Scioto most known as Wolf's Ridge." At the time, this area was a dense forestland, used only as a hunting ground.
The city was incorporated as a borough on February 10, 1816.
Nine people were elected to fill the municipality's various positions of mayor, treasurer and several others. Between 1816 and 1817,
Jarvis W. Pike
Jarvis W. Pike (1795–September 12, 1854) was the first mayor of Columbus, Ohio.
Pike died September 12, 1854. He was buried in a private or family graveyard. He was later reinterred at Union Grove Cemetery located at Canal Winchester, Ohio ...
served as the first appointed mayor. Although the recent
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...
had brought prosperity to the area, the subsequent recession and conflicting claims to the land threatened the new town's success. Early conditions were abysmal, with frequent bouts of fevers – attributed to
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...
from the flooding rivers – and an outbreak of
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium '' Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting an ...
in 1833. It led Columbus to create the Board of Health, now part of the
Columbus Public Health
Columbus Public Health is the health department of Columbus, Ohio. The department is accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board. The department dates to 1833, when the city's mayor appointed five citizens to help with its cholera outbreak ...
department. The outbreak, which remained in the city from July to September 1833, killed 100 people.
Columbus was without direct river or trail connections to other Ohio cities, leading to slow initial growth. The
National Road
The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...
reached Columbus from
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
in 1831, which complemented the city's new link to the
Ohio and Erie Canal
The Ohio and Erie Canal was a canal constructed during the 1820s and early 1830s in Ohio. It connected Akron with the Cuyahoga River near its outlet on Lake Erie in Cleveland, and a few years later, with the Ohio River near Portsmouth. It a ...
, both of which facilitated a population boom.
A wave of European
immigrants led to the creation of two ethnic
enclave
An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...
s on the city's outskirts. A large
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
population settled in the north along Naghten Street (presently Nationwide Boulevard), while the
Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
took advantage of the cheap land to the south, creating a community that came to be known as the ''
Das Alte Südende'' (The Old South End). Columbus's German population constructed numerous breweries,
Trinity Lutheran Seminary
Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capital University is an Evangelical Lutheran seminary in Columbus, Ohio.
History
In 1830, the German Theological Seminary of the Ohio Synod, later known as the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary (ELTS), was fo ...
and
Capital University
Capital University (Capital, Cap, or CU) is a private university in Bexley, Ohio. Capital was founded as the Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio in 1830, and later was associated with that synod's successor, the Ame ...
.
[Lentz, pp. 63–64]
With a population of 3,500, Columbus was officially chartered as a city on March 3, 1834. On that day, the legislature carried out a
special act
Special or specials may refer to:
Policing
* Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force
* Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer
Literature
* ''Specia ...
, which granted legislative authority to the
city council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural coun ...
and judicial authority to the mayor. Elections were held in April of that year, with voters choosing
John Brooks as the first popularly elected mayor. Columbus annexed the then-separate city of Franklinton in 1837.
![View of Columbus O](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/View_of_Columbus_O._From_Capitol_University.png)
In 1850, the
Columbus and Xenia Railroad
The Columbus and Xenia Railroad was a railroad which connected the city of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, with the town of Xenia, Ohio, Xenia in the U.S. state, state of Ohio in the United States. Construction began in October 1847, and the line opened ...
became the first railroad into the city, followed by the
Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad
The Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad (CC&C) was a railroad that ran from Cleveland to Columbus in the U.S. state of Ohio in the United States. Chartered in 1836, it was moribund for the first 10 years of its existence. Its charter wa ...
in 1851. The two railroads built a joint
Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
on the east side of High Street just north of Naghten (then called North Public Lane). Rail traffic into Columbus increased: by 1875, eight railroads served Columbus, and the rail companies built a new, more elaborate station. Another cholera outbreak hit Columbus in 1849, prompting the opening of the city's
Green Lawn Cemetery.
On January 7, 1857, the
Ohio Statehouse
The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the H ...
finally opened after 18 years of construction. Site construction continued until 1861.
Before the abolition of slavery in the
Southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
in 1863, the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...
was active in Columbus and was led, in part, by
James Preston Poindexter
James Preston Poindexter (October 26, 1819 – February 7, 1907) was an abolitionist, civil rights activist, politician, and Baptist minister from Columbus, Ohio. He was born in Richmond, Virginia and moved to Ohio as a young man. In Ohio he was ...
. Poindexter arrived in Columbus in the 1830s and became a Baptist preacher and leader in the city's African-American community until the turn of the century.
During the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
, Columbus was a major base for the volunteer
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
. It housed 26,000 troops and held up to 9,000
Confederate prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
at
Camp Chase
Camp Chase was a military staging and training camp established in Columbus, Ohio in May 1861 after the start of the American Civil War. It also included a large Union-operated prison camp for Confederate prisoners during the American Civil War ...
, at what is now
the Hilltop neighborhood of west Columbus. Over 2,000 Confederate soldiers remain buried at the site, making it one of the North's largest Confederate cemeteries. North of Columbus, along the Delaware Road, the
Regular Army
A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following:
* a standin ...
established
Camp Thomas, where the
18th U.S. Infantry organized and trained.
By virtue of the
Morrill Act of 1862
The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally-owned land, often obtained from indigenous tribes through treaty, cession, or ...
, the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College – which eventually became the
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
– was founded in 1870 on the former estate of William and Hannah Neil.
![1872 Birds Eye View of Columbus Ohio by Bailey LC](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/1872_Birds_Eye_View_of_Columbus_Ohio_by_Bailey_LC.jpg)
By the end of the 19th century, Columbus was home to several major manufacturing businesses. The city became known as the "Buggy Capital of the World," thanks to the two dozen
buggy factories – notably the
Columbus Buggy Company
The Columbus Buggy Company was an early buggy and automotive manufacturer based in Columbus, Ohio, United States, from 1875 to 1913.
Begun by three business partners, the company set up its manufacturing facilities in what is today the Arena ...
, founded in 1875 by C.D. Firestone. The Columbus Consolidated Brewing Company also rose to prominence during this time and might have achieved even greater success were it not for the
Anti-Saloon League
The Anti-Saloon League (now known as the ''American Council on Addiction and Alcohol Problems'') is an organization of the temperance movement that lobbied for prohibition in the United States in the early 20th century.
Founded in 1893 in Ober ...
in neighboring
Westerville.
In the
steel industry
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant t ...
, a forward-thinking man named
Samuel P. Bush
Samuel Prescott Bush (October 4, 1863February 8, 1948) was an American businessman and industrialist. Bush was the patriarch of the Bush political family. He was the father of U.S. Senator Prescott Bush, the paternal grandfather of former U.S ...
presided over the
Buckeye Steel Castings Buckeye Steel Castings was a Columbus, Ohio steelmaker best known today for its longtime president, Samuel P. Bush, who was the grandfather of President George H. W. Bush and great-grandfather of President George W. Bush.
Buckeye, named for the O ...
Company. Columbus was also a popular location for labor organizations. In 1886,
Samuel Gompers
Samuel Gompers (; January 27, 1850December 13, 1924) was a British-born American cigar maker, labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as the organization's ...
founded the
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) was a national federation of labor unions in the United States that continues today as the AFL-CIO. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions eager to provide mutua ...
in Druid's Hall on South Fourth Street, and in 1890, the
United Mine Workers of America
The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unit ...
was founded at
the old City Hall. In 1894,
James Thurber
James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' and collected ...
, who would go on to an illustrious literary career in Paris and New York City, was born in the city. Today, Ohio State's theater department has a performance center named in his honor, and his childhood home, the
Thurber House
Thurber House is a literary center for readers and writers located in Columbus, Ohio, in the historic former home of author, humorist, and ''New Yorker'' cartoonist James Thurber. Thurber House is dedicated to promoting the literary arts by pr ...
, is located in the Discovery District and is on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
20th century
![Ohio - Columbus - NARA - 68147024 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Ohio_-_Columbus_-_NARA_-_68147024_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Columbus earned one of its nicknames, "The Arch City," because of the
dozens of wooden arches that spanned High Street at the turn of the 20th century. The arches illuminated the thoroughfare and eventually became the means by which electric power was provided to the new
streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...
s. The city tore down the arches and replaced them with cluster lights in 1914 but reconstructed them from metal in
the Short North neighborhood in 2002 for their unique historical interest.
On March 25, 1913, the
Great Flood of 1913 devastated the neighborhood of Franklinton, leaving over 90 people dead and thousands of West Side residents homeless. To prevent flooding, the
Army Corps of Engineers recommended widening the Scioto River through downtown, constructing new bridges and building a
retaining wall
Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides.
Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...
along its banks. With the strength of the post-
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
economy, a construction boom occurred in the 1920s, resulting in a new
civic center
A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...
, the
Ohio Theatre
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The ...
, the
American Insurance Union Citadel
The LeVeque Tower is a 47-story skyscraper in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. At it was the tallest building in the city from its completion in 1927 to 1974, and remains the second-tallest today.
Designed by C. Howard Crane, the Art Deco skyscraper ...
and to the north, a massive new
Ohio Stadium
Ohio Stadium is an American football stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on the campus of Ohio State University. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team and is also the site for the university's Spring Commencement c ...
. Although the
American Professional Football Association
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
was founded in
Canton
Canton may refer to:
Administrative division terminology
* Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland
* Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French
Arts and ente ...
in 1920, its head offices moved to Columbus in 1921 to the
New Hayden Building and remained in the city until 1941. In 1922, the association's name was changed to the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...
. Nearly a decade later, in 1931, at a convention in the city, the
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
took that name by which they are known today.
The effects of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
were less severe in Columbus, as the city's diversified economy helped it fare better than its
Rust Belt
The Rust Belt is a region of the United States that experienced industrial decline starting in the 1950s. The U.S. manufacturing sector as a percentage of the U.S. GDP peaked in 1953 and has been in decline since, impacting certain regions an ...
neighbors.
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
brought many new jobs and another population surge. This time, most new arrivals were migrants from the "extraordinarily depressed rural areas" of
Appalachia
Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, C ...
, who would soon account for more than a third of Columbus's growing population. In 1948, the Town and Country Shopping Center opened in suburban
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...
, and it is now regarded as one of the first modern shopping centers in the United States.
The construction of the
Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...
signaled the arrival of rapid suburb development in central Ohio. To protect the city's tax base from this suburbanization, Columbus adopted a policy of linking sewer and water hookups to
annexation
Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...
to the city. By the early 1990s, Columbus had grown to become Ohio's largest city in land area and in population.
Efforts to revitalize
downtown Columbus have had some success in recent decades, though like most major American cities, some architectural heritage was lost in the process. In the 1970s, landmarks such as
Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
and the
Neil House
The Neil House was a historic hotel on High Street in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The hotel operated on Capitol Square from 1842 to 1980.
Attributes
The hotel buildings were located on South High Street across from the Ohio Statehouse.
First bui ...
hotel were razed to construct high-rise offices and big retail space. The
PNC Bank building was constructed in 1977, as well as the
Nationwide Plaza buildings and other towers that sprouted during this period. The construction of the
Greater Columbus Convention Center
The Greater Columbus Convention Center (GCCC) is a convention center located in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, United States, along the east side of North High Street.
The convention center was predominantly designed by Peter Eisenman, constructed ...
has brought major conventions and trade shows to the city.
21st century
![The Short North-2005-07-03-IMG 4540](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/The_Short_North-2005-07-03-IMG_4540.jpg)
The
Scioto Mile
The Scioto Mile is a collection of parks and trails along both banks of the Scioto River in Columbus, Ohio, connecting parts of the Scioto Greenway Trail with downtown Columbus and Franklinton. The nine parks cover .
History
At the beginning ...
began development along the riverfront, an area that already had the
Miranova Corporate Center and
The Condominiums at North Bank Park
The Condominiums at North Bank Park is a tall residential high rise at 300 W. Spring St. in the Arena District just north of downtown Columbus, Ohio. It was constructed from 2006 to 2007 and has 20 floors and is one of the tallest structures ...
.
The
2010 United States foreclosure crisis forced the city to purchase numerous foreclosed, vacant properties to renovate or demolish them – at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. In February 2011, Columbus had 6,117 vacant properties, according to city officials.
Since 2010, Columbus has been growing in population and economy; from 2010 to 2017, the city added 164,000 jobs, which ranked second in the United States. The city is focused on downtown revitalization, with recent projects being the
Columbus Commons
John F. Wolfe Columbus Commons is a park and green space in downtown Columbus, Ohio, located on the site of the former Columbus City Center mall. The park features gardens, a performance stage, carousel, interactive playground equipment, and ...
park, parks along the Scioto Mile developed along with a reshaped riverfront, and developments in the Arena District and Franklinton.
