The Ohio History Center is a
history museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these i ...
and research center 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-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
. It is the primary museum for
Ohio's history, and is the headquarters, offices, and library of 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 Connec ...
. The building also houses Ohio's state archives, also managed by the Ohio History Connection. The museum is located at the
Ohio State Fairgrounds
The Ohio Expo Center and State Fairgrounds is an exhibition center and fairground site, located in Columbus, Ohio. The site has been home to the Ohio State Fair since 1886.
Attributes
The fairgrounds site includes numerous fair buildings: the Bric ...
, site of 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 contributes ...
, and a short distance north of
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 distric ...
. The history center opened in 1970 as the Ohio Historical Center, moving the museum from its former site 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 publ ...
. The building was designed by
Ireland & Associates in the
Brutalist
Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...
style.
Attributes
The Ohio History Center is the headquarters of the Ohio History Connection, which also operates dozens of state historic sites across Ohio.
Extensive exhibits cover Ohio's history from the
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
to the present. The Center includes state archives and library spaces, a gift shop, and administrative and educational facilities. The 1989 ''Smithsonian Guide to Historic America'' described the center as "probably the finest museum in America devoted to pre-European history."
Architecture
Site and exterior
![Ohio History Center - 9462613572](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Ohio_History_Center_-_9462613572.jpg)
The museum is located in a highly-visible site on
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, ...
, a major north–south highway constructed just before the center was, and connecting the museum directly to Ohio's three largest cities.
The highway's southbound side approaches the museum's north and east facades, revealing it at a distance before passing directly by its east side. The museum site is wide and open, with the free-standing structure appearing as a monument in its center.
It was designed by the Columbus architectural firm
Ireland & Associates, newly formed by W. Byron Ireland after the death of his former employer,
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer noted for his wide-ranging array of designs for buildings and monuments. Saarinen is best known for designing the General Motors ...
. The building reflects trends of 1960s planning and design.
The building is in the
Brutalist
Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...
architecture style, featuring a monumental scale, exposed concrete (''
béton brut
''Béton brut'' () is a French term that translates in English to “raw concrete”. The term is used to describe concrete that is left unfinished after being cast, displaying the patterns and seams imprinted on it by the formwork.''Exposed concr ...
''), and simple use of other materials. Although some of the building's concrete is smooth, most at eye-level is board form concrete, where lumber is used to form its shape. When removed, the boards leave wood grain impressions in the concrete. Other materials used include Ohio-made silo tiles, dark-stained oak, terrazzo, and glass.
W. Byron Ireland designed the building with post-tensioned concrete structures, allowing for a
cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...
ed design. The building remains mostly as built, including its exterior use of silo tiles.
The building's innovative architecture led it to being the cover feature of the ''Architectural Record'' in July 1971.
The journal called it the most architecturally significant public building built in Ohio since the
Ohio Statehouse
The Ohio Statehouse is the List of state and territorial capitols in the United States, 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, Ohio, ...
over a century earlier.
It also won the First Honor Award of the
AIA AIA or A.I.A. or Aia may refer to:
Aia
* Aia, a small town in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, Spain
* Aia, current Kutaisi, ancient capital of Colchis
* Aia, another name for Aea (Malis), an ancient town in Greece
* ''Aia'', the collected ed ...
/
ALA Ala, ALA, Alaa or Alae may refer to:
Places
* Ala, Hiiu County, Estonia, a village
* Ala, Valga County, Estonia, a village
* Ala, Alappuzha, Kerala, India, a village
* Ala, Iran, a village in Semnan Province
* Ala, Gotland, Sweden
* Alad, S ...
Library Buildings Award Program in 1972.
Layout and interior
![Ohio History Center 2018 005](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Ohio_History_Center_2018_005.jpg)
The building has of floor space.
Currently, the first floor holds the building's museum space, auditorium, gift shop, and a classroom. Its second-floor plaza contains more exhibit space as well as a cafe and seating. The third floor holds the building's archives and library, a classroom, conference room, and microfilm room.
Its first floor has a triangular plan, with
concave
Concave or concavity may refer to:
Science and technology
* Concave lens
* Concave mirror
Mathematics
* Concave function, the negative of a convex function
* Concave polygon, a polygon which is not convex
* Concave set
* The concavity
In ca ...
, gently curving sides. Each corner of the triangles were originally used to house specialties of the museum: history, archaeology, and natural history. The plan utilized platforms and sunken spaces, allowing objects to be displayed without cases. Most of the original system has been removed to make the museum more accessible to mobility-impaired guests. Remaining space on the first floor included offices and workshops on the perimeter of the triangle, and collections storage rooms in close proximity to their display spaces.
