McDowell’s Garage at 2650 North High Street. (Photocopy courtesy of Frank Jones.)

A view of Union Cemetery from Olentangy River Road, in the late 1930s. (Photo courtesy of the Franklin County Engineers)

This photo was probably taken along Olentangy River Road. Note the smudge pots, which were used before the advent of electrical blinking warning signs. I assume this picture was taken around 1953. (Photo courtesy of Franklin County Engineers)

The Henderson Bridge was first known as Whip’s Bridge, then Weisheimer Bridge. The present bridge was built circa 1976. (Photo courtesy of Franklin County Engineers)

The Kirkpatrick Insurance Company began in 1855 in Adams County, Ohio, moved to downtown Columbus in 1920, and moved to Clintonville in 1954. They remodeled this brick duplex residence at 3215 High Street. In 1973 they demolished the duplex to the north, and expanded the first building. Eventually the name was changed to reflect ownership by Zeke Palmer, his son Daniel, Steven Miller, and Ronald Nelson. It’s one of the oldest independent insurance agencies in Ohio. (Photo courtesy of Palmer Miller Nelson Insurance Company)

For the residents of East North Broadway, widening their roadway has been a seemingly endless struggle of defending their property against City Hall. Joyce Schatz–for many years an officer in the East North Broadway Street Association–has kept an archive of the issue, and I’ve linked to it here.

The city claims the right of way is 100 feet. Some research shows that it is 70 feet. Residents’ deeds and surveys are all over the place. Some have 15’ listed, many don’t, including recent purchasers. The majority of the parcels at the end of the street do not have the 15’ easement in their deeds. The deed to Steve and Ann Wilson’s home (one of the three slated to lose their yard), specifically includes the footage and states “…Together with the Fifteen (15) feet off the North Side of East North Broadway vacated by resolution of the County Commissioners of Franklin County, Ohio, on October 7, 1952.”

For those of us who don’t live on East North Broadway, the issue is less “Can the City do it?” but “Should the City do it?’ For the time being, the city is not actively pursuing the widening.