In February and March 2020,
Columbus reported its first official cases of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...
and declared a state of emergency, with all nonessential businesses closed statewide. There were 69,244 cases of the disease across the city, .
Later in 2020, protests over the
murder of George Floyd
On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's ...
took place in the city from May 28 into August.
Geography
![Columbus by Sentinel-2, 2020-09-21](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Columbus_by_Sentinel-2%2C_2020-09-21.jpg)
The confluence of the
Scioto and
Olentangy rivers is just northwest of
Downtown Columbus. Several smaller tributaries course through the
Columbus metropolitan area, including
Alum Creek,
Big Walnut Creek
Big Walnut Creek starts near Mount Gilead, Ohio in Morrow County. It flows south to eastern Delaware County and parallels Alum Creek. It passes to the east of Sunbury and into Hoover Reservoir, which then crosses into Franklin County. Fro ...
and
Darby Creek. Columbus is considered to have relatively flat
topography
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...
thanks to a large
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...
that covered most of Ohio during the
Wisconsin Ice Age. However, there are sizable differences in elevation through the area, with the high point of Franklin County being
above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''.
Th ...
near
New Albany, and the low point being where the Scioto River leaves the county near
Lockbourne.
Numerous ravines near the rivers and creeks also add variety to the landscape. Tributaries to Alum Creek and the Olentangy River cut through shale, while tributaries to the Scioto River cut through limestone.
The city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.
Columbus currently has the largest land area of any Ohio city; this is due to
Jim Rhodes
James Allen Rhodes (September 13, 1909 – March 4, 2001) was an American Republican politician who served as Governor of Ohio from 1963 to 1971 and again from 1975 to 1983. , Rhodes was one of only seven U.S. governors to serve four four-yea ...
's tactic to annex suburbs while serving as mayor. As surrounding communities grew or were constructed, they came to require access to waterlines, which was under the sole control of the municipal water system. Rhodes told these communities that if they wanted water, they would have to submit to assimilation into Columbus.
Neighborhoods
Columbus has a wide diversity of neighborhoods with different characters,
and is thus sometimes known as a "city of neighborhoods." Some of the most prominent neighborhoods include the
Arena District
The Arena District is a mixed-use planned development and neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio. The site was developed through a partnership between Nationwide Realty Investors, Ltd. (a subsidiary of Nationwide), the City of Columbus and private inves ...
, the
Brewery District
The Brewery District, traditionally known as the Old German Brewing District, is a neighborhood located in Columbus, Ohio. Located just south of the central business district and west of German Village, it is bounded by Interstate 70 on the north, ...
,
Clintonville,
Franklinton,
German Village
German Village is a historic neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, just south of the city's downtown. It was settled in the early-to-mid-19th century by a large number of German immigrants, who at one time comprised as much as a third of the city's ...
,
The Short North and
Victorian Village.
Climate
The city's climate is
humid continental
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
''Dfa'') transitional with the
humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
to the south characterized by warm, muggy summers and cold, dry winters. Columbus is within
USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...
hardiness zone
A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...
6a,
now 6b bordering on 7a in the 1991 to 2020 normals chart. Winter snowfall is relatively light, since the city is not in the typical path of strong winter lows, such as the
Nor'easter
A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below), or an East Coast low is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. The original use o ...
s that strike cities farther east. It is also too far south and west for
lake-effect snow
Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water. The lower layer of air, heated up by the lake water, picks up water vapor from the lake and rises up throug ...
from
Lake Erie
Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also ha ...
to have much effect, although the lakes to the north contribute to long stretches of cloudy spells in winter.
The highest temperature recorded in Columbus is , which occurred twice during the
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) a ...
of the 1930s: once on July 21, 1934, and again on July 14, 1936.
[Records for Columbus.](_blank)
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...
. Retrieved on 2008-11-16. The lowest recorded temperature was , occurring on
January 19, 1994.
Columbus is subject to
severe weather
Severe weather is any dangerous meteorological phenomenon with the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life. Types of severe weather phenomena vary, depending on the latitude, altitude, topography, and atmos ...
typical to the
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
. Severe thunderstorms can bring
lightning
Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average ...
, large
hail
Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...
and on rare occasions
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, alt ...
es, especially during the spring and sometimes through fall. A tornado that occurred on October 11, 2006, caused
F2 damage. Floods, blizzards and ice storms can also occur from time to time.
Demographics
2010 census
In the
2010 United States census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...
, there were 787,033 people, 331,602 households and 176,037 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 370,965 housing units at an average density of .
The racial makeup of the city included 815,985 races tallied, as some residents recognized multiple races. The racial makeup was 61.9%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 29.1%
Black or African American, 1%
Native American or Alaska Native, 4.6%
Asian, 0.2% Native Hawaiian or
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, and 3.2% from other races.
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.9% of the population.
Of the 331,602 households, 29.1% had children under the age of 18, 32% were married couples living together, 15.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.1% had a male householder with no wife present and 46.9% were non-families. 35.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31, and the average family size was 3.04.
The median age in the city was 31.2 years. The age makeup of the city comprised 23.2% of residents under the age of 18, 14% between the ages of 18 and 24, 32.3% between 25 and 44, 21.8% between 45 and 64, and 8.6% 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.8% male and 51.2% female.
2020 census
In th
2020 United States census there were 905,748 people and 362,626 households residing in the city.
The racial makeup of the city was 57.4%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 29.2%
Black or African American, 0.2%
Native American or Alaska Native, and 5.9%
Asian.
Hispanic or Latino of any race made up 6.3% of the population.
Population makeup
Columbus historically had a significant population of
white people
White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view.
Description of populations as ...
. In 1900, whites made up 93.4% of the population.
Although
European immigration has declined, the Columbus metropolitan area has recently experienced increases in
African,
Asian and
Latin American
Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-e ...
immigration, including groups from
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
,
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...
,
Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...
,
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...
and
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
. While the Asian population is diverse, the city's Hispanic community is mainly made up of
Mexican Americans
Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...
, although there is a notable
Puerto Rican population. Many other countries of origin are represented in lesser numbers, largely due to the international draw of
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
. 2008 estimates indicate that roughly 116,000 of the city's residents are foreign-born, accounting for 82% of the new residents between 2000 and 2006 at a rate of 105 per week.
40% of the immigrants came from Asia, 23% from Africa, 22% from Latin America and 13% from Europe.
["Capacity Building Initiative: Immigrant and Refugee Organizations"](_blank)
, Columbus Foundation. 2006. Retrieved July 3, 2012. The city had the second-largest Somali and
Somali American population in the country, as of 2004, as well as the largest expatriate
Bhutanese-Nepali population in the world, as of 2018.
Due to its demographics, which include a mix of races and a wide range of incomes, as well as urban, suburban and nearby rural areas, Columbus is considered a "typical" American city, leading retail and
restaurant chains
A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...
to use it as a
test market
A test market, in the field of business and marketing, is a geographic region or demographic group used to gauge the viability of a product or service in the mass market prior to a wide scale roll-out. The criteria used to judge the acceptabilit ...
for new products.
Columbus has maintained a steady population growth since its establishment. Its slowest growth, from 1850 to 1860, is primarily attributed to the city's cholera epidemic in the 1850s.
According to the 2017 Japanese Direct Investment Survey by the
Consulate-General of Japan, Detroit
The is a diplomatic mission of Japan. It is located in Suite 1600 Tower 400 of the GM Renaissance Center in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. Its jurisdiction includes the states of Michigan and Ohio.
The Japanese government proposed opening the consu ...
, 838
Japanese nationals lived in Columbus, making it the municipality with the state's second-largest Japanese national population, after
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
.
Columbus is home to a proportional
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term ...
community, with an estimated 34,952 gay, lesbian or bisexual residents. The 2018
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is a demographics survey program conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, such as ancestry, citizenship, educati ...
(ACS) reported an estimated 366,034 households, 32,276 of which were held by unmarried partners. 1,395 of these were female householder and female-partner households, and 1,456 were male householder and male-partner households.
Columbus has been rated as one of the best cities in the country for gays and lesbians to live, and also as the most underrated gay city in the country. In July 2012, three years prior to legal
same-sex marriage in the United States
The availability of legally recognized same-sex marriage in the United States expanded from one state (Massachusetts) in 2004 to all fifty states in 2015 through various court rulings, state legislation, and direct popular votes. States each ...
, the Columbus City Council unanimously passed a domestic partnership registry.
Italian-American community and symbols
![Santa Maria - 2772222245](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Santa_Maria_-_2772222245.jpg)
Columbus has numerous
Italian Americans
Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...
, with groups including the Columbus Italian Club, Columbus Piave Club and the Abruzzi Club.
Italian Village
Italian Village is a neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, that contains an array of residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. It is a designated historic district, known for its historical and cultural preservation. The building types and arch ...
, a neighborhood near Downtown Columbus, has had a prominent Italian American community since the 1890s.
The community has helped promote the influence
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
had in drawing European attention to the Americas. The Italian explorer, erroneously credited with the lands' discovery, has been posthumously criticized by historians for initiating colonization and for abuse, enslavement and subjugation of natives.
In addition to the city being named for the explorer, its seal and
flag
A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design empl ...
depict a ship he used for his first voyage to the Americas, the . A similar-size replica of the ship, the
Santa Maria Ship & Museum
The Santa Maria Ship & Museum was a museum ship in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The craft was a full-size replica of the '' Santa María'', one of three ships Christopher Columbus used in his first voyage to the Americas. The ship was displayed in C ...
, was displayed downtown from 1991 to 2014. The city's
Discovery District
The Discovery District is one of the commercial districts in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has a high concentration of hospitals and research institutions, particularly those related to biotechnology. The district is roughly bounded by B ...
and
Discovery Bridge are named in reference to Columbus's "discovery" of the Americas; the bridge includes artistic bronze medallions featuring symbols of the explorer.
Genoa Park, downtown, is named after
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus and one of Columbus's
sister cities.
The Christopher Columbus Quincentennial Jubilee, celebrating the 500th anniversary of Columbus's first voyage, was held in the city in 1992. Its organizers spent $95 million on it, creating the horticultural exhibition
AmeriFlora '92
AmeriFlora '92 was an international horticultural exhibition held in Columbus, Ohio, United States from April 20 to October 12, 1992. Taking place on 88 acres (356,123 m2) of landscaped grounds at Franklin Park, the exhibition cost $95 million to ...
. The organizers also planned to create a replica Native American village, among other attractions. Local and national native leaders protested the event with a day of mourning, followed by protests and fasts at City Hall. The protests prevented the native village from being exhibited, and annual fasts continued until 1997. A protest also took place during the dedication of the ''Santa Maria'' replica, an event held in late 1991 on the day before
Columbus Day
Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492.
...
and in time for the jubilee.
The city has three outdoor statues of the explorer; the
statue at City Hall was acquired, delivered and dedicated with the assistance of the Italian American community. Protests in 2017 aimed for this statue to be removed, followed by the city in 2018 ceasing to recognize
Columbus Day
Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492.
...
as a city holiday. During the 2020
George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internat ...
, petitions were created to remove all three statues and rename the city of Columbus.
Two of the statues – one at City Hall and the other at Columbus State Community College – were removed, while the city is also looking into changing its flag and seal to remove the reference to Christopher Columbus. The future of the third statue, at the Ohio Statehouse, will be discussed in a meeting on July 16.
The city was the first of eight cities to be offered the ''
Birth of the New World
The ''Birth of the New World'' ( es, Nacimiento del Nuevo Mundo, colloquially known as ''La Estatua de Colón'' or literally ''Columbus' Statue'') is a bronze sculpture located on the Atlantic coastline of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. When completed ...
'' statue, in 1993. The statue, also of Christopher Columbus, was completed in Puerto Rico in 2016, and is the
tallest in the United States – taller than the
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, ...
, including its pedestal. At least six U.S. cities rejected it, including Columbus, based on its height and design.
Religion
![St Joseph Cathedral 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/St_Joseph_Cathedral_01.jpg)
According to the 2019
American Values Atlas, 26% of Columbus metropolitan area residents are unaffiliated with a religious tradition. 17% of area residents identify as White evangelical Protestants, 14% as White mainline Protestants, 11% as Black Protestants, 11% as White Catholics, 5% as Hispanic Catholics, 3% as other nonwhite Catholics, 2% as other nonwhite Protestants and 2% as Mormons. Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and Hispanic Protestants each made up 1% of the population, while Jehovah's Witnesses, Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Unitarians and members of New Age or other religions each made up under 0.5% of the population.
