Occasionally, the name of a local figure pops up with frequency, and one forms an image of, well may I say, an irascible neighbor? James Chesnut (often spelled “Chestnut”) is one of those guys; see other posts about him here.

Who was this guy, anyway? James Chesnut was born in Ireland on May 1, 1820, and he died at age 85 on May 26, 1905. Census records say James was a “machine sawyer,” “works in coal factory”, or “foreman and tool shop”. He seems to have owned 20 acres on North High Street. His wife was Christiana McEwan (b. Dec 24, 1825, d. Jul 14 1891). (One source says “Ewing” but I believe that’s wrong.) She is buried with James in Greenlawn Cemetery. Some census records say Christiana was born in England or Ireland, and there’s also a record that says her father lived in Ridgeway, PA.

James and Christiana had a daughter (one census record says “adopted daughter”), Fannie, who was born around 1854/55. She lived with her parents and seems to have remained single. She continued to live in the North High Street (now Wall Street) house through 1910, but by 1914 she’d moved to 2103 Summit Street. She lived there until her death in March 1932; she died at age 78 in University Hospital of injuries suffered when she was hit by a taxi the previous December. (Her obituary also names a sister, Jennie Reid, who lived in Bridgeport Connecticut.)

I love the Chesnut house, still in existence at 3338 N. Wall Street.

Last April 2021, I posted an article by Clintonville Historical Society President Mary Rodgers, about the Clintonville Woman’s Club. The club was built on land that was once owned by a “horse trader” named E. A. Fuller.

I recently found some old advertisements for horses–bought, sold, stabled–at E.A. Fullers Farm. Here’s one of them…

[From the Columbus Dispatch (published as Columbus Evening Dispatch) October 27, 1876, page 1]

(I’m glad it was not a sale of dead stock.)

There are many more ads; here’s one for stabling horses near E.A. Fulller’s farm.

[From the Columbus Dispatch (published as Columbus Evening Dispatch) November 12, 1877 page 4]

The Dispatch has lots of other ads as well, especially from 1902, for stabling horses at the Fuller farm.

They’re great reminders of Clintonville’s agricultural past.

[Thanks to the Columbus Metropolitan Library for making the Digital Columbus Dispatch available and searchable online on CML’s web site.]

Last month I mentioned the new Clintonville store, Re-Wash, owned by Samantha White. While Sam was renovating the space, she uncovered this wonderful sign from a previous era. It was on the wall–undoubtedly the exterior wall–of 3131 North High (now “Lucky 13 Salon”). In 1926, 3131 North High Street was occupied by Wilke’s Quality Market.

Here’s an ad from the Columbus Evening Dispatch on April 22, 1926. The Wilke family business–which eventually became Ohio Packing Company–lasted for some 107 years in Columbus. (The Wilke’s Quality Market in Clintonville seems to have been one of the Wilke family’s more minor locations.) The business was established in 1907 by Fritz Wilke as a neighborhