Preston Harmon had a very nice article about the Whetstone Library, in the July 2025 issue of the Clintonville Spotlight. Click here or on the photo above to read the article.
Our library is an exceptional community resource. Don’t forget to donate to it! Happy birthday, library!
[Photo and article courtesy of the Clintonville Spotlight.]
This is a nice photo from a 1922 Ohio State University masters thesis by Forest Ira Blanchard. I believe, based on the metadata, that it was taken at 3141 Silver Drive and the panorama photo is captioned, “Possible industrial sites along C.A. and C.-looking north” [i.e. the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railway]. The houses that you see to the left (west) of the railway tracks may well be East North Broadway.
There is a white pole near the tracks on the right side. That would be the whistle sign letting the engineer know it’s time to start his whistling for the crossing ahead.
Blanchard, inspired by the Chicago School of Sociology, sought to study the racial and ethnic composition of the city of Columbus, with a particular focus on the role of transportation (railroads, roads) in shaping the urban landscape.
[Courtesy of Forest Ira Blanchard, An Introduction to the Economic and Social Geography of Columbus, Ohio. Thesis (M.A.), Ohio State University, 1922; digital version from City of Columbus Historic Map Collection.]
Joe Smith has an intriguing theory about Clintonville’s elusive Rathbone Cemetery. I think it’s interesting; what do you think?
From Joe:
I came across some maps that the Works Progress Administration (WPA) did from 1935-1943, as part of FDR’s “New Deal” programs. One Clinton Township map particularly caught my eye. It was named (by them) the “John Rathbone Cemetery.” There’s is a link to that particular map on an Ohio History Connection affiliated website (link here). To date, I have only found two other websites that make reference to that cemetery by name:
dev.clintonvillehistory.org/ website;
FCGHS website.I have spent the past few days trying to locate this cemetery. It has been confusing, because the WPA listed it at the corner of US-23 and C-93. As you know, today US-23 follows Indianola Avenue starting at Hudson Street. But I believe prior to the 1960s it was actually still North High Street. C-93 is Hudson Street, according to the Franklin County Engineers (link to PDF here). So, using the WPA location (0.9 miles north of Hudson, and 150 feet east of High), we are at Clinton Chapel Cemetery!
I was very impressed by the WPA map drawings, well before computer aided design (CAD) and printers/plotters were available. So, I took their map and made a rough estimate of the dimensions of the “John Rathbone Cemetery,” and it also fits (within an acceptable tolerance) the known dimensions of Clinton Chapel Cemetery! Three of the boundaries are within 5% but the east boundary is off nearly 10%. I think that is due to inaccuracies with the measuring and/or digitization of their maps.
I know everyone likes maps, so I’ve attached the one I created (see above) to support my findings that Clinton Chapel now has at least three alternate names:
North M.E. Cemetery
Armbruster Cemetery
John Rathbone Cemetery
More from Joe:
There were six Clinton Township cemeteries that WPA reported on: Amaranth Abbey Mausoleum, John Rathbone Cemetery, Kempton Cemetery, Mc. Kendree M. E. Church Cemetery, Union Cemetery, and Webster Cemetery. Note, Cooke and Clinton Chapel Cemeteries were not on their list.
Here’s a link to the very cool 1920 Baist Map earlier (it’s here.)
Other general observations:
Both Rathbone and Clinton Chapel cemeteries were of similar orientation, size and shape (0.47 acres vs 0.50 acres). The Clinton acreage is also an estimate. I actually expected Rathbone acreage to be higher, given that each of the borders are slightly larger, but again I think this is more due to issues with precision.
Here is a comparison of the border dimensions (in feet) for each cemetery. The borders for Rathbone were estimated based on pixel counts on the WPA map.
Border Clinton Rathbone North 200.00′ 200.00′ South’ 196.00′ 200.06′ East 97.02′ 107.06′ West 124.00′ 128.30′
What do you think? Talk about an “identity crisis!” Feel free to comment below.
To be sure, there remain some “unknowns”, such as the fact that Ohio Genealogical Society lists both a Rathbone Cemetery in Sharon Township and a John Rathbone Cemetery in Clinton Township. There may have been a family burial plot for the Rathbone/Wetmore family, graves in which were moved to Greenlawn at an unknown past date. I have no facts to back that up! I’m just leaving this possibility on the table until we can find out more. As Joe states, I mention a Rathbone Cemetery in prior posts. I learned about that from Algy McBride, past president of the Clintonville Historical Society and also of the Franklin County Genealogical Society. Algy passed away in 2015 and is greatly missed.
[This entire entry is courtesy of Joe Smith. Thanks Joe!]
I’m delighted, and also sad, to learn that the derelict building that once housed Clintonville Electric is now in receivership. Why sad? The business most recently in that location was beloved by Clintonville residents; virtually everyone bought their appliances there. The original business owners were good citizens of their community. All that changed when the business changed hands and in 2004 left Clintonville (and subsequently went bankrupt, cheating half-dozen of its customers). Rumor has it that the property owners–who owned the properties from at least 1936 to the present day– simply declined to either sell or to fix up the buildings, yet kept the city from condemning it. I’ve heard that this building’s roof had a hole in it, and the water coming in caused the ground-level floor to collapse into the basement.
The family that owned the Clintonville Electric building owned a handful of other buildings that are so neglected that they affect the neighborhoods in which they are situated. The following Clintonville buildings have been put into receivership:
These following buildings have also been put into receivership. I know nothing about their condition and some have business occupants unrelated to the landlords.
Some legal documents about the case can be found on the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. Two are linked here and here.
I’ll write about the businesses that occupied this space, in upcoming months.