Places of worship include Baptist, Evangelical, Greek Orthodox, Latter-day Saints, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Quaker, Roman Catholic and Unitarian Universalist churches. Columbus also hosts several Islamic centers, Jewish synagogues, Buddhist centers, Hindu temples and a branch of the
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktiv ...
. Religious teaching institutions include the
Pontifical College Josephinum
The Pontifical College Josephinum is a private Roman Catholic seminary and university in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded by Joseph Jessing in 1888 and was granted the status of a Pontifical College in 1892 by Pope Leo XIII, making it the only pon ...
and several private schools led by Christian organizations.
Economy
![AEP Building from Rhodes State](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/AEP_Building_from_Rhodes_State.jpg)
Columbus has a generally strong and diverse economy based on education, insurance, banking, fashion, defense, aviation, food, logistics, steel, energy, medical research, health care, hospitality, retail and technology. In 2010, it was one of the 10 best big cities in the country, according to Relocate America, a real estate research firm.
["Ranking: Columbus among top 10 big cities"]
, BizJournals. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
According to the
Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up the United States' central bank. Missouri is the only state to have two main Federal Reserve Banks (Ka ...
, the GDP of Columbus in 2019 was $134 billion.
During the
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
between 2007 and 2009, Columbus's economy was not impacted as much as the rest of the country, due to decades of diversification work by long-time corporate residents, business leaders and political leaders. The administration of former mayor
Michael B. Coleman
Michael B. Coleman (born November 18, 1954) is an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as the 52nd mayor of Columbus, Ohio. He was the first African-American to serve as the mayor of Ohio's capital city.
Coleman was a memb ...
continued this work, although the city faced financial turmoil and had to increase taxes, allegedly due in part to fiscal mismanagement. Because Columbus is the state capital, there is a large government presence in the city. Including city, county, state and federal employers, government jobs provide the largest single source of employment within Columbus.
In 2019, the city had six corporations named to the U.S. Fortune 500 list:
Alliance Data,
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and affiliated companies, commonly shortened to Nationwide, is a group of large U.S. insurance and financial services companies based in Columbus, Ohio. The company also operates regional headquarters in S ...
,
American Electric Power
American Electric Power (AEP), (railcar reporting mark: AEPX) is a major investor-owned electric utility in the United States, delivering electricity to more than five million customers in 11 states.
AEP ranks among the nation's largest g ...
,
L Brands
Bath & Body Works, Inc. (formerly known as L Brands, Inc., Limited Brands, Inc. and The Limited, Inc.) is an American specialty retail company based in Columbus, Ohio. It owns Bath & Body Works, posted $11.9 billion in revenue in 2021, and was ...
,
Huntington Bancshares
Huntington Bancshares Incorporated is an American bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company is ranked 521st on the Fortune 500, and is 26th on the list of largest banks in the United States.
The company's banking sub ...
and
Cardinal Health in suburban
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
.
["Top 100 U.S. metro economies"](_blank)
, U.S. Conference of Mayors. Retrieved April 22, 2010. Other major employers include schools (e.g., the Ohio State University) and hospitals (among others,
Wexner Medical Center
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is a multidisciplinary academic medical center located in Columbus, Ohio, United States, on the main campus of The Ohio State University.
For 29 consecutive years, '' U.S. News & World Report'' has ...
and
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Nationwide Children's Hospital (formerly Columbus Children's Hospital) is a nationally ranked pediatric acute care teaching hospital located in the Southern Orchards neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. The hospital has 673 pediatric beds and is affil ...
, which are among the teaching hospitals of the
Ohio State University College of Medicine
The Ohio State University College of Medicine (formerly known as The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health) is the medical school at The Ohio State University and is located in Columbus, Ohio. The college is nationally rec ...
), high-tech research and development such as the
Battelle Memorial Institute
Battelle Memorial Institute (more widely known as simply Battelle) is a private nonprofit applied science and technology development company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Battelle is a charitable trust organized as a nonprofit corporation und ...
, information/library companies such as
OCLC
OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It wa ...
and
Chemical Abstracts Service
CAS (formerly Chemical Abstracts Service) is a division of the American Chemical Society. It is a source of chemical information. CAS is located in Columbus, Ohio, United States.
Print periodicals
''Chemical Abstracts'' is a periodical index th ...
, steel processing and pressure cylinder manufacturer
Worthington Industries, financial institutions such as
JPMorgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, t ...
and
Huntington Bancshares
Huntington Bancshares Incorporated is an American bank holding company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company is ranked 521st on the Fortune 500, and is 26th on the list of largest banks in the United States.
The company's banking sub ...
, as well as
Owens Corning
Owens Corning is an American company that develops and produces insulation, roofing, and fiberglass composites and related materials and products. It is the world's largest manufacturer of fiberglass composites. It was formed in 1935 as a partn ...
. Fast-food chains
Wendy's
Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was ...
and
White Castle are also headquartered in the Columbus area. Major foreign corporations operating or with divisions in the city include Germany-based
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...
and
Roxane Laboratories, Finland-based
Vaisala
Vaisala Oyj () is a Finnish company that develops, manufactures and markets products and services for environmental and industrial measurement.
Their major customer groups and markets are national meteorological and hydrological services, avia ...
, Tomasco Mulciber Inc., A Y Manufacturing, as well as
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
-based
ABB and
Mettler Toledo
Mettler Toledo () is a multinational manufacturer of scales and analytical instruments. It is the largest provider of weighing instruments for use in laboratory, industrial, and food retailing applications. The company also provides various ana ...
. The city also has a significant fashion and retail presence, home to companies such as
Big Lots
Big Lots Stores, Inc. (stylized as Big Lots!) is an American retail company headquartered in Columbus, Ohio with over 1,400 stores in 47 states.
History
The Big Lots chain traces its history back to 1967 when Consolidated Stores Corporation ...
,
L Brands
Bath & Body Works, Inc. (formerly known as L Brands, Inc., Limited Brands, Inc. and The Limited, Inc.) is an American specialty retail company based in Columbus, Ohio. It owns Bath & Body Works, posted $11.9 billion in revenue in 2021, and was ...
,
Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) is an American lifestyle retailer that focuses on casual wear. Its headquarters are in New Albany, Ohio. The company operates three other offshoot brands: Abercrombie Kids, Hollister Co., and Gilly Hicks. As of Februa ...
,
DSW and
Express
Express or EXPRESS may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* '' Express: Aisle to Glory'', a 1998 comedy short film featuring Kal Penn
* '' The Express: The Ernie Davis Story'', a 2008 film starring Dennis Quaid
Music
* ''Express'' ...
.
Food and beverage industry
North Market, a public market and
food hall, is located downtown near the Short North. It is the only remaining public market of Columbus's original four marketplaces.
Numerous restaurant chains are based in the Columbus area, including
Charleys Philly Steaks
Charleys Philly Steaks is an American restaurant chain of Philly cheesesteak stores headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as Charley's Steakery and Charley's Grilled Subs, the franchise was established in 1986 on the campus of Ohio S ...
, Bibibop Asian Grill,
Steak Escape
Steak Escape is a restaurant chain based in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Locations are typically found in food courts in shopping malls as well as airports, all serving a variety of menu items, including cheesesteaks. The company is known as ...
,
White Castle,
Cameron Mitchell Restaurants,
Bob Evans Restaurants
Bob Evans Restaurants, also known as Bob Evans, is an American chain of restaurants owned by Golden Gate Capital based in New Albany, Ohio. After its founding in 1948 by Bob Evans (1918–2007), the restaurant chain evolved into a company with ...
,
Max & Erma's, Damon's Grill,
Donatos Pizza
Donatos Pizza is a pizza delivery restaurant franchisor headquartered in Gahanna, Ohio, Gahanna, Ohio, United States. It has nearly 200 locations in eleven states, with the majority of locations in Ohio. Donatos is also served at several venue ...
and
Wendy's
Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was ...
. Wendy's, the world's third-largest hamburger fast-food chain, operated its first store downtown as both a museum and a restaurant until March 2007, when the establishment was closed due to low revenue. The company is presently headquartered outside the city in nearby
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
.
Budweiser
Budweiser () is an American-style pale lager, part of AB InBev. Introduced in 1876 by Carl Conrad & Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, Budweiser has become a large selling beer company in the United States.
''Budweiser'' may also refer to an unrela ...
has a major brewery located on the north side, just south of I-270 and Worthington. Columbus is also home to many local
micro breweries
Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...
and pubs. Asian
frozen food
Freezing food preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved grains and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing food slows decompositi ...
manufacturer
Kahiki Foods
Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Aust ...
was located on the east side of Columbus and now operates in its Gahanna suburb.
Wasserstrom Company, a major supplier of equipment and supplies for restaurants, is located on the north side.
Arts and culture
Landmarks
![LeVeque Tower, Columbus, OH, US crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/LeVeque_Tower%2C_Columbus%2C_OH%2C_US_crop.jpg)
Columbus has many notable buildings, including the
Ohio Statehouse
The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the H ...
, the
Ohio Judicial Center
The Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center is a state courthouse, office building, and library in Columbus, Ohio, in the city's downtown Civic Center. The building is the headquarters of the Supreme Court of Ohio, the state's highest court, as wel ...
, the
Greater Columbus Convention Center
The Greater Columbus Convention Center (GCCC) is a convention center located in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, United States, along the east side of North High Street.
The convention center was predominantly designed by Peter Eisenman, constructed ...
,
Rhodes State Office Tower,
LeVeque Tower
The LeVeque Tower is a 47-story skyscraper in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. At it was the tallest building in the city from its completion in 1927 to 1974, and remains the second-tallest today.
Designed by C. Howard Crane, the Art Deco skyscraper ...
and
One Nationwide Plaza.
Construction of the Ohio Statehouse began in 1839 on a plot of land donated by four prominent Columbus landowners. This plot formed
Capitol Square
Capitol Square is a public square in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The square includes the Ohio Statehouse, its Capitol Grounds, as well as the buildings and features surrounding the square. The Capitol Grounds are surrounded on the north and west ...
, which was not part of the city's original layout. Built of Columbus
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
from the
Marble Cliff Quarry Co.
The Marble Cliff Quarry Co., is located in the community of San Margherita and operated the largest limestone quarry in the United States from its founding in 1913 until its sale in 1985.
History
In the early 1840s, quarry activities began in ...
, the Statehouse stands on foundations deep that were laid by
prison labor gangs rumored to have been composed largely of
masons jailed for minor infractions.
It features a central recessed
porch
A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...
with a
colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or cur ...
of a forthright and primitive
Greek Doric mode. A broad and low central pediment supports the windowed
astylar Astylar (from Gr. ''ἀ-'', privative, and ''στῦλος'', a column) is an architectural term given to a class of design in which neither columns nor pilasters are used for decorative purposes; thus the Riccardi and Strozzi palaces in Florence ...
drum under an invisibly low
saucer dome that lights the interior
rotunda. There are several artworks within and outside the building, including the ''
William McKinley Monument
The ''William McKinley Monument'', or ''McKinley Memorial'', is a statue and quotation array honoring the assassinated United States President William McKinley which stands in front of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. Created by Hermon Atk ...
'' dedicated in 1907. Unlike many U.S. state capitol buildings, the Ohio State Capitol owes little to the architecture of the
national Capitol. During the Statehouse's 22-year construction, seven architects were employed. The Statehouse was opened to the legislature and the public in 1857 and completed in 1861, and is located at the intersection of Broad and High streets in downtown Columbus.
Established in 1848,
Green Lawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in the Midwestern United States.
Within the
Driving Park heritage district lies the
original home of
Eddie Rickenbacker
Edward Vernon Rickenbacker or Eddie Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973) was an American fighter pilot in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient.[fighter pilot
A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...]
ace. Built in 1895, the house was designated a
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...
in 1976.
Museums and public art
![COSI in Columbus 2b](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/COSI_in_Columbus_2b.jpg)
Columbus has a wide variety of museums and galleries. Its primary art museum is the
Columbus Museum of Art
The Columbus Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts (its name until 1978), it was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio. The museum collect ...
, which operates its main location as well as the
Pizzuti Collection
The Pizzuti Collection is a museum for contemporary art in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It has been part of the Columbus Museum of Art since September 2018. The three-story gallery is located in the Short North and Victorian Village neighborhood ...
, featuring
contemporary art
Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic ...
. The museum, founded in 1878, focuses on European and
American art
Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial arc ...
up to early
modernism
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
that includes extraordinary examples of
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...
