East North Broadway was developed by the Loren and Dennison company in 1897; it was designed to be a posh neighborhood, each house on a 1-acre plot of land. It had a small railroad depot and post office at North Broadway’s east end at the Big Four Railroad track. This house at 242 North Broadway Avenue was the second house built in the subdivision. (From Business First magazine)

242 East North Broadway has been renovated beautifully by its present owner. The care with which he has selected materials and kept true to the house’s original design takes my breath away. The house has not always been so lovely. For several years–prior to the present owner–this (to the right) is what it looked like.

My book, Clintonville and Beechwold, page 19, shows an image of East North Broadway, looking east toward Indianola Avenue in the late 1800s The large house to the right of the photograph (south side of North Broadway) still exists at 489 East North Broadway (top photo).

The building just to the left of 489 in the photograph still exists as well, as a private residence; it was originally the carriage house of the large house on the south side of North Broadway in the distance (bottom photo). That large house was formerly 625 East North Broadway in the Broadway Villa subdivision.

In another entry on this web site, I mentioned that Lindsey and Grace Hafford Ankrom lived at 100 Walhalla with Grace’s sister Helen. Scott Hawley subsequently sent me some additional photos of the family and their home. Grace Hafford is Scott’s grandfather’s (Howard E. Hawley Jr.’s) aunt.

This studio picture is Helen Hafford, in 1901. Like her sister Grace, Helen was a school teacher. (Photo courtesy of Scott Hawley.)

This studio picture of Grace Greenwood Hafford (1883-1975) was taken in Chicago, Illinois in Jan 1909. (Photo courtesy of Albert Muth, Livonia, Michigan.)

Lindsey and Grace after their wedding, with niece Genevieve Hawley (later Genevieve Muth) serving as flower girl, at 100 Walhalla. (Photo courtesy of Albert Muth, Livonia, Michigan.)

Lindsey in front of 100 Walhalla. (Photo courtesy of Scott Hawley.)

Another picture of Lindsey and Grace, taken in September 1965 at the Howard Hawley Sr farm on Miller-Paul Road in Harlem Township, Delaware, Ohio. (Photo courtesy of Albert Muth, Livonia, Michigan.)

Grace and Lindsey on one of their birthdays, taken in the Hawley home on Piedmont Road. (Photo courtesy of Scott Hawley.)

This photo of the house at 100 Walhalla was taken in 1975 and was used in the advertisement for the sale of the home. (Photo courtesy of Scott Hawley.)

And one more of 100 Walhalla presumably in the 1930s or 1940s. (Photo courtesy of Scott Hawley.)

The current Engine House #13 was dedicated on September 1, 1957, and is located at Arcadia and Deming. Architect of the current building is Freshwater and Harrison. This is a photograph of the dedication. (Photo courtesy of Central Ohio Fire Museum)

In my book and on this web page I wrote about Agricultural Laboratory Inc, located at 3415 Milton Avenue.

Here’s an ad for it showing the types of products it produced in 1939. [Advertisement from a 1939 North High Memory Book.]

Beechwold Barbecue, 4784 North High Street. “The home of choice barbecue & toasted sandwiches, special Italian Spaghetti dinner. After the theatre or after a dance, drive out to the most popular barbecue in Columbus. Auto parking space. Come hear the wonderful Violano Virtuoso.” [Photo from a 1939 North High Memory Book advertisement]

The Clintonville White Castle, 1941. Note the tracks in the middle of North High Street, and also the buildings to the north and northwest of the 5-cent hamburger joint! Sadly, the Clintonville White Castle closed on Christmas Eve this past December 2010.

Here is one of the many newspaper articles announcing the closure.

Robert Ohaver (b. 1920) lived most of his life in Clintonville and on West North Broadway. He had many stories of old Clintonville to share with us. On September 12, 2003, several community members (Ann and Alan Woods, Barbara Hotchkiss, Nancy Kuhel) interviewed him and preserved the conversation on tape. Now you, too, can listen to Mr. Ohaver’s oral history.

Sadly, Bob Ohaver passed away on June 11, 2009. You can find his obituary here. There is another small entry about his aunt on this web site here.

Bob mother was Laura Ohaver and his father was Walter Harvey Ohaver. Bob also had an older brother named Jack Ohaver who lived in Clintonville at 116 E. Dunedin with his wife Clara Ohaver. Clara passed away May 24, 1993, and Jack passed away on June 14, 2000. Jack and Clara had two daughters. Sue Bowman was born May 8, 1940; she passed away January 4, 2000. Sandra Urban born July 30, 1945. [This family information came to me from Jack's granddaughter and Sandy's daughter, Lisa Adkins. Thanks, Lisa!]

Some technical notes about these recordings: each file is about 30 minutes long. You can use this player to listen to any of the segments listed below, or by clicking on the links below.

Contents

Track 1. Brief Ohaver biography; origins of his family moving to West North Broadway; his World War II years; Clinton Theatre; businesses and homes at the interesection of North Broadway and North High Streets; drugstores and candy stores in Clintonville; the house behind 3391 North High Street; Dispatch carrier’s substation; Olentangy Park; the streetcar storage barn at Arcadia.

Track 2. Olentangy Park cont’d; street fair at North Broadway and High to celebrate Clinton Theatre, the opening of Clinton School pedestrain subway, and the paving of North High Street after a new sewer line had been installed; the Olentangy River; 3 canoe clubs; development of West North Broadway (“the Broadway Extension”) and the Scott farm; development of the area along the adjoining river bank; the Herron [spelling uncertain]/Zinn home at 285 West Kenworth; Bill Moose AKA “Indian Bill”; Chief Leatherlips.
Note: the “Dr. John Scott” is William H. Scott, president of OSU 1883-1895. See my book, page 17, for a photo of his house.

Track 3. Chief Leatherlips cont’d; house at 273 Erie Road and excavation of nearby gravel pit; the Fuller farm/Whetstone Park; rambling through the woods; Indian Springs golf course; Bill Moose AKA “Indian Bill”; Olentangy Park; North Columbus including the Ramlow Building; Picadilly Theatre; streetcars and interurbans.

Track 4. Southwick funeral home; Joy Hunt home; Graceland Shopper’s Mart and Patrick Murnan; Clinton Theatre; the Great Depression; Ohaver family; Brighton Road development; Ohaver’s WWII and postwar years.

Track 5. Ohaver’s return to Columbus from California in 1962; bombing of the Clinton Theatre in the 1930s.

My book contains a photograph of the annual Turkey Bowl, a football game held in a local park on Thanksgiving day. Attached is a picture of some actual tickets to the event, for 1944! Betty Daniels gave these to the Clintonville Historical Society. [Photo courtesy of the Clintonville Historical Society]

The North Columbus Kroger location at 2579 North High Street became Jone’s Upholstery business. Charles M. Jones moved here in 1943 while his son W. Frank Jones was overseas serving in WWII. When Frank came home in 1946, he worked as a partner with his father until his father’s death. (Charles and Frank are the son and grandson of C. F. Jones.) This photograph was taken in 1945.

Frank continued the business until 1977 when Neocacia Masonic Lodge (which occupied the 2nd story of the building) sold the building. This photo was taken in 1951.

In 1947, here are: Jenny Mocabee, Charles M. Jones, Frank Jones, Ray Bennett, Dick Schaeffer, Bob Hill.

66 East Duncan Street, a house owned by Frank Jones, owner of Jones Upholstery. This house has since been torn down. (Photos courtesy of Frank Jones.)