On the bright side: Clintonville Historical Society has erected a new plaque for the Clinton Chapel and for John and Laura Olive (Wilson) Smith near the corner of East North Broadway and North High. It gives us pause to remember slaves and slavery in the Unites States and to give thanks to the people who fought against it.
On the bad news side: it’s very unfortunate, from my perspective, that 12 staff were recently laid off from Ohio’s Historic Preservation Office. The federal government mandates that every state must have this sort of office, and to accompany that mandate they give the offices some money to fulfill their mission. That money was apparently withdrawn by DOGE and so Ohio History Connection had to terminate staff. Here’s a link to a newspaper article about the staff terminations.
[Photos courtesy of Joe Smith.]
I was very sorry to recently learn of the death (in February 2025) of Bill Good, former owner of the Southwick-Good & Fortkamp Funeral Chapel. This funeral home, at 3100 N High, was located at the site of Clintonville’s Clinton Chapel, which later became the home of Mathias Armbruster, became a funeral home in 1938, and is currently a day care center.
I met Bill when I was working on my Clintonville and Beechwold book. He was a devoted caretaker of the building in which his funeral practice was located, knowledgeable about its architecture and history, and respectful of the entire property. He even made sure that expert wall builders were called in the rebuild the property’s perimeter wall, at considerable expense. He was always willing to share his knowledge, and was patient even as he had to explain to me what an “adze cut” is. He had civic pride and was pleased that the building served as a polling place each election day. More personally, he graciously advised me in planning for the funeral of my mother-in-law. I am grateful. I remember Bill fondly and extend my condolences to his wife and family.
The log home at 314 West Kanawha is up for sale! Wendy Baker alerted us to this auction; the auction starts at $100,000.
Wendy had first told me about this property and the family who developed it; my post is here.
The house has had just 2 owners since the Rorers built it, and the most recent occupant purchased it in 1973. Here’s the current listing, with some pix of the houses’ internal rooms.
The Columbus Dispatch did a nice article about the auction, but does not seem to allow me to provide you with a gift link. Here is the article for those of you with a subscription.
If you’d like to see it, the home will be open from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday March 27 and again on April 6, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. The auction will end 4 days later.
I went to the first open house this past week, and can attest that it needs some loving care. I certainly hope it’s not a “knock down.” And of course, I wonder who “Ma” and “Pa” are.
Here are a few more pix courtesy of the realtor’s web site.
[Photos courtesy of the Realtor.com web site, Brian Johnson & Coldwell Banker Realty.]
A fun tip for researching your address, from Clintonville Historical Society’s Jeffrey Carter:
–Go to the Columbus Library’s web site.
–Go to Research.
–Find Columbus Dispatch.
–Put in your library card and pin number.
–Enter keyword and search by date. {Shirley suggests: try using your street address in quotes.]
Jeffrey says, “I researched my address and found that during prohibition 3 people were arrested for bootlegging
at 265 Brevoort!”
A danger Spot
Immoral Influences of a Well-Known North End Resort
Referring to the discussion, in the Pastor’s Union, of the subject of saving women, a North Columbus citizen suggests that one of the ways of preventing women from falling is to discourage the use of Olentangy Villa as a beer hall and dance house. Naturally it is a beautiful spot, but, he states, a resort for vicious persons from the city. The people of North Columbus, Patrolman Heyl and McManus, the conductors and drivers on the white line cars, and the farmers of Clintonville are referred to as being prepared to vouch for his statement. The people of North Columbus, the writer says, speak of the villa with scorn and horror with which they would speak of hell itself.Dance halls, bands of music and next door to each dance hall a place where beer is sold, secluded spots to be reached by boat rides on the beautiful Olentangy, deep ravines whose thick underbrush affords secure hiding places! The abandon of the place–restraint thrown off, unrestrained hilarity, girls clicking beer glasses, with young men, promiscuous dancing, intoxicated women going about the grounds. The classes that are there–fallen women, fallen men, fast young men, and mingling with this crowd unfallen but thoughtless and giddy girls and boys.
Such is the picture that the citizen draws of the place, which he says is a most effective institution for swelling the ranks of fallen girls. He says North Columbus parents would look upon the fact of their girls frequenting the place as equivalent to almost certain ruin, but that many go up from the city for an enjooyable street car ride in the cool of the evening and a stroll through pleasant grounds. He regards the villa, though not in Columbus, as of it, and says Columbus is responsible for it. He predicts that the villa will not be run another summer as a pleasure resort of the present character if the press and pulpit do their duty.
[From the Columbus Dispatch (published as Columbus Evening Dispatch) Thursday December 6, 1888 page 1]
Joe Smith kindly shared this item with me, after discovering it at the Columbus Metropolitan Library. It’s A History of the North Methodist Church, Clinton Chapel, North Columbus by Ruth Ellen (Grove) Rutherford.
Ruth Ellen (Grove) Rutherford [1891-1980], a long-time area resident, wrote the history in 1970. The book includes both some history of the Clinton Chapel Cemetery, some information about the old Beers/Piatt log cabin and its move to 40 E. Norwich Ave, and info about the Underground Railroad activities of Pyrum and Polly Hunt. Joe was pleased to see mentions of his own ancestors including the Hunts–Joe’s grandfather Smith‘s maternal 2nd great-grandparents (page 16)–and his grandfather’s maternal grandparents, Horace and Sarah Theresa Young, and his mother, Minnie Belle Young, who are listed as members of North M.E. Church (page 24) in 1898. Minnie married Joe’s great-grandfather, Roy Ripley Smith, a year later, on 20 Sep 1899.
As Joe says, this is a poignant message how the Clintonville community came together and rallied around a greater cause. It’s a message of inspiration just as relevant 142 years later.
[Courtesy of Joe Smith, and the Rutherford family.]