#beechwold

A Trip Around Columbus: Clintonville

Contrary to popular belief on “The DJBC Happy Hour”, Clintonville was not founded by hippies who were traveling through.  The first settlers of what we now know as Clintonville first came to Clinton Township in 1800.  In 1813, Thomas Bull and his family settled in Clinton Township.  Some of the streets in Clintonville -- Rathbone, Henderson, Richards, Cooke, Weisheimer, Aldrich, Brevoort, Schreyer, Weber, Chase, and Wetmore were all named after 19th Century settlers and residents in Clinton Township.  Other streets (Blenheim, Nottingham, Royal Forest, and Sheffield) were named after places in England, while others (Walhalla, Midgard, and Brynhild) were named after Norse Mythology. One of the most notable residents was Bill Moose, born to one of the Wyandot families.  He remained in Clintonville after the Wyandot Indians were relocated to Kansas in the 1840s, roaming the woods and ravines of Clintonville, hunting, trapping, and gardening, and becoming friends with everyone he met.  He lived in a shack near the railroad lines near Morse Road. What is now High Street has been called several names through the years. The earliest version was Worthington Plank Road (1856), which later became the Columbus Worthington Turnpike (date unknown), and Columbus-Delaware-Marion Pike (1900).  In 1847, the US Post Office employed a postmaster to open a post office in the center of Clinton Township, near the corner of Oakland Park Avenue and the former Sandusky Turnpike, a plank covered toll road that we today know as High Street.  The post office was designated as "Clintonville", recognizing the center of the township and the hamlet of a few dozen homesteads. The early 20th Century was one of the most prosperous times in the Clintonville era’s history.  Olentangy Park was a major attraction, while the Columbus Zoo got its start in what we now know as Beechwold.  Streetcars lined up High Street as people started looking for homes away from Downtown.  By the 1950s, Clintonville was solely within the City of Columbus limits. Clintonville is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in Columbus.  All walks of life live in Clintonville, families, senior citizens, LGBT, aging flower children, college students, and immigrants.  Clintonville is home to the Clintonville Community Market, and the Park of Roses, which is one of the largest rose gardens in the country (the American Rose Society was headquartered in Clintonville from 1954 to 1974).  Clintonville is home to great schools, both private/parochial, and public.

  CITY: Columbus SCHOOL DISTRICT: Columbus City Schools SCHOOLS: Bishop Watterson High School (99 E. Cooke Rd.), Columbus (North) International High School (100 Arcadia Ave.), Whetstone High School (4405 Scenic Drive), Dominion Middle School (330 E. Dominion Blvd.), Indian Springs Elementary School (50 E. Henderson Rd.), Clinton Elementary School (10 Clinton Heights Ave.), Colerain Elementary School (499 E. Weisheimer Rd.), Indianola K-8 School (formerly Crestview Middle School, 251 E. Weber Rd.), Clintonville Academy (3916 Indianola Ave.), Graham School (3950 Indianola Ave.), Ohio School for the Deaf (500 Morse Road), Ohio School for the Blind (5220 N. High St.) BUS ACCESSIBLE: Yes (COTA – Line 2: North High Street, Line 4: Indianola Avenue, Line 21: Night Owl, Line 83: Oakland Park/Weber, and Line 95: Morse/Henderson; Express Line 31 Worthington Express) MAJOR STREETS: High Street, Indianola Avenue, North Broadway, Morse Road, East Cooke Road, and West Henderson Road

LANDMARKS/PLACES OF INTEREST: Charity Newsies (4300 Indianola Avenue) Graceland Shopping Center (High Street, north of Morse Road) Ohio School for the Deaf (500 Morse Road) Park of Roses (Whetstone Park, 3901 N. High St.) Riverside Methodist Hospital (3535 Olentangy River Road) Studio 35 (3055 Indianola Avenue) Whetstone Branch – Columbus Metropolitan Library (3909 N. High St.) Whetstone Recreation Center (3923 N. High St.)