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]

One of Clintonville’s notables was George Sidney Marshall (869-1956). He was raised on a farm in Perry County and attended Ohio State University. He graduated from OSU in 1894 and then from its law school in 1897. He was active in local politics, and became mayor in 1910 on the Republican ticket. After his term of mayor, he returned to the practice of Law and retired in 1946. He and his wife had a longstanding interest in music, and formed the Clintonville Music Study Club. In his retirement (and after the death of his wife), Marshall wrote a history of music in Columbus, a thorough account of all the local nonprofit musical organizations across the city. His book, called The History of Music in Columbus, Ohio, covers the period from February 14, 1812 to July 1, 1953 and was published by the Franklin County Genealogical Society.

George Sidney Marshall’s son, George B. Marshall, was also an attorney and served as a Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge for 26 years. He retired in 1980 and died in 1981.

E.A. Fuller was a prominent Clinton Township horse trader at the turn of the century. I found the Clinton Township records for the late 1800s and early 1900s, and his name was frequently mentioned as buying or selling horses. I assume that the so-called “Fuller Farm”—where Calvary Bible Church, Whetstone Park, Clintonville Women’s Club, and The Church of Christ, Scientist are today—once belonged to this man. (Photo courtesy of Calvary Bible Church)

The vacant farm has been put to many uses. During World War II, the land used for victory gardens. (There were also victory gardens near Riverside Hospital.) Children put the area to their own purposes, scrambling through the undergrowth and playing by the river. Many long-time residents recall a family that lived in the farm house—some have called it a log cabin, others say it was a chicken coop–of the old Fuller Farm. Some say the family was partly Native American; others say partly Romani; in any case, the family’s race added to their mystique and exoticism in the minds of the Clintonville children of the time. The family’s surname was Windsor; Mr. Windsor was a professor at OSU, and many of the people fondly recall daughter Zolithia [or Zelitha] (back row, 4th from left) and her brother Romanus (3rd rw, 2nd from right).

During or shortly after World War II, Rand Hollenback (founder of The Booster) lobbied for remaining land to be converted into a park, and the City of Columbus purchased the 161 acre farm. It became Whetstone Park. From early on the park has included a casting pond, softball diamond, tennis, picnic and playground, and archery field.

Mark Fontana is a former manager of the Beechwold Drexel North Theater, and he has started a Facebook page devoted to preserving the history of this theater. Also known as Beechwold Theater or Camelot North, it was located at 4250 North High Street and the building currently hosts the Columbus Sports Connection. When the building was a theater, it also served as temporary worship space for several churches in the area while the churches were being enlarged or rebuilt. Check out Mark’s web site!

It breaks my heart to learn about the Overbrook Ravine Earthwork (an Indian Mound) located at the southeast corner of Yaronia and Wynding Drive. The earthwork consisted of two earthen mounds surrounded by a 400-foot diameter circular earthen embankment, built over 2500 years ago. Though the city and developers were glad to build a park around the mounds, residents worried about traffic such a park would draw. In 1953 the mound was destroyed to make way for housing construction. (Map courtesy of Franklin County Engineers)

Members of the Columbus Rose Club & The Central Ohio Rose Society had long dreamed about a municipal rose garden for Columbus. Late in 1951 a committee was formed, consisting of members from both rose clubs, meeting several times with Mayor James A. Rhodes. The result being on April 19, 1952 Columbus City Council passed an ordinance and issued bonds for the Park of Roses. At the same time the Mayor created an advisory council known as the Columbus Rose Commission, administered by the Columbus Recreation & Parks Department, whose duties were to plan and execute a rose garden to be located in Whetstone Park. George B. Tobey, landscape architect, joined the efforts for park design and development. (Photo courtesy of the Clintonville Historical Society)

Construction began June 1952. Minimal grading was necessary as the gentle slope of the meadow was ideal for drainage and air circulation. The entire area of 13 acres had sandy loam topsoil to a depth of 11-15 inches, which was indeed fortunate. All beds were excavated to a depth of 24 inches. The existing soil was removed and mixed with imported peat moss and commercial fertilizer. The materials were mixed four times before returning to the beds. The beds were allowed to settle before any planting was begun. (Photo courtesy of Terry Miller)

There were at least 3 bowling alleys in Clintonville: Olentangy Bowling Center (shown here), where Giant Eagle is today; at Graceland (northwest end), and also on the east side of High Street between Oakland Park and Dunedin. Hanging out at bowling alleys was a big deal for many teenagers—whether you bowled or not was immaterial. (Photo courtesy of Galen Gonser)

Clintonville’s Fourth of July celebration goes back at least as far as the 1930s, when The Booster and local business association sponsored an annual summer or fall community picnic at Olentangy Amusement Park. (The annual get-together may well be older yet.) Much like today, the early events had pet parades, bike parades, and fireworks. After the amusement park closed, the annual event was held at the Columbus Zoo. And then, when Whetstone Park was dedicated in the early 1950s, the community picnic was moved there and “annualized” to be held on the Fourth of July. The annual community breakfast, originally held for the volunteer workers of the Fourth of July picnic, quickly became another holiday tradition.

In 1954 Nancy Blanchard, a 16-year-old student at Mifflin High School, became the first winner of Maiden of the Roses competition. The pageant, a yearly event held each June at the Park of Roses and sponsored by North Columbus Civitan, was held from 1954 until 1974. Thanks to Nancy and her cousin Joyce Schatz, we have Nancy’s clippings file from that era, and that newspaper articles are linked to the thumbnail images below as PDFs. [Clippings courtesy of Joyce Schatz.]

Here are more pictures showing a few of Kiwanis’ contributions to Clintonville–

World War II memorial to fallen soldiers at Union Cemetery;softball team sponsorship; scholarship program; Easter egg hunt at Whetstone.