, German
Expressionism
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it ra ...
and
Cubism
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
. Another prominent art museum in the city is the
Wexner Center for the Arts, a
contemporary art
Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic ...
gallery and research facility operated by the
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
.
The
Ohio History Connection
Ohio History Connection, formerly The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society and Ohio Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1885. Headquartered at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio History Connect ...
is headquartered in Columbus, with its flagship museum, the
Ohio History Center
The Ohio History Center is a history museum and research center in Columbus, Ohio. It is the primary museum for Ohio's history, and is the headquarters, offices, and library of the Ohio History Connection. The building also houses Ohio's state ar ...
, north of downtown. Adjacent to the museum is
Ohio Village, a replica of a village around the time of the American Civil War. The
Columbus Historical Society
The Columbus Historical Society (CHS) is the historical society for Columbus, Ohio, chronicling the city's history. The society office and museum building is located in the Franklinton neighborhood. In 2020, the Columbus Historical Society aims ...
also features historical exhibits, which focus more closely on life in Columbus.
COSI is a large science and children's museum in downtown Columbus. The present building, the former
Central High School, was completed in November 1999, opposite downtown on the west bank of the Scioto River. In 2009, ''
Parents'' magazine named COSI one of the 10 best science centers for families in the country. Other science museums include the
Orton Geological Museum
University, Hayes and Orton Halls are three historic buildings on the Oval at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. On July 16, 1970, they were added to the National Register of Historic Places. The original University Hall was demolish ...
and the Museum of Biological Diversity, which are both part of the Ohio State University.
The
Franklin Park Conservatory
Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is a botanical garden and conservatory located in Columbus, Ohio. It is open daily and an admission fee is charged. Today, it is a horticultural and educational institution showcasing exotic plant ...
is the city's
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
, which opened in 1895. It features over 400 species of plants in a large Victorian-style glass greenhouse building that includes rain forest, desert and Himalayan mountain biomes. The conservatory is located just east of Downtown in
Franklin Park
Biographical museums include the
Thurber House
Thurber House is a literary center for readers and writers located in Columbus, Ohio, in the historic former home of author, humorist, and ''New Yorker'' cartoonist James Thurber. Thurber House is dedicated to promoting the literary arts by pr ...
(documenting the life of cartoonist
James Thurber
James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' and collected ...
), the
Jack Nicklaus Museum
The Jack Nicklaus Museum is a museum focused on and honoring championship golfer Jack Nicklaus. It is on the campus of the golfer's alma mater of Ohio State University in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
The museum, opened in 2002, is a facilit ...
(documenting the golfer's career, located on the OSU campus) and the
Kelton House Museum and Garden
The Kelton House Museum and Garden is a Greek Revival and Italianate mansion in the Discovery District of downtown Columbus, Ohio. The museum was established by the Junior League of Columbus to promote an understanding of daily life, customs, and ...
, the latter of which being a
historic house museum
A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...
memorializing three generations of the Kelton family, the house's use as a documented station on the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...
, and overall Victorian life.
The
National Veterans Memorial and Museum
The National Veterans Memorial and Museum (NVMM) is the United States' national museum for veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. The museum is located in Columbus, Ohio, along the Scioto River between Franklinton and Downtown Columbus. The museum ...
, which opened in 2018, focuses on the personal stories of military veterans throughout U.S. history. The museum replaced the Franklin County Veterans Memorial, which opened in 1955.
Other notable museums in the city include the
Central Ohio Fire Museum
The Central Ohio Fire Museum is a firefighting museum in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The museum is housed in the former Engine House No. 16 of the Columbus Fire Department, built in 1908. It was listed on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties ...
,
Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is a research library of American cartoons and comic art affiliated with the Ohio State University library system in Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as the Cartoon Research Library and the Cartoon Library ...
and the Ohio Craft Museum.
Performing arts
![Ohio Theatre 2020](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Ohio_Theatre_2020.jpg)
Columbus is the home of many performing arts institutions including the
Columbus Symphony Orchestra
The Columbus Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Columbus, Ohio. The oldest performing arts organization in the city, its home is the Ohio Theatre. The orchestra's current Executive Director is Denise Rehg. Ross ...
,
Opera Columbus
Opera Columbus (Opera Association of Central Ohio, OC) is an American professional opera company in Columbus, Ohio, founded in 1981, and is a member of Opera America. OC employs nearly 350 artists and creative professionals annually—vocalists, a ...
,
BalletMet Columbus, the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra,
CATCO, Columbus Children's Theatre, Shadowbox Live, and the Columbus
Jazz Orchestra. Throughout the summer, the
Actors' Theatre of Columbus
Actors' Theatre of Columbus is a performing arts theater troupe located in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded in 1982 by Gary and Patricia Ellson, and was initially called Actors' Summer Theatre. Actors' Theatre presents plays by William Shakespeare a ...
offers free performances of
Shakespearean
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
plays in an open-air amphitheater in
Schiller Park in historic
German Village
German Village is a historic neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, just south of the city's downtown. It was settled in the early-to-mid-19th century by a large number of German immigrants, who at one time comprised as much as a third of the city's ...
.
The Columbus Youth Ballet Academy was founded in the 1980s by ballerina and artistic director Shir Lee Wu, a discovery of
Martha Graham
Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide.
Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She ...
. Wu is now the artistic director of the Columbus City Ballet School.
Columbus has several large concert venues, including the
Nationwide Arena
Nationwide Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Since completion in 2000, the arena has served as the home of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). It is one of two facilities in Columbus, alon ...
,
Value City Arena
Value City Arena is a multi-purpose arena, located on the campus of Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The arena opened in 1998 and is currently the largest by seating capacity in the Big Ten Conference, with 19,049 seats, w ...
,
Express Live!
KEMBA Live! (originally the PromoWest Pavilion) is a multi-purpose concert venue located in the Arena District of Columbus, Ohio. Opening in 2001, the venues operates year-round with indoor and outdoor facilities: the Indoor Music Hall and Outdo ...
, Mershon Auditorium and the
Newport Music Hall
Newport Music Hall is a music venue located in the University District of Columbus, Ohio, across the street from the Ohio Union of the Ohio State University. It is "America's Longest Continually Running Rock Club".
History
Newport Music Hall op ...
.
In May 2009, the
Lincoln Theatre, formerly a center for Black culture in Columbus, reopened after an extensive restoration. Not far from the Lincoln Theatre is the King Arts Complex, which hosts a variety of cultural events. The city also has several theaters downtown, including the historic
Palace Theatre Palace Theatre, or Palace Theater, is the name of many theatres in different countries, including:
Australia
* Palace Theatre, Melbourne, Victoria
*Palace Theatre, Sydney, New South Wales
Canada
*Palace Theatre, housed in the Robillard Block, M ...
, the
Ohio Theatre
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The ...
and the
Southern Theatre.
Broadway Across America
Broadway Across America (BAA) is a presenter and producer of live theatrical events in the United States and Canada since 1982. It is currently owned by the John Gore Organization (formerly Key Brand Entertainment), which purchased it from Live ...
often presents touring Broadway musicals in these larger venues. The Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts houses the Capitol Theatre and three smaller studio theaters, providing a home for resident performing arts companies.
Film
Movies filmed in the Columbus metropolitan area include ''
Teachers
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
'' in 1984, ''
Tango & Cash'' in 1989, ''
Little Man Tate
''Little Man Tate'' is a 1991 American drama film directed by Jodie Foster (in her directorial debut) from a screenplay written by Scott Frank. The film stars Adam Hann-Byrd as Fred Tate, a seven-year-old child prodigy who struggles to self-act ...
'' in 1991, ''
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and us ...
'' in 1997, ''
Traffic
Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation.
Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...
'' in 2000, ''
Speak'' in 2004, ''
Bubble
Bubble, Bubbles or The Bubble may refer to:
Common uses
* Bubble (physics), a globule of one substance in another, usually gas in a liquid
** Soap bubble
* Economic bubble, a situation where asset prices are much higher than underlying fund ...
'' in 2005 and ''
Parker'' in 2013.
Sports
Professional teams
Columbus hosts two major league professional sports teams: the
Columbus Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ...
of the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...
(NHL), which play at
Nationwide Arena
Nationwide Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Since completion in 2000, the arena has served as the home of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). It is one of two facilities in Columbus, alon ...
, and the
Columbus Crew
The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...
of
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...
(MLS), which play at
Lower.com Field
Lower.com Field is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It serves primarily as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer, replacing the club's previous home, Historic Crew Stadium. The new stadium cost ...
. The Crew previously played at
Historic Crew Stadium
Historic Crew Stadium, previously known as Columbus Crew Stadium and Mapfre Stadium, is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It primarily served as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer from 1999 u ...
, the first
soccer-specific stadium
Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi- ...
built in the United States for a Major League Soccer team. The Crew were one of the original members of MLS and won their first
MLS Cup
The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...
in
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, with a second title in
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
. The Columbus Crew moved into
Lower.com Field
Lower.com Field is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It serves primarily as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer, replacing the club's previous home, Historic Crew Stadium. The new stadium cost ...
in the summer of 2021, which will also feature a mixed-use development site named Confluence Village.
The
Columbus Clippers
The Columbus Clippers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They are located in Columbus, Ohio, and are named for speedy merchant sailing vessels known as cli ...
, the
International League
The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ( ...
affiliate of the
Cleveland Guardians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...
, play in
Huntington Park
Huntington Park is a city in the Gateway Cities district of southeastern Los Angeles County, California.
As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 58,114, of whom 97% are Hispanic/Latino and about half were born outside th ...
, which opened in 2009.
The city was home to the
Panhandles/Tigers football team from 1901 to 1926; they are credited with playing in the first NFL game against another NFL opponent. In the late 1990s, the
Columbus Quest
The Columbus Quest was a professional women's basketball franchise located in Columbus, Ohio in the now-defunct American Basketball League (ABL). They were one of the league's original eight teams that started play in 1996. In the league's bri ...
won the only two championships during
American Basketball League's two-and-a-half season existence.
The
Ohio Aviators were based in
Obetz, Ohio, and began play in the only
PRO Rugby season before the league folded.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Columbus is home to one of the nation's most competitive intercollegiate programs, the
Ohio State Buckeyes
The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...
of
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
. The program has placed in the top 10 final standings of the
Director's Cup
The NACDA Directors' Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the NACDA Learfield Directors' Cup or simply as the Directors' Cup, is an award given annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics to the colleges and univers ...
five times since 2000–2001, including No. 3 for the 2002–2003 season and No. 4 for the 2003–2004 season. The university funds 36 varsity teams, consisting of 17 male, 16 female and three co-educational teams. In 2007–2008 and 2008–2009, the program generated the second-most revenue for college programs behind the
Texas Longhorns
The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...
of
The University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
.
The Ohio State Buckeyes are a member of the
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
's
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
, and their
football team
A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all-s ...
plays home games at
Ohio Stadium
Ohio Stadium is an American football stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on the campus of Ohio State University. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team and is also the site for the university's Spring Commencement c ...
. The Ohio State–
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...
football game (known colloquially as "The Game") is the final game of the regular season and is played in November each year, alternating between Columbus and
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all ...
. In 2000,
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
ranked the Ohio State–Michigan game as the greatest rivalry in North American sports. Moreover, "Buckeye fever" permeates Columbus culture year-round and forms a major part of Columbus's cultural identity. Former New York Yankees owner
George Steinbrenner
George Michael Steinbrenner III (July 4, 1930July 13, 2010) was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1973 until his death in 2010. He was the longest-serving own ...
, an Ohio native who received a master's degree from Ohio State and coached in Columbus, was an Ohio State football fan and major donor to the university who contributed to the construction of the band facility at the renovated Ohio Stadium, which bears his family's name.
During the winter months, the Buckeyes
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
and
hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
teams are also major sporting attractions.
Other sports
Columbus has a long history in motorsports, hosting the world's first 24-hour car race at the Columbus Driving Park in 1905, which was organized by the Columbus Auto Club. The
Columbus Motor Speedway was built in 1945 and held its first motorcycle race in 1946. In 2010, the
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
student-built
Buckeye Bullet 2
The Buckeye Bullet is a series of four experimental electric cars created by students from Ohio State University ( the Buckeyes) as a joint project with Venturi. The cars were designed to break the land speed record on the Bonneville Speedway, a ...
, a fuel-cell vehicle, set an FIA world speed record for electric vehicles in reaching 303.025 mph, eclipsing the previous record of 302.877 mph.
