There’s a new kid in town! Re-Wash Refillery has opened in the space formerly occupied by Nancy’s Restaurant at 3133 North High Street. Owner Samantha White has done a stunning job of making “adaptive reuse” of the space and we trust this business will become as much of a Clintonville icon as her predecessor was.

I looked at the history of 3133 North High Street. Here’s what I found.

• Prior to 1929, nothing was listed at that address.
• From 1929 to about 1932, 3133 N High was the Clinton Barber Shop, also variously listed as Clinton Beauty Shop, and F S & GD Port Beauty Shop. Floyd Port Sr and his wife were the managers.

  Note: for several years, Hansen’s Bakery—a minor Columbus chain of bakeries—was located next door at 3135 N High, where J. Thomas Davis Guitar Maker is currently located.. It must have been nice to have those bakery smells!

• From 1933-1938, 3133-3135 N High was the Great A & P Tea Company, grocer. (The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, was an American chain of grocery stores that operated from 1859 to 2015.) Note the combined address; they took over 3133 as well as Hansen’s Bakery next door. This is a picture of the store’s exterior, from an August 11, 1933 Dispatch page.

  There is a Columbus Dispatch Aug 11 1933 newspaper ad for A&P’s opening day at this location. “One package of delicious Sparkle Gelatin Dessert with each 50¢ purchase of groceries or meats on opening days.” Yum Yum!

• From 1939 through 1947, 3133 N High was the Chas Lee Laundry. I found some Dispatch mentions of a Chan Lee Laundry; this may be the same but I am not sure.
• In October 1948 through 1949, 3133 N High was the Warner Appliance Sales and Service Co. An article about the store’s opening from the October 22, 1948 Dispatch is attached.
• 1950—the space was vacant.
• 1951-1955, 3133 N High was the Showboat Inn Restaurant, Gus Deonesos was listed as the manager. (From his obituary: “Gus P. Deonesos, 94, passed away on April 16, 2014. Gus was a United States Army and World War II veteran. He owned 2 restaurants in Columbus, OH before moving to St. Petersburg, FL in 1958.” His family were Greek and he belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church when he lived in Columbus.)
• 1956, it became Ron and Jerry’s Restaurant, Ron Kulwein, manager
• 1957 -1958, the space was Miller’s Restaurant, Walter G & Rosemary Miller, managers.
• 1959-1967, it was Fields Restaurant. Lawrence M. Fields and his wife Minnie lived at 53 Tibet. (Lawrence was listed as the owner from 1959 – 1961; from 1964 Mrs. Minnie Fields was the owner—so Lawrence had probably passed away between 1961 and 1964.)
• 1968 it became Nancy’s Restaurant. It was initially owned by Nancy Kemmerling, until 1971. By 1972, Cindy Moore was listed as the owner of Nancy’s Restaurant (so the sale occurred around 1971). Cindy’s father, Lawrence E. King Sr., was listed as a partner in the restaurant in his 1976 obituary. Cindy lived at 128 Crestview. I didn’t check when she changed her name from Moore to King (she was a widow) but it was after 1976. Cindy closed the restaurant briefly in 2009, then her niece Sheila Davis Hahn reopened it. Sheila died in 2012, and her husband took it over. From a 2006 interview with Cindy: “…I didn’t want to buy a new sign, so I bought Nancy’s name for $100, giving me the rights for 100 years. People call me Nancy all the time. It’s kind of funny.” A Dispatch article about Cindy with photograph is attached, along with another article that includes Cindy’s recipe for her famous meatloaf.

The Hollenback family—the people who started the Booster, lived across the street, and their press office was there as well. So here and here are some pictures taken by the Hollenbacks, of the area, taken from across the street, way before 3133 North High Street was built. See also pages 14, 15, 16, 52 in my book.

This gas and service station was located at the northeast corner of North High Street and Indian Springs Drive. The old building was renovated to transform it into a Fusian Restaurant. (Thanks to Bob O’Shaughnessy, who informed me that this is Fusion’s preferred method of developing new restaurants.) Can anyone out there name the men?

Note the “two laugh-crammed pictures” at the movie theater in the background.

[Image courtesy of the Hollenback Collection of the Clintonville Historical Society.]

David Penniman, a resident of the Rosemary neighborhood, sleuthed out a copy of a document penned in 1984-88 by Richard C Knopf and Miriam F Near. The document, entitled Reminiscences: Not Memoirs, is a free-wheeling remembrance of growing up in the neighborhood around Henderson and Rosemary Parkway in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Dave’s copy came from Ann and Keith Bossard of Dominion Blvd; Dave then digitized the 97 page book and shared it with us. Thanks, Dave!

Both Richard and Miriam are deceased; their obituaries are linked below.
Richard C Knopf, 1/4/1925 – 7/17/2002
Miriam Fowle Near, 6/28/1924 – 12/10/2009

I’m so appreciative of people who preserve local history, as Richard and Miriam, and Dave, have done.

[Digital version of the Knopf and Near typescript courtesy of David Penniman. Knopf obituary came courtesy of the Ashtabula Public Library System based on a search and tip from Nick Taggart, retired librarian par excellence at the Columbus Metropolitan Library.]

There’s been lots of news lately about the departure of Tee-Jaye’s Country Place Restaurant from the north east corner of North High and Morse Roads–and with that, much discussion of the neon sign on that corner. (I’m writing this in April 2021.)

Since 1960, the 4910 North High Street address has been a Jerry’s, then a Sisters’, then Tee-Jaye’s.

Mary Rodgers found this wonderful ad for the opening of Jerry’s in the Columbus Dispatch, Sept 12, 1961. The original neon sign was designed by Fred M. Ervin (Fred I and Fred II), of Fred M. Ervin Sign Service, 2447 Middlesex Rd, Upper Arlington. That company was later operated by Fred M. Ervin III until his death in 2006 as FM Ervin Sign and Lighting.

(As an aside, I love the “Cigarettes and Music Systems provided by Charies” in that ad.)

When Sisters took over the site and sign in 1986, the building was redesigned by architect Jerry Shremshock. The company modified the sign somewhat; Jim Baxter, of the DaNite Sign Company updated the sign.

[Research courtesy of Mary Rodgers, Jim Garrison; Source material from the Columbus Dispatch.]

This is a very nice picture of Kelley Buick at 3415 North High Street (corner of North High and North Broadway Streets, where Kroger’s parking lot is today). Kelley Buick was at that location from 1936/37 until 1949, after which it became Bob Daniel Buick. (Before 1936/37 it was a Chevy dealership.)

[Image courtesy of the Hollenback Collection at the Clintonville Historical Society.]

Last November, I posted a photo of a drugstore that carried a sign, “Bob is Home”. The photo spurred Clintonville Historical Society president Mary Rodgers to do some sleuthing. Here’s what she learned:

We have a photo in the Clintonville Historical Society’s archive that shows a storefront door with a sign that reads: “Closed Today –Bob is home after 5 years and 21 days in the Army for prescriptions call LA.5462 or LA. 9170”. I thought I might try to find out more about veteran “Bob”. From the sign, I know his name is Bob and that is most likely short for Robert. I know he served for 5 years and 21 days in the Army. I know this photo appeared in the Booster, a local newspaper founded in 1933 (post WWI-pre WWII). I went to Ancestry.com and searched for first name “Robert”, lived in Clinton Twp., Franklin County, OH with military service from 1941-1945 (i.e. WWII). The sign also told me that someone close to Bob owned a pharmacy (“for prescriptions call…”). I added pharmacy to my search. The top search results included Robert Ranck. Could this be the right solider? I went to the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s research site and pulled up the Columbus Dispatch newspaper. I typed in “Bob Ranck”. I found a newspaper article from November 14, 1945 that read as follows: “Druggists Back From Service Are Honored–Seven druggists and the son of another druggist who recently returned from the service were honored by the Servall Druggists Alliance at a dinner-dance at the Beechwold Tavern . Sgt. Bob Ranck, son of Paul Ranck, Oakland Park Av and High St. came home after five years in the service and his father promptly closed his store for the day…”.

Mystery solved! Jesse Paul Ranck owned the Oakland Park Pharmacy–where Shim’s is today. The Ranck family lived at 234 Erie Road. Mr. Ranck was very involved in the Clintonville community. He loved nature and was an avid hunter and fisherman. In 1959, the Columbus Dispatch reported that then retired Pharmacist Ranck continued to visit the shop at Oakland Park and High. On one particular day, May 8, 1959, he told the story of a mother raccoon who had brought her babies down the chimney of his home. He was worried that the kits would become too heavy for her to remove. His son, Bob Ranck, returned from the war and attended The Ohio State University. He graduated from the School of Dentistry. For many years, his dental practice was above the Oakland Park Pharmacy. According to his 2012 obituary, he ultimately received the military rank of Captain and was awarded the Bronze Star for his heroic service to our country.

[Image is from The Booster, and courtesy of the Hollenback Collection at the Clintonville Historical Society. Mary’s article was published in the May 2020 CHS Newsletter.]

Wendy Bayer found these great photos and generously shared them with us. The photos show Big Tom’s Restaurant (or Big Tom’s Drive-In Restaurant), which occupied the southeast corner of North High and East Jeffrey from 1956 – 1959. Big Tom’s was owned by Thos H Fetty, who lived with his wife Ella M. at 353 Clinton St.

Here is Big Tom and his wife Ella’s marriage certificate:

Tom Fetty died in 1995.

Here’s some history on the location, based on the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s collection of business directories:

• –In 1950 the address did not exist.
• –From 1953 until 1956 it was Hi-Jeffrey Sandwich Shop, owned by Pete Freemas. (In April 1954 it was called Hi-Jeffrey Sandwich Shop, presumably for its corner location. By June 1954 it was also called Pete’s Drive-In. Pete passed away from a heart attack in April 1955; here’s his obituary.)
• –From 1956 to 1959 it was Big Tom’s Restaurant. There’s an April 1959 Dispatch article about an attack on “the diner’s operator Donald Acree.”
• –In August 1957, January 1958, and July 1959, there were attempts by “owner Elizabeth F. Baker” to sell or auction the restaurant including furnishings and equipment. I’m not sure whether Elizabeth F. Baker had been Pete Freemas’s wife Betty, or whether she had some other connection to the property.
• –By 1960 it had become Chicken Delight Restaurant, owned by Richard A. Potts (& Forrest W. Womeldorff). It was still Chicken Delight in 1961, but I was unable to check additional years.
• –By 1966 it had become a Kut n’ Kurl Beauty Salon.

According to Wendy, Frank B. and Ola Faye Hyatt owned the parcel for a short time; they are buried in Walnut Grove Cemetery. Orr Zimmerman of Olympic Pool fame also owned the parcel… Some neighborhood folks say that it was called “Corky’s” at one time and that the “owner lived down on W. Jeffrey”; I didn’t find record of that. Someone else thought it became Ricardi’s Italian Restaurant, but my research says that Ricardi’s had an address of 4874 North High, just north of this.

Wendy Bayer found the photos on the MLS Real Estate Cards collection that Carriage Trade Realty and the Columbus Metropolitan library uploaded. Nick Taggart of the Columbus Metropolitan Library Local History and Genealogy Desk furnished the Dispatch articles.

[Images courtesy of Wendy Bayer, the Columbus Metropolitan Library, Nick Taggart at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, and The Columbus Dispatch.]

Wendy Bayer came across a matchbook for the Beechwold BBQ at 4848 N. High. Notice the address?

Beechwold Barbecue, owned by Anthony Delewese, was located at 4848 North High from the day it opened, March 27, 1926, until an overheated furnace caused a fire during the last week of January, 1934.

Four months after the fire (May 29, 1934), Mr Delewese reopened his restaurant as Beechwold Tavern, at 4784 North High, where Mozart’s is today. (He sold it to Henri Boyd in 1938, who in turn renamed it the Beechwold Restaurant.)

Mr. Delewese–assuming I have the right “Anthony Delewese”–died September 13, 1975.

Just to finish off the “fire” theme:

Oh and remember when we abbreviated Ohio as just “O.”? State abbreviations were standardized to 2 characters in 1963, to make room for zipcodes, as most addressing equipment at the time could accommodate only 23 characters (including spaces) in the bottom line of the address.

[Matchbook image courtesy of Wendy Bayer. Dispatch clippings researched by Nick Taggart, librarian par excellence of the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Local History and Genealogy Desk. ]

Gus Grener’s was located at 2189 North High Street (near the corner of North High and Norwich). According to the 1949 city directory, Augustus F. Grener sold “GE refrigerators, Bendix home laundry washers, radios, Sohio products, Willard batteries, and Goodyear tires.” What a marketing concept!

[Image is from the Hollenback Collection of the Clintonville Historical Society.]

Some things never change–including people occupying tables without ordering any food or drinks!

[Image courtesy of the Hollenback Collection of the Clintonville Historical Society.]