The building overall was designed to sandwich together the society's multiple functions previously held in separate locations. The lower floor acts as a museum and library, while the upper three floors hold offices and archives, and the small glass-walled lobby in between these layers connects the two. It was also designed to circulate guests efficiently, with school groups entering from the west at a school bus drop-off area and exiting the east side, and general visitors entering the east side by parking lots, though the main entrance has since been relocated.
The museum's three-story reading room has dark oak tables designed for it. The material was also used in doors, handrails, and trim throughout the building. The doors on the building's upper three floors have rounded corners at their top. The corners distribute weight from the concrete and books stored above them, preventing them from cracking.
The first-floor roof appears as a raised podium, largely grass-covered, and mounded over the building's auditorium and offices.
History
The Ohio History Connection, known in the 20th century as the Ohio Historical Society, lacked a permanent building of its own until 1914.
The society's first permanent home was at the Ohio State Museum (now known as Sullivant Hall) on 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 publ ...
campus. The society operated its museum and library there. The society began hosting the state archives at the
Old Governor's Mansion on Broad Street in the 1950s. Both facilities became overcrowded in the 1960s, and were miles apart, leading the organization to begin searching for a new home. In 1964, Governor Jim Rhodes proposed $290 million for state projects, including a new historical center. Voters approved a bond for a new structure to be built in May 1965, and plans were underway for the museum by October, to be built on of undeveloped land. The museum was completed in 1970.
In 1971, the new museum was projected to bring 300,000 visitors, about ten times more than the previous museum.
Curators
The Ohio History Connection has appointed a Curator of Archaeology to oversee the museum's archaeological collection since 1894:
*
Warren K. Moorehead
Warren King Moorehead was known in his time as the 'Dean of American archaeology'; born in Siena, Italy to missionary parents on March 10, 1866, he died on January 5, 1939 at the age of 72, and is buried in his hometown of Xenia, Ohio.
Moorehead ...
(1894–1897)
*
Clarence Loveberry Clarence may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Clarence County, New South Wales, a Cadastral division
* Clarence, New South Wales, a place near Lithgow
* Clarence River (New South Wales)
* Clarence Strait (Northern Territory)
* City of Clarence, a loca ...
(1897–1898)
*
Lucy Allen (1898)
*
William Corless Mills William Corless Mills (January 2, 1860 - January 17, 1928) was a US museum curator.
Mills was born in Pyrmont, Ohio.
Mills specialized in Native American remains, leading excavations in Adena Mound, Ohio (1901)
Mills was the fourth curator and ...
(1898–1921)
*
Henry C. Shetrone (1921–1928)
*
Emerson Greenman Emerson may refer to:
People
* Emerson (surname), a surname (and list of people with that name)
* Emerson (given name), a given name (and list of people with that name)
Places Australia
*Emerson Crossing, a place in Adelaide
Canada
* Emerson, Ma ...
(1928–1935)
*
Richard G. Morgan (1936–1948)
*
Raymond S. Baby (1948–1979)
*
Martha Potter Otto (1974–2009)
*
Brad Lepper
Bradley Thomas Lepper (born November 19, 1955) is an American archaeologist best known for his work on ancient earthworks and ice age peoples in Ohio. Lepper is the Curator of Archaeology and Manager of Archaeology and Natural History at the Ohi ...
(2009–present)
Gallery
File:Ohio History Center Bricks.jpg, Closeup of exterior tiles
File:Ohio History Center 2018 024.jpg, Reading room
File:Ohio History Center 2018 008.jpg, Exhibit space
File:Swords at the Ohio History Center June 2022 1.jpg, 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 policies ...
-era swords
File:Ohio History Center 2018 020.jpg, 1950s house display
File:Horse drawn steam pumper fire engine at the Ohio History Center June 2022.jpg, Steam-powered fire engine
See also
*
List of museums in Columbus, Ohio
This is a list of museums in Columbus, Ohio and non-profit and university art galleries.
The city's first museum was the Walcutt Museum, opened July 1851. At its opening, the museum had about six wax figures and a few paintings. It grew to have a ...
*
Ohio Village
Ohio Village is a living history museum in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It is operated by the non-profit Ohio History Connection.
The village, intended to provide a firsthand view of life in Ohio during the American Civil War, opened July 27, 1 ...
References
External links
*
{{U.S. state history museums
Museums in Columbus, Ohio
History museums in Ohio
History of Columbus, Ohio
History of Ohio
Natural history museums in Ohio
Brutalist architecture in Ohio