The annual
All American Quarter Horse Congress
The All American Quarter Horse Congress (AAQHC) is known as the largest single breed horse show in the world. The annual event is held at the 360 acre Ohio Expo Center and State Fairgrounds in Columbus, Ohio, and is hosted by the Ohio Quarter Ho ...
, the world's largest single-breed horse show, attracts approximately 500,000 visitors to the Ohio Expo Center each October.
Columbus hosts the annual
Arnold Sports Festival
The IFBB Arnold Sports Festival, also known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival, is an annual multi-sport event consisting of professional bodybuilding (''Arnold Classic''), strongman ('' Arnold Strongman Classic''), fitness, figur ...
. Hosted by
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...
, the event has grown to eight
Olympic sports
Olympic sports are contested in the Summer Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games. The 2020 Summer Olympics included 33 sports; the 2022 Winter Olympics included seven sports. Each Olympic sport is represented by an international governing b ...
and 22,000 athletes competing in 80 events. In conjunction with the Arnold Classic, the city hosted three consecutive
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...
events between 2007 and 2009, as well as other
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incor ...
events.
Westside Barbell, a world-renowned powerlifting gym, is located in Columbus. Its founder,
Louie Simmons
Louie Simmons (October 12, 1947 – March 24, 2022) was an American powerlifter and strength coach. He was active as a powerlifter and coach for more than fifty years. Simmons was the founder of Westside Barbell and has developed several training ...
, is known for his popularization of the "Conjugate Method," while he is also credited with inventing training machines for reverse hyper-extensions and belt squats. Westside Barbell is known for producing multiple world record holders in powerlifting.
The
Columbus Bullies
The Columbus Bullies were a professional football team founded by Phil H. Bucklew in Columbus, Ohio in 1938. The Bullies started out as a member of the American Professional Football Association (APFA) in 1939. Later, in 1940, the Bullies joined ...
were two-time champions of the American Football League (1940–1941). The Columbus Thunderbolts were formed in 1991 for the Arena Football League, and then relocated to Cleveland as the Cleveland Thunderbolts; the
Columbus Destroyers
The Columbus Destroyers were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Columbus, Ohio, with home games in Nationwide Arena. The team was founded in as the Buffalo Destroyers, based in Buffalo, New York, and relocated to Columbus in . They fol ...
were the next team of the AFL, playing from 2004 until the league's demise in 2008 and returned for single season in 2019 until the league folded a second time.
Ohio Roller Derby
Ohio Roller Derby (OHRD) is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 2005, the league currently consists of two mixed teams which compete against teams from other leagues. Ohio Roller Derby is a founding member ...
(formerly Ohio Roller Girls) was founded in Columbus in 2005 and still competes internationally in Women's Flat Track Derby Association play. The team is regularly ranked in the top 60 internationally.
Parks and attractions
![Scioto Audubon 03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Scioto_Audubon_03.jpg)
Columbus's
Recreation and Parks Department oversees about 370 city parks. Also in the area are 19
regional park A regional park is an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreational use or other reason, and under the administration of a form of local government.
Definition
A regional park can be a special park distri ...
s and the
Metro Parks, which are part of the Columbus and Franklin County Metropolitan Park District.
These parks include Clintonville's Whetstone Park and the
Columbus Park of Roses
The Columbus Park of Roses, also known as the Whetstone Park of Roses, is a public park and rose garden in Columbus, Ohio. The park is located within the city's larger Whetstone Park in the Clintonville neighborhood. The free public park is ope ...
, a rose garden. The
Chadwick Arboretum
Chadwick Arboretum is a arboretum on the Agriculture campus of The Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The main arboretum collection is located just across Lane Avenue from the Schottenstein Center with its other collections ...
on Ohio State's campus features a large and varied collection of plants, while its
Olentangy River Wetland Research Park
The Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park is an experimental wetland complex located adjacent to the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, United States and is part of the School of Environment and Natural Res ...
is an experimental wetland open to the public. Downtown, the painting ''
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte
''A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'' (french: Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte) was painted from 1884 to 1886 and is Georges Seurat's most famous work. A leading example of pointillist technique, executed o ...
'' is represented in
topiary
Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...
at Columbus's
Topiary Park
Topiary Park is a public park and garden in Columbus, Ohio's Discovery District. The park's topiary garden, officially the Topiary Garden at Old Deaf School Park, is designed to depict figures from Georges Seurat's 1884 painting, '' A Sunday A ...
. Also near downtown, the
Scioto Audubon Metro Park
Scioto Audubon Metro Park is a public park and nature preserve in Columbus, Ohio. The park is managed by the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks and is part of the Scioto Mile network of parks and trails around Downtown Columbus. The park f ...
on the Whittier Peninsula opened in 2009 and includes a large Audubon nature center focused on the
birdwatching
Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...
the area is known for.
The
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is a non-profit zoo located near Powell in Liberty Township, Delaware County, Ohio, United States, north of the city of Columbus. The land lies along the eastern banks of the O'Shaughnessy Reservoir on the Sciot ...
's collections include lowland gorillas, polar bears, manatees, Siberian tigers, cheetahs and kangaroos. Also in the zoo complex is the
Zoombezi Bay water park and amusement park.
Fairs and festivals
![Ohio State Fair Picture 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Ohio_State_Fair_Picture_1.JPG)
Annual festivities in Columbus include the
Ohio State Fair
The Ohio State Fair is one of the largest state fairs in the United States, held in Columbus, Ohio during late July through early August. As estimated in a 2011 economic impact study conducted by Saperstein & Associates; the State Fair contribute ...
– one of the largest state fairs in the country – as well as the Columbus Arts Festival and the Jazz & Rib Fest, both of which occur on the downtown riverfront.
In mid-May from 2007 to 2018, Columbus was home to Rock on the Range, which was held at
Historic Crew Stadium
Historic Crew Stadium, previously known as Columbus Crew Stadium and Mapfre Stadium, is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It primarily served as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer from 1999 u ...
and marketed as America's biggest rock festival. The festival, which took place on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday, has hosted Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Slipknot and other notable bands. In May 2019, it was officially replaced by the
Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival
Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival is a hard rock and metal festival held in Columbus, Ohio, United States, at the Historic Crew Stadium. The inaugural festival was held in May 2019, replacing the previously annual Rock on the Range. Sonic Temple ...
.
During the first weekend in June, the bars of Columbus's North Market District host the Park Street Festival, which attracts thousands of visitors to a massive party in bars and on the street. June's second-to-last weekend sees one of the Midwest's largest
gay pride parades
A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, legal rights, and pride. The events som ...
,
Columbus Pride
Columbus Pride (or Stonewall Columbus Pride Parade) is an LGBTQ festival in Columbus, Ohio hosted by Stonewall Columbus. The event first took place in 1981, and has grown into the second largest LGBT pride event in the Midwest, behind Chicago. In ...
, reflecting the city's sizable gay population. During the last weekend of June, Goodale Park hosts
ComFest
ComFest (officially The Community Festival) is a free, non-corporate, music and arts annual festival currently held each June at Goodale Park in the Victorian Village area of Columbus, Ohio.
Description
The festival bills itself as "The Party wit ...
(short for "Community Festival"), an immense three-day music festival marketed as the largest non-commercial festival in the U.S., with art vendors, live music on multiple stages, hundreds of local social and political organizations,
body painting
Body painting is a form of body art where artwork is painted directly onto the human skin. Unlike tattoos and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, lasting several hours or sometimes up to a few weeks (in the case of mehndi or " ...
and beer.
Greek Festival is held in August or September at the
Greek Orthodox Church
The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...
downtown.
The Hot Times Community Arts & Music Festival, a celebration of music, arts, food and diversity, is held annually in the
Olde Towne East neighborhood.
The city's largest dining event, Restaurant Week Columbus, is held twice a year in mid-January and mid-July. In 2010, more than 40,000 diners went to 40 participating restaurants, and $5,000 was donated the Mid-Ohio Foodbank on behalf of sponsors and participating restaurants.
The Juneteenth Ohio Festival is held each year at Franklin Park on
Father's Day
Father's Day is a holiday of honoring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. In the Unite ...
weekend. Started by Mustafaa Shabazz, Juneteenth Ohio is one of the largest African American festivals in the United States, including three full days of music, food, dance and entertainment by local and national recording artists. The festival holds a Father's Day celebration, honoring local fathers.
Around the
Fourth of July
Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States ...
, Columbus hosts Red, White & Boom! on the Scioto riverfront downtown, attracting crowds of over 500,000 people and featuring the largest fireworks display in Ohio. The
Doo Dah Parade is also held at this time.
During
Memorial Day
Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...
Weekend, the Asian Festival is held in Franklin Park. Hundreds of restaurants, vendors and companies open up booths, and
traditional music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
is played, martial arts are performed and cultural exhibits are set up.
The Jazz & Rib Fest is a free downtown event held each July, featuring jazz artists like Randy Weston, D. Bohannon Clark and Wayne Shorter, along with rib vendors from around the country.
The Short North is host to the monthly Gallery Hop, which attracts hundreds to the neighborhood's art galleries (which all open their doors to the public until late at night) and
street musicians. The Hilltop Bean Dinner is an annual event held on Columbus's West Side that celebrates the city's Civil War heritage near the historic Camp Chase Cemetery. At the end of September,
German Village
German Village is a historic neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, just south of the city's downtown. It was settled in the early-to-mid-19th century by a large number of German immigrants, who at one time comprised as much as a third of the city's ...
throws an annual
Oktoberfest
The Oktoberfest (; bar, Wiesn, Oktobafest) is the world's largest Volksfest, featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival. It is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is a 16- to 18-day folk festival running from mid- or ...
celebration that features German food, beer, music and crafts.
The Short North also hosts HighBall Halloween and Masquerade on High, a fashion show and street parade that closes down High Street. In 2011, in its fourth year, HighBall Halloween gained notoriety as it accepted its first Expy award. HighBall Halloween has much to offer for those interested in fashion and the performing and visual arts, or for those who want to celebrate Halloween with food and drinks from all around the city. Each year, the event is put on with a different theme.
Columbus also hosts many conventions in the
Greater Columbus Convention Center
The Greater Columbus Convention Center (GCCC) is a convention center located in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, United States, along the east side of North High Street.
The convention center was predominantly designed by Peter Eisenman, constructed ...
, a large convention center on the north edge of downtown. Completed in 1993, the convention center was designed by architect
Peter Eisenman
Peter Eisenman (born August 11, 1932) is an American architect. Considered one of the New York Five, Eisenman is known for his writing and speaking about architecture as well as his designs, which have been called high modernist or deconstructiv ...
, who also designed the Wexner Center.
Shopping
Both of the metropolitan area's major shopping centers are located in Columbus:
Easton Town Center
Easton Town Center is a shopping center and mall in northeast Columbus, Ohio, United States. Opened in 1999, the core buildings and streets that comprise Easton are intended to look like a self-contained town, reminiscent of American towns and cit ...
and
Polaris Fashion Place
Polaris Fashion Place is a two level shopping mall and surrounding retail plaza serving Columbus, Ohio, United States. The mall, owned locally by Washington Prime Group, is located off Interstate 71 on Polaris Parkway in Delaware County just to t ...
.
Developer
Richard E. Jacobs
Richard E. "Dick" Jacobs (June 16, 1925 – June 5, 2009) was an American businessman and real estate developer who co-founded the Jacobs Entertainment, Richard E. Jacobs Group, and owner of the Cleveland Indians from 1986-1999.
Biography
Jacob ...
built the area's first three major shopping malls in the 1960s:
Westland Westland or Westlands may refer to:
Places
*Westlands, an affluent neighbourhood in the city of Nairobi, Kenya
* Westlands, Staffordshire, a suburban area and ward in Newcastle-under-Lyme
*Westland, a peninsula of the Shetland Mainland near Vaila ...
,
Northland and
Eastland
SS ''Eastland'' was a passenger ship based in Chicago and used for tours. On 24 July 1915, the ship rolled over onto its side while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. In total, 844 passengers and crew were killed in what was the largest loss ...
. Of these, only Eastland remains in operation. Near Northland Mall was The Continent, an open-air mall in the
Northland area, mostly vacant and pending redevelopment.
Columbus City Center was built downtown in 1988, alongside the first location of
Lazarus; this mall closed in 2009 and was demolished in 2011.
Easton Town Center
Easton Town Center is a shopping center and mall in northeast Columbus, Ohio, United States. Opened in 1999, the core buildings and streets that comprise Easton are intended to look like a self-contained town, reminiscent of American towns and cit ...
was built in 1999 and
Polaris Fashion Place
Polaris Fashion Place is a two level shopping mall and surrounding retail plaza serving Columbus, Ohio, United States. The mall, owned locally by Washington Prime Group, is located off Interstate 71 on Polaris Parkway in Delaware County just to t ...
in 2001.
Environment
The City of Columbus has focused on reducing its
environmental impact
Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...
and
carbon footprint
A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbo ...
. In 2020, a citywide ballot measure was approved, giving Columbus an
electricity aggregation
Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), also known as Community Choice Energy, municipal aggregation, governmental aggregation, electricity aggregation, and community aggregation, is an alternative to the investor owned utility energy supply system in ...
plan which will supply it with
100% renewable energy
100% renewable energy means getting all energy from renewable resources. The endeavor to use 100% renewable energy for electricity, heating, cooling and transport is motivated by climate change, pollution and other environmental issue ...
by the start of 2023. Its vendor, AEP Energy, plans to construct new wind and solar farms in Ohio to help supply the electricity.
The largest sources of pollution in the county, as of 2019, are the Ohio State University's McCracken Power Plant, the landfill operated by the
Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio
The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO) was established by the Ohio General Assembly in 1989 as part of Ohio House Bill 592, which created Ohio’s current solid waste management planning and regulatory programs. SWACO is a government- ...
(SWACO) and the
Anheuser-Busch
Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV ( AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...
Columbus Brewery. Anheuser-Busch has a company-wide goal of reducing emissions by 25% by 2025. Ohio State plans to construct a new heat and power plant, also powered by fossil fuels, but set to reduce emissions by about 30%. SWACO manages to capture 75% of its
methane emissions
Increasing methane emissions are a major contributor to the rising concentration of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere, and are responsible for up to one-third of near-term global heating. During 2019, about 60% (360 million tons) of methane r ...
to use in producing energy, and is looking to reduce emissions further.
Government
Mayor and city council
The city is administered by a mayor and a seven-member unicameral council elected in two classes every two years to four-year terms at large. Columbus is the largest city in the United States that elects its city council at large as opposed to districts. The mayor appoints the director of safety and the director of public service. The people elect the
auditor
An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting and a ...
,
municipal court clerk,
municipal court judges and
city attorney
A city attorney is a position in city and municipal government in the United States. The city attorney is the attorney representing the municipality.
Unlike a district attorney or public defender, who usually handles criminal cases, a city att ...
. A charter commission, elected in 1913, submitted a new charter in May 1914, offering a modified federal form, with a number of progressive features, such as nonpartisan ballot,
preferential voting {{short description, Election systems
Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems:
* Ranked voting methods, all election methods that involve ranking candidates in order of pr ...
, recall of
elected officials, the referendum and a small council elected at large. The charter was adopted, effective January 1, 1916.
Andrew Ginther
Andrew James Ginther (born April 27, 1975) is an American Democratic politician, the 53rd mayor of Columbus, Ohio, and the 48th person to serve in that office. He served as President of Columbus City Council from 2011 until 2015.
Early life a ...
has been the mayor of Columbus since 2016.
Government offices
![Ohio State Office Building 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Ohio_State_Office_Building_2.jpg)
As Ohio's capital and the county seat, Columbus hosts numerous federal, state, county and city government offices and courts.
Federal offices include the
Joseph P. Kinneary U.S. Courthouse
The Joseph P. Kinneary United States Courthouse is a federal courthouse in Columbus, Ohio, in the city's downtown Civic Center. It was formerly known as the U.S. Post Office and Court House. It was designed by Richards, McCarty & Bulford and was ...
,
one of several courts for the
District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, after moving from
121 E. State St. in 1934. Another federal office, the
John W. Bricker Federal Building
The John W. Bricker Federal Building is a federal office building in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The structure was designed in the Brutalist architecture style and was built in 1977 to house federal offices. It has seven stories, and is part of a fa ...
, has offices for U.S. Senator
Sherrod Brown
Sherrod Campbell Brown (; born November 9, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Ohio, a seat which he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for Ohio ...
, as well as for the
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory t ...
, the
Social Security Administration
The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability and survivor benefits. To qualify f ...
and the Departments of
Housing & Urban Development and
Agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...
.
The State of Ohio's capitol building, the
Ohio Statehouse
The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the H ...
, is located in the center of downtown on
Capitol Square
Capitol Square is a public square in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The square includes the Ohio Statehouse, its Capitol Grounds, as well as the buildings and features surrounding the square. The Capitol Grounds are surrounded on the north and west ...
. It houses the
Ohio House of Representatives
The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate.
The House of Representatives first met in Ch ...
and
Ohio Senate
The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the s ...
.
It also contains the ceremonial offices of the
governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
,
lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
, state
treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance.
Government
The treasury ...
and state
auditor
An auditor is a person or a firm appointed by a company to execute an audit.Practical Auditing, Kul Narsingh Shrestha, 2012, Nabin Prakashan, Nepal To act as an auditor, a person should be certified by the regulatory authority of accounting and a ...
. The
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
,
Court of Claims and Judicial Conference are located in the
Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center
The Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center is a state courthouse, office building, and library in Columbus, Ohio, in the city's downtown Civic Center. The building is the headquarters of the Supreme Court of Ohio, the state's highest court, as well ...
downtown by the Scioto River. The building, built in 1933 to house 10 state agencies along with the
State Library of Ohio
The State Library of Ohio is a state agency that provides services to state government and all types of libraries to ensure that all Ohio residents, rich or poor, rural or urban, receive the best possible library service and are able to engage in ...
, became the Supreme Court after extensive renovations from 2001 to 2004.
Franklin County operates the
Franklin County Government Center
The Franklin County Government Center is a government complex of Franklin County, Ohio in the city of Columbus. The government center has included several iterations of the Franklin County Courthouse, including a building completed in 1840 and ...
, a complex at the southern end of downtown Columbus. The center includes the county's municipal court, common pleas court, correctional center, juvenile detention center and sheriff's office.
Near City Hall, the
Michael B. Coleman Government Center
The Michael B. Coleman Government Center is a municipal office building of Columbus, Ohio, in the city's downtown Civic Center. The building, completed in 2018, is named for former mayor Michael Coleman.
Attributes
The Michael B. Coleman Gover ...
holds offices for the departments of building and zoning services, public service, development and public utilities. Also nearby is
77 North Front Street
77 North Front Street is a municipal office building of Columbus, Ohio, in the city's downtown Civic Center. The building, originally built as the Central Police Station (of the current-day Columbus Division of Police) in 1930, operated in that f ...
, which holds Columbus's city attorney office, income-tax division, public safety, human resources, civil service and purchasing departments. The structure, built in 1929, was the police headquarters until 1991, and was then dormant until it was given a $34 million renovation from 2011 to 2013.
Emergency services and homeland security
Municipal police
Municipal police, city police, or local police are law enforcement agencies that are under the control of local government. This includes the municipal government, where it is the smallest administrative subdivision. They receive funding ...
duties are performed by the
Columbus Division of Police
The Columbus Division of Police (CPD) is the main policing unit for the city of Columbus, Ohio, in the United States. It is the largest police department in the state of Ohio, and among the twenty-five largest in the United States.Based upon the ...
, while
emergency medical services
Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...
(EMS) and fire protection are through the
Columbus Division of Fire
The Columbus Division of Fire (CFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to Columbus, Ohio.
The department operates 35 stations; the newest station opened March 2020. The stations are divided into seven battalions. The Columbu ...
.
Ohio Homeland Security operates the Strategic Analysis and Information Center (SAIC) fusion center in Columbus's Hilltop neighborhood. The facility is the state's primary public intelligence hub and one of the few in the country that uses state, local, federal and private resources.
Social services and homelessness
Columbus has a history of governmental and nonprofit support for low-income residents and the homeless. Nevertheless, the homelessness rate has steadily risen since at least 2007. Poverty and differences in quality of life have grown, as well; Columbus was noted as the second-most economically segregated large metropolitan area in 2015, in a study by the University of Toronto. It also ranked 45th of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in terms of
social mobility
Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given society ...
, according to a 2015 Harvard University study.
Education
Colleges and universities
Columbus is the home of two public
college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
s: the
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
, one of the
largest college campuses in the United States, and
Columbus State Community College
Columbus State Community College (CSCC) is a public community college in Columbus, Ohio. Founded as Columbus Area Technician's School in 1963, it was renamed Columbus Technical Institute in 1965 and was renamed again to its current name in 198 ...
. In 2009, Ohio State University was ranked No. 19 in the country by ''U.S. News & World Report'' on its list of best public universities, and No. 56 overall, scoring in the first tier of schools nationally.
[U.S. News and Reports, Best Colleges]
Retrieved July 26, 2009. Some of Ohio State's graduate school programs placed in the top 5, including No. 5 for both best veterinary programs and best pharmacy programs. The specialty graduate programs of social psychology was ranked No. 2, dispute resolution was No. 5, vocational education was No. 2, and elementary education, secondary teacher education, administration/supervision was No. 5.
[Ohio State University, News Release](_blank)
Retrieved July 26, 2009.
Private institutions in Columbus include
Capital University Law School
Capital University Law School is an ABA-accredited private law school located in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The law school is affiliated with Capital University, the oldest university in Central Ohio and one of the oldest and largest Lutheran-affi ...
, the
Columbus College of Art and Design,
Fortis College
Fortis College (also Fortis Institute and Fortis College of Nursing in some locations) is a Private for-profit college with multiple campuses throughout the United States. It was established in 2008 and is operated by Education Affiliates and own ...
,
DeVry University
DeVry University () is a private for-profit university with its headquarters in Naperville, Illinois. It was founded in 1931 by Herman A. DeVry and is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. DeVry is predominantly an online educator but ...
,
Ohio Business College
Ohio Business College is a private for-profit junior college with multiple locations in Ohio. It is owned by Tri-State Educational Systems, Inc. with corporate headquarters located in Middletown, Ohio. Currently, Ohio Business College operates ...
, Miami-Jacobs Career College,
Ohio Institute of Health Careers,
Bradford School and
Franklin University
Franklin University is a private university with its main campus in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded in 1902 to serve the needs of adult students. On-site courses are offered at the university's campus in Columbus' Discovery District. However, mos ...
, as well as the religious schools
Bexley Hall Episcopal Seminary, Mount Carmel College of Nursing,
Ohio Dominican University
Ohio Dominican University is a private Dominican liberal arts university in Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-mos ...
,
Pontifical College Josephinum
The Pontifical College Josephinum is a private Roman Catholic seminary and university in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded by Joseph Jessing in 1888 and was granted the status of a Pontifical College in 1892 by Pope Leo XIII, making it the only pon ...
and
Trinity Lutheran Seminary
Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capital University is an Evangelical Lutheran seminary in Columbus, Ohio.
History
In 1830, the German Theological Seminary of the Ohio Synod, later known as the Evangelical Lutheran Theological Seminary (ELTS), was fo ...
. Three major suburban schools also have an influence on Columbus's educational landscape: Bexley's
Capital University
Capital University (Capital, Cap, or CU) is a private university in Bexley, Ohio. Capital was founded as the Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio in 1830, and later was associated with that synod's successor, the Ame ...
, Westerville's
Otterbein University and Delaware's
Ohio Wesleyan University
Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio. It was founded in 1842 by methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five – a consorti ...
.
Primary and secondary schools
Columbus City Schools
Columbus City Schools, formerly known as Columbus Public Schools, is the official school district for the city of Columbus, Ohio, and serves most of the city (portions of the city are served by suburban school districts). The district has 46,6 ...
(CCS) is the largest district in Ohio, with 55,000 pupils. CCS operates 142 elementary,
middle and high schools, including a number of
magnet school
In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school ...
s (which are referred to as
alternative school
An alternative school is an educational establishment with a curriculum and methods that are nontraditional. Such schools offer a wide range of philosophies and teaching methods; some have strong political, scholarly, or philosophical orientati ...
s within the school system).
The suburbs operate their own districts, typically serving students in one or more townships, with districts sometimes crossing municipal boundaries. The
Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus
The Diocese of Columbus ( la, Dioecesis Columbensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church covering 23 counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The episcopal see of the diocese is situated at Columbus. The dioce ...
also operates several
parochial elementary and high schools. The area's second-largest school district is
South-Western City Schools, which encompasses southwestern Franklin County, including a slice of Columbus itself. Other portions of Columbus are zoned to the
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
,
New Albany-Plain,
Westerville and
Worthington school districts.
There are also several private schools in the area, such as St. Paul's Lutheran School, a K-8 Christian school of the
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), also referred to simply as the Wisconsin Synod, is an American Confessional Lutheran denomination of Christianity. Characterized as theologically conservative, it was founded in 1850 in Milwauk ...
in Columbus.
Some sources determine that the first kindergarten in the United States was established here by Louisa Frankenberg, a former student of
Friedrich Fröbel
Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel or Froebel (; 21 April 1782 – 21 June 1852) was a German pedagogue, a student of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, who laid the foundation for modern education based on the recognition that children have unique need ...
.
Frankenberg immigrated to the city in 1838 and opened her kindergarten in the German Village neighborhood in that year. The school did not work out, so she returned to Germany in 1840. In 1858, Frankenberg returned to Columbus and established another early kindergarten in the city. Frankenberg is often overlooked, with
Margarethe Schurz
Margarethe Meyer-Schurz (born Margarethe Meyer; also called Margaretha Meyer-Schurz or just Margarethe Schurz; 27 August 1833 – 15 March 1876) was a German-American woman who opened the first German-language kindergarten in the United States at ...
instead given credit for her "
First Kindergarten
The First Kindergarten in Watertown, Wisconsin, is the building that housed the first kindergarten in the United States, opened in 1856. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 for its significance to the history of edu ...
" she operated for two years.
In addition, Indianola Junior High School (now the
Graham Elementary and Middle School
Graham Elementary and Middle School (formerly Graham Expeditionary Middle School and Graham Primary School) is a public K-8 charter school in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally the Indianola Junior High School, the first junior high school in the ...
) became the nation's first
junior high school
A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...
in 1909, helping to bridge the difficult transition from elementary to high school at a time when only 48% of students continued their education after the
ninth grade
Ninth grade, freshman year, or grade 9 is the ninth year of school education in some school systems. Ninth grade is often the first school year of high school in the United States, or the last year of middle/junior high school. In some countrie ...
.
Libraries
![CML Main Library 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/CML_Main_Library_01.jpg)
The
Columbus Metropolitan Library
The Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) is a public library system in Franklin County, Ohio, in the Columbus metropolitan area. The library serves an area of 872,000 residents, has a collection of 1,483,433 volumes, and circulates 17,262,267 it ...
(CML) has served central Ohio residents since 1873. The system has 23 locations throughout Central Ohio, with a total collection of 3 million items. This library is one of the country's most-used library systems and is consistently among the top-ranked large city libraries according to
Hennen's American Public Library Ratings. CML was rated the No. 1 library system in the nation in 1999, 2005 and 2008. It has been in the top four every year since 1999, when the rankings were first published in the ''
American Libraries
''American Libraries'' is the flagship magazine of the American Library Association (ALA).
About
''American Libraries'' was first published in 1970 as a continuation of the long-running ''ALA Bulletin,'' which had served as the Association’s ...
'' magazine, often challenging upstate neighbor
Cuyahoga County Public Library
Cuyahoga County Public Library (CCPL) has 27 branches that serve 47 communities in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. It was ranked the number one public library in the United States among libraries serving populations of more than 500,000 by the Hennen's A ...
for the top spot.
Weekend education
The classes of the
Columbus Japanese Language School
is a weekend supplementary Japanese school, based in the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area.
The classes are held in Creekview Intermediate School, of the Marysville Exempted Village Schools District (MEVSD) in Marysville. The school office is ...
, a
weekend Japanese school, are held in a facility from the school district in
Marysville, while the school office is in
Worthington. Previously it held classes at facilities in the city of Columbus.
Media
![Dispatch Building, Columbus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Dispatch_Building%2C_Columbus.jpg)
Several weekly and daily newspapers serve Columbus and Central Ohio. The major daily newspaper in Columbus is ''
The Columbus Dispatch
''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in 19 ...
''. There are also neighborhood- or suburb-specific papers, such as the Dispatch Printing Company's ''ThisWeek Community News'', the ''
Columbus Messenger
Columbus Messenger Newspapers is a bi-weekly newspaper organization started in 1974. It publishes six free or by subscription, independently owned newspapers: the ''Westside Messenger'', the ''South and'' ''Canal Winchester Messenger'', the ''Grov ...
'', the ''Clintonville Spotlight'' and the ''Short North Gazette''. ''
The Lantern
''The Lantern'' is an independent daily newspaper in Columbus, Ohio, by students at Ohio State University. It is one of the largest campus newspapers in the United States, reaching a circulation of 15,000.
Copies of the paper are free and avail ...
'' and ''
1870'' serve the
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
community. Alternative arts, culture or politics-oriented papers include ''
ALIVE
Alive may refer to:
*Life
Books, comics and periodicals
* ''Alive'' (novel), a 2015 novel by Scott Sigler
* '' Alive: The Final Evolution'', a 2003 shonen manga by Tadashi Kawashima and Adachitoka
* '' Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors'', ...
'' (formerly the independent ''Columbus Alive'' and now owned by the ''Columbus Dispatch''), ''
Columbus Free Press
The ''Columbus Free Press'' is an American alternative journal published in Columbus, Ohio since 1970. Founded as an underground newspaper centered on anti-war and student activist issues, after the winding down of the Vietnam War it successfully ...
'' and ''Columbus Underground'' (digital-only). The ''Columbus Magazine'', ''CityScene'', ''614 Magazine'' and ''
Columbus Monthly
''Columbus Monthly'' is a magazine that has been an important and influential voice in Central Ohio. The magazine which was created in June 1975 has a well-earned reputation for tweaking the local establishment, challenging the monopoly daily on ...
'' are the city's magazines.
Columbus is the base for 12 television stations and is the 32nd-largest television market as of September 24, 2016. Columbus is also home to the 36th-largest radio market.
Infrastructure
Healthcare
Numerous medical systems operate in Columbus and Central Ohio. These include
OhioHealth
OhioHealth is a not-for-profit system of hospitals and healthcare providers located in Columbus, Ohio and surrounding areas. The system consists of 12 hospitals, 200+ ambulatory sites, hospice, home health, medical equipment and other health serv ...
, which has three hospitals in the city proper:
Mount Carmel Health System
Mount Carmel Health System is the second-largest health care system in central Ohio. They employ over 8,000 employees and 1,500 doctors in their numerous outpatient facilities and their four hospitals: Mount Carmel East near Reynoldsburg, Moun ...
, which has one hospital among other facilities; the
Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is a multidisciplinary academic medical center located in Columbus, Ohio, United States, on the main campus of The Ohio State University.
For 29 consecutive years, '' U.S. News & World Report'' has ...
, which has a primary hospital complex and
an east campus in Columbus; and
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Nationwide Children's Hospital (formerly Columbus Children's Hospital) is a nationally ranked pediatric acute care teaching hospital located in the Southern Orchards neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. The hospital has 673 pediatric beds and is affil ...
, which is an independently operated hospital for pediatric health care. Hospitals in Central Ohio are ranked favorably by the ''
U.S. News & World Report'', where numerous hospitals are ranked as among the best in particular fields in the United States. Nationwide Children's is regarded as among the top 10 children's hospitals in the country, according to the report.
Utilities
Numerous utility companies operate in Central Ohio. Within Columbus, power is sourced from Columbus Southern Power, an
American Electric Power
American Electric Power (AEP), (railcar reporting mark: AEPX) is a major investor-owned electric utility in the United States, delivering electricity to more than five million customers in 11 states.
AEP ranks among the nation's largest g ...
subsidiary. Natural gas is provided by
Columbia Gas of Ohio, while water is sourced from the City of Columbus Division of Water.
Transportation
Local roads, grid and address system
![Columbus Numbered Streets and Avenues](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Columbus_Numbered_Streets_and_Avenues.png)
The city's two main corridors since its founding are
Broad
Broad(s) or The Broad(s) may refer to:
People
* A slang term for a woman.
* Broad (surname), a surname
Places
* Broad Peak, on the border between Pakistan and China, the 12th highest mountain on Earth
* The Broads, a network of mostly na ...
and
High Street
High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...
s. They both traverse beyond the extent of the city; High Street is the longest in Columbus, running (23.4 across the county), while Broad Street is longer across the county, at .
The city's street plan originates downtown and extends into the old-growth neighborhoods, following a
grid pattern
In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid.
Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogo ...
with the intersection of High Street (running north–south) and Broad Street (running east–west) at its center. North–south streets run 12 degrees west of due north, parallel to High Street; the avenues (vis. Fifth Avenue, Sixth Avenue, Seventh Avenue, and so on) run 12 degrees off from east–west.
The address system begins its numbering at the intersection of Broad and High, with numbers increasing in magnitude with distance from Broad or High, as well as cardinal directions used alongside street names.
Numbered avenues begin with First Avenue, about north of Broad Street, and increase in number as one progresses northward. Numbered streets begin with Second Street, which is two blocks west of High Street, and Third Street, which is a block east of High Street, then progress eastward from there. Even-numbered addresses are on the north and east sides of streets, putting odd addresses on the south and west sides of streets. A difference of 700 house numbers means a distance of about (along the same street).
For example, 351 W. Fifth Ave. is approximately west of High Street on the south side of Fifth Avenue. Buildings along north–south streets are numbered in a similar manner: the building number indicates the approximate distance from Broad Street, the prefixes "N" and "S" indicate whether that distance is to be measured to the north or south of Broad Street and the street number itself indicates how far the street is from the center of the city at the intersection of Broad and High.
This street numbering system does not hold true over a large area. The area served by numbered avenues runs from about Marble Cliff to South Linden to the Airport, and the area served by numbered streets covers Downtown and nearby neighborhoods to the east and south, with only a few exceptions. There are quite few intersections between numbered streets and avenues. Furthermore, named streets and avenues can have any orientation. For example, while all of the numbered avenues run east–west, perpendicular to High Street, many named, non-numbered avenues run north–south, parallel to High. The same is true of many named streets: while the numbered streets in the city run north–south, perpendicular to Broad Street, many named, non-numbered streets run east–west, perpendicular to High Street.
The addressing system, however, covers nearly all of Franklin County, with only a few older suburbs retaining self-centered address systems. The address scale of 700 per mile results in addresses approaching, but not usually reaching, 10,000 at the county's borders.
Other major, local roads in Columbus include Main Street, Morse Road, Dublin-Granville Road (
SR-161), Cleveland Avenue/Westerville Road (
SR-3 SR 3 may refer to:
* SR-3 Vikhr, a Russian assault rifle
* SR-3 Blackstar, the first stage of a reported American covert spaceplane program
* Matich SR3, an Australian sports car
* Radical SR3, an English sports car
* ''Saints Row: The Third'', a ...
), Olentangy River Road, Riverside Drive, Sunbury Road, Fifth Avenue and Livingston Avenue.
Highways
![Spring and Long St bridges](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Spring_and_Long_St_bridges.jpg)
Columbus is bisected by two major
Interstate Highways
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...
:
Interstate 70
Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15, I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of Interstate 695 (Maryland), I-695 in ...
running east–west and
Interstate 71
Interstate 71 (I-71) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes/Midwestern and Southeastern region of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-64 and I-65 (the Kennedy Interchange) in Louisville, ...
running north to roughly southwest. They combine downtown for about in an area locally known as "The Split," which is a major
traffic congestion
Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...
point, especially during
rush hour
A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: on ...
.
U.S. Route 40, originally known as the
National Road
The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...
, runs east–west through Columbus, comprising Main Street to the east of downtown and Broad Street to the west.
U.S. Route 23
}
U.S. Route 23 or U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) is a major north–south U.S. Highway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It is an original 1926 route which originally reached only as far south as Portsmouth, Ohio, and has sinc ...
runs roughly north–south, while
U.S. Route 33
U.S. Route 33 (US 33) is a United States Numbered Highway that runs northwest–southeast for from northern Indiana to Richmond, Virginia, passing through Ohio and West Virginia en route. Although most odd-numbered U.S. routes are north– ...
runs northwest-to-southeast. The
Interstate 270 Outerbelt encircles most of the city, while the newly redesigned Innerbelt consists of the
Interstate 670 spur on the north side (which continues to the east past the Airport and to the west where it merges with I-70),
State Route 315 on the west side, the I-70/71 split on the south side and I-71 on the east. Due to its central location within Ohio and abundance of outbound roadways, nearly all of the state's destinations are within a two- or three-hour drive of Columbus.
Bridges
![Broad Street Bridge Columbus 2018a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Broad_Street_Bridge_Columbus_2018a.jpg)
The Columbus riverfront hosts several bridges. The
Discovery Bridge connects downtown to Franklinton across Broad Street. The bridge opened in 1992, replacing a 1921 concrete arch bridge; the first bridge at the site was built in 1816. The
Main Street Bridge opened on July 30, 2010. The bridge has three lanes for vehicular traffic (one westbound and two eastbound) and another separated lane for pedestrians and bikes. The
Rich Street Bridge
The Rich Street Bridge is a bridge in Columbus, Ohio, United States, spanning the Scioto River and connecting downtown's Rich Street to Franklinton's Town Street. It carries U.S. Route 62 (US 62) and Ohio State Route 3 (SR 3). ...
opened in July 2012 adjacent to the Main Street Bridge, connecting Rich Street on the east side of the river with Town Street on the west. The
Lane Avenue Bridge
The Lane Avenue Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge over the Olentangy River in the American city of Columbus, Ohio. Designed by Jones-Stuckey Ltd., the construction was completed on November 14, 2003, after only sixteen months, five months ahead o ...
is a
cable-stayed bridge
A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern o ...
that opened on November 14, 2003, in the University District. The bridge spans the Olentangy River with three lanes of traffic each way.
Airports
![John Glenn International Airport Departure level](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/John_Glenn_International_Airport_Departure_level.jpg)
The city's primary airport,
John Glenn Columbus International Airport
John Glenn Columbus International Airport is an international airport located east of downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as Port Columbus International Airport, it is managed by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, which also ove ...
, is on the city's east side. Formerly known as Port Columbus, John Glenn provides service to
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, Ontario, Canada, and
Cancun, Mexico (on a seasonal basis), as well as to most domestic destinations, including all the major hubs along with
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
,
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
and
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
. The airport was a hub for
discount carrier Skybus Airlines
Skybus Airlines Inc. was a privately held airline based in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It operated as an ultra low-cost carrier modeled after the European airline Ryanair, and aimed to be the least expensive airline in the United States. ...
and continues to be home to
NetJets
NetJets Inc. is an American company that sells fractional ownership shares in private business jets.
Founded as Executive Jet Airways in 1964, it was later renamed Executive Jet Aviation. NetJets became the first private business jet chart ...
, the world's largest
fractional ownership
Fractional ownership is a method in which several unrelated parties can share in, and mitigate the risk of, ownership of a high-value tangible asset, usually a jet, yacht or piece of resort real estate. It can be done for strictly monetary reason ...
air carrier. According to a 2005 market survey, John Glenn Columbus International Airport attracts about 50% of its passengers from outside of its radius primary service region. It is the 52nd-busiest airport in the United States by total passenger boardings.
Rickenbacker International Airport
Rickenbacker International Airport is a civil-military public airport south of downtown Columbus, near Lockbourne in southern Franklin County, Ohio, United States. The south end of the airport extends into Pickaway County. The base was name ...
, in southern Franklin County, is a major cargo facility that is used by the Ohio
Air National Guard
The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the ter ...
.
Allegiant Air
Allegiant Air (usually shortened to Allegiant) is an ultra low-cost U.S. carrier that operates scheduled and charter flights. It is a major air carrier, the fourteenth-largest commercial airline in North America.
Allegiant was founded in 1 ...
offers nonstop service from Rickenbacker to
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
destinations.
Ohio State University Don Scott Airport and
Bolton Field are other large general-aviation facilities in the Columbus area.
=Aviation history
=
In 1907, 14-year-old
Cromwell Dixon built the ''SkyCycle,'' a pedal-powered blimp, which he flew at
Driving Park.
["75 Years of Flight in Columbus"]
Port Columbus International Airport. Retrieved July 3, 2012. Three years later, one of the
Wright brothers' exhibition pilots, Phillip Parmalee, conducted the world's first commercial cargo flight when he flew two packages containing 88 kilograms of silk from Dayton to Columbus in a
Wright Model B
The Wright Model B was an early pusher biplane designed by the Wright brothers in the United States in 1910. It was the first of their designs to be built in quantity. Unlike the Model A, it featured a true elevator carried at the tail rat ...
.
Military aviators from Columbus distinguished themselves during World War I. Six Columbus pilots, led by top
ace
An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...
Eddie Rickenbacker
Edward Vernon Rickenbacker or Eddie Rickenbacker (October 8, 1890 – July 23, 1973) was an American fighter pilot in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient.[John Glenn Columbus International Airport
John Glenn Columbus International Airport is an international airport located east of downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as Port Columbus International Airport, it is managed by the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, which also ove ...]
) became the axis of a coordinated rail-to-air transcontinental system that moved passengers from the East Coast to the West. TAT, which later became
TWA
Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...
, provided commercial service, following
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
's promotion of Columbus to the nation for such a hub. Following the failure of a bond levy in 1927 to build the airport, Lindbergh campaigned in the city in 1928, and the next bond levy passed that year.
On July 8, 1929, the airport opened for business with the inaugural TAT westbound flight from Columbus to Waynoka, Oklahoma. Among the 19 passengers on that flight was
Amelia Earhart
Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...
,
with
Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...
and
Harvey Firestone
Harvey Samuel Firestone (December 20, 1868 – February 7, 1938) was an American businessman, and the founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, one of the first global makers of automobile tires.
Family background
Firestone was born o ...
attending the opening ceremonies.
In 1964, Ohio native
Geraldine Fredritz Mock became the first woman to fly solo around the world, leaving from Columbus and piloting the ''Spirit of Columbus''. Her flight lasted nearly a month and set a record for speed for planes under .
Public transit
![Columbus Union Station arcade, June 1970](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Columbus_Union_Station_arcade%2C_June_1970.jpg)
Columbus maintains a widespread municipal bus service called the
Central Ohio Transit Authority
The Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA ) is a public transit agency serving the Columbus metropolitan area, Ohio, Columbus metropolitan area, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. It operates Transit bus, fixed-route buses, bus rapid transit, microtr ...
(COTA). The service operates
41 routes with a fleet of 440 buses, serving approximately 19 million passengers per year. COTA operates 23 regular fixed-service routes, 14 express services, a
bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...
route, a free downtown circulator, night service, an airport connector and other services.
LinkUS
LinkUS is a transportation initiative in Central Ohio, United States. The project aims to create approximately five rapid transit corridors to support the metro population of Columbus, the capital and largest city in Ohio.
The initiative was ann ...
, an initiative between COTA, the city, and the
Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission
The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) is the metropolitan planning organization for Central Ohio, including the state capitol, Columbus.
MORPC covers Franklin, Fairfield, Perry, Hocking, Logan, Union, Delaware, Morrow, and Kno ...
, is planning to add more rapid transit to Columbus, with three proposed corridors operating by 2030, and potentially a total of five by 2050.
Intercity bus service is provided at the
Columbus Bus Station by
Greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...
,
Barons Bus Lines
Barons Bus Lines is an intercity bus company operating in the United States. It serves passengers in the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Barons Bus operates GoBus, a federally funded b ...
, Miller Transportation,
GoBus and other carriers.
Columbus does not have passenger rail service. The city's major train station,
Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
, was a stop along
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
's
National Limited
The ''National Limited'' was the premier train of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) on its route between Jersey City, New Jersey and St. Louis, Missouri, with major station stops in Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati, Ohio. (Buses took passenge ...
train service until 1977 and was razed in 1979, and the
Greater Columbus Convention Center
The Greater Columbus Convention Center (GCCC) is a convention center located in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, United States, along the east side of North High Street.
The convention center was predominantly designed by Peter Eisenman, constructed ...
now stands in its place. Until Amtrak's founding in 1971, the
Penn Central
The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...
ran the ''
Cincinnati Limited'' to Cincinnati to the southwest (in prior years the train continued to New York City to the east); the ''
Ohio State Limited
The ''Ohio State Limited'' was a named passenger train operated by the New York Central Railroad (NYC) between New York City and Cincinnati, Ohio, via Buffalo and Cleveland, Ohio. Service began in 1924 and continued until 1967, with some vestig ...
'' between
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
and
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, with Union Station serving as a major intermediate stop (the train going unnamed between 1967 and 1971); and the ''
Spirit of St. Louis
The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that was flown by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlant ...
,'' which ran between St. Louis and New York City until 1971. The station was also a stop along the
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
, the
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...
, the
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond t ...
, the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...
, the
Norfolk and Western Railway
The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...
, the
Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad
The Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad (CC&C) was a railroad that ran from Cleveland to Columbus in the U.S. state of Ohio in the United States. Chartered in 1836, it was moribund for the first 10 years of its existence. Its charter wa ...
, and the
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad
The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, commonly called the Pan Handle Route (Panhandle Route in later days), was a railroad that was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system. Its common name came from its main line, whic ...
. As the city lacks local, commuter or intercity trains, Columbus is now the largest city and metropolitan area in the U.S. without any passenger rail service. Numerous proposals to return rail service have been introduced; currently Amtrak plans to restore service to Columbus by 2035.
Cycling network
Cycling
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
as transportation is steadily increasing in Columbus with its relatively flat terrain, intact urban neighborhoods, large student population and off-road bike paths. The city has put forth the 2012 Bicentennial Bikeways Plan, as well as a move toward a Complete Streets policy. Grassroots efforts such as Bike to Work Week, Consider Biking, Yay Bikes, Third Hand Bicycle Co-op, Franklinton Cycleworks and ''Cranksters'', a local radio program focused on urban cycling, have contributed to cycling as transportation.
Columbus also hosts
urban cycling
Utility cycling encompasses any cycling done simply as a means of transport rather than as a sport or leisure activity. It is the original and most common type of cycling in the world. Cycling mobility is one of the various types of private t ...
"off-shots" with messenger-style "alleycat" races, as well as unorganized group rides, a monthly
Critical Mass
In nuclear engineering, a critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties (specifically, its nuclear fissi ...
ride,
bicycle polo
Cycle polo, bicycle polo, or bike polo (''polo-vélo'' in French; ''Radpolo'' in German) is a team sport, similar to traditional polo, except that bicycles are used instead of horses. There are two versions of the sport: grass and Hardcourt B ...
, art showings, movie nights and a variety of
bicycle-friendly
Bicycle-friendly policies and practices help some people feel more comfortable about traveling by bicycle with other traffic. The level of bicycle-friendliness of an environment can be influenced by many factors including town planning and cyclin ...
businesses and events throughout the year. All this activity occurs despite Columbus's frequently inclement weather.
The
Main Street Bridge, opened in 2010, features a dedicated bike and pedestrian lane separated from traffic.
The city has its own
public bicycle system.
CoGo Bike Share has a network of about 600 bicycles and 80 docking stations.
PBSC Urban Solutions
PBSC Urban Solutions, formerly the Public Bike System Company, is an international bicycle-sharing system equipment vendor with their headquarters based in Longueuil, Quebec. The company develops bicycle-sharing systems, equipment, parts, and s ...
, a company based in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, supplies technology and equipment.
Bird electric scooters have also been introduced.
Modal share
The city of Columbus has a higher-than-average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, 9.8% of Columbus households lacked a car, a number that fell slightly to 9.4% in 2016. The national average was 8.7% in 2016. Columbus averaged 1.55 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8.
Notable people
Sister cities
Columbus has 10
sister cities
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there are early examples of inter ...
as designated by
Sister Cities International
Sister Cities International (SCI) is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network that creates and strengthens partnerships between communities in the United States and those in other countries, particularly through the establishment of "sister cities" ...
.
Columbus established its first sister city relationship in 1955 with
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
, Italy. To commemorate this relationship, Columbus received as a gift from the people of Genoa, a
bronze statue
Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as well as bronze elements t ...
of
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
* lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo
* es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón
* pt, Cristóvão Colombo
* ca, Cristòfor (or )
* la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
.
The statue overlooked Broad Street in front of Columbus City Hall from 1955 to 2020; it was removed during the
George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...
.
List of sister cities:
See also
*
Architecture of Columbus, Ohio
The architecture of Columbus, Ohio is represented by numerous notable architects' works, individually notable buildings, and a wide range of styles. Yost & Packard, the most prolific architects for much of the city's history, gave the city much ...
*
Columbus Register of Historic Properties
The Columbus Register of Historic Properties is a register for historic buildings and other sites in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The register is maintained by the City of Columbus Historic Resources Commission and Historic Preservation Offic ...
*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Columbus, Ohio
__NOTOC__
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places entries in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The National Register is a federal register for buildings, structures, and sites of historic significance. This is intended to be a compl ...
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*
* A program that features the history of and literary life in Columbus.
{{Authority control
1812 establishments in Ohio
Cities in Delaware County, Ohio
Cities in Fairfield County, Ohio
Cities in Franklin County, Ohio
Cities in Ohio
County seats in Ohio
National Road
Planned cities in the United States
Populated places established in 1812
Populated places on the Underground Railroad