Joe Gratziano owned this market on the corner of North Broadway and High Street. It was a one-story brick building. Is this building still there, now covered up? Note the house to the south of Gratziano’s, which exists today. Clinton Theatre had not yet been built.

Gratziano—or his descendents—eventually moved the market farther south on North High Street. One of the residents on West Como told me that the Gratziano family also operated a market in a building along what is now an alley between Como and Lakeview, north of Milton.

There were A&P’s located at several locations in Clintonville. An A&P used to be located where Blockbuster at Hudson and High Street is today. The Great American Tea Company began in the mid-1800s selling tea, coffee and spices at value prices in New York City. In 1870 the company was renamed the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, in honor of the first transcontinental railroad and hopes of expanding across the continent. It was the first national supermarket chain in the United States; by 1930 it had 16,000 stores. The company pioneered “frequent customer” programs; one of its most popular programs was plaid stamps. I remember saving up stamps and pasting them into coupon books to redeem them for things like Lazy Susans. In 1980 the company underwent a restructuring and the Tengelmann Group owns controlling interest.

The Citizen’s Trust & Savings Bank, Clintonville Branch, was located in 1926 at 3296 North High Street. Left to right are Fred Horch, manager; Earl Buchler, manager, Steelton Office; Karl Kegelmeyer, manager produce exchange office; and Hershel Hill, assistant. It later became the Ohio National Bank, then Banc Ohio National Bank.

In 1892 at the age of 21, Mr. J. Harvey Zinn opened the lumber company at 2556 North High Street in partnership with Mr. S. M. Coe. Four years later he bought out Mr. Coe’s interest and built up the largest lumber yard in the city, both from the standpoint of size and from the amount of business done per year. This is a picture of Zinn’s Lumber Yard and workers. In November 1924 the Zinn Lumber Company caught fire and burned to a loss of $141,000. It was the largest fire in the city for that year. In 1931 Zinn was made vice-president of the Northern Savings Bank located at 2619 North High Street, and soon was promoted to President. Zinn divided his time between the two businesses.

As Bob Ohaver’s oral history explains, Zinn owned land along the Olentangy River from North Broadway to Kenworth Road, and in 1926 he built a residence at 285 Kenworth Road.

Zinn was one of the 4 people who cut the ribbon when the North Broadway bridge was dedicated in 1939.

J. F. Oelgoetz Company specialized in heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and plumbing. It was established in Clintonville in 1915. In 1939, Oelgoetz Company was located at 3365 North High Street

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.]

I love the story of the concrete block building near Brighton and Milton just south of West North Broadway. Miles Elmers owned AGI, a business that he situated in this concrete barn during the 1930s. Elmers contracted with Monsanto to test and package a low-sudsing detergent. When Monsanto decided to discontinue the product, Elmers purchased all rights to it, renamed, repackaged and remarketed it…and “All” detergent was born.

There are rumors that the building was once a candy factory, that the owners gave out candy from this location, but I was unable to confirm this. It is presently a private residence.

When the Elmers family owned All, they had to travel to the various plants around the country, and so they worked with the Flexible Bus Company to customize a bus to make their travels more comfortable. People along the way asked them where they got the bus/RV, and asked them to replicate it. The result was a new business for the Elmers family: Custom Coach.

During the course of researching my book, I encountered what surely must have been one of the earliest chain bakeries in Columbus. Hansen’s Bakery Company outlets were located at 3358 Indianola, 1404 Cleveland Avenue, 3135 North High Street, 3387 North High Street, and 3514 North High Street, in the 1920s. Peter A. Hansen lived at 207 West North Broadway from 1923 to 1957. I was unable to unearth additional information about this bakery.

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]

Oh how hard I searched for a good photo for my book of Jimmie’s Drug Store, a legendary community landmark! I located this one after my book had been published. Jimmy D. Kinnaird lived at 63 East Longview from 1920 on, and in 1924 he founded Jimmie’s Drug Store at 3347 North High Street on the corner of Brighton and North High. He sold pharmacal goods, cosmetics, newspapers and magazines, candy, school supplies, toys, and had a lending library. Perhaps most memorably, Jimmie’s also had a soda fountain This photo was taken in 1939.