Merrick Funeral Home was located at 3099 North High Street, approximately across the street from Clinton Chapel a.k.a. the Armbruster home. I believe you can see this fine building in other images of that section of North High Street on this web site.

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.

Many North High grads recall the Isaly’s ice cream plant that was located at 2800 North High Street until the early 1950s. In 1956 the building served as corporate headquarters for Beverlee Drive In but was torn down by the Schottenstein Company around 1966 to make way for a strip mall. This is an advertising picture when the building was occupied by Beverlee.

A. B. Graham (Albert Belmont Graham) was an educator from Springfield OH. He had an idea: to get young people together to learn about agriculture and develop skills for farm living. He formed an organization to enable such practical learning. He originally called it the Boys and Girls Experimental Club, and then, the Boys and Girls Agricultural Club. By 1905 there were over 2,000 young people in sixteen Ohio counties participating in Agricultural Clubs. Graham was named Superintendent of Extension of the Ohio Cooperative Extension Service and the clubs were expanded nationwide. In 1916 the Boys and Girls Clubs officially became the 4-H Clubs.

A.B. Graham eventually worked for the USDA in Washington DC. After his retirement in 1938 he moved to Columbus. He lived in his home on Clinton Heights Avenue until his death at the age of 91 in January 14, 1960. These photos show him at his Clintonville home. Happily, today I live in that very same house.

What do the 4 H’s stand for? Well, originally, there were only 3 H’s and the insignia was a 3-leafed clover. The H’s stood for head, hearts, hands. Then a 4th H was added and the organization’s clover became 4-leafed. That last H stood for hustle. But “hustle” didn’t stand up to the test of time and was eventually replaced by a tamer “H,” that is, health.

Kroger has had a long presence in Clintonville. In addition to the “drive-in” store described in my book, Kroger built a store at 3559 High Street. From there they moved near Arcadia and High (above). Then, in 1984, Kroger demolished a former Bob Daniels Buick dealership on the northwest corner of North Broadway and High, changed the configuration of Wall Alley, Hennipen Avenue, and Kenworth, and built a Kroger Super Store. (Photo courtesy of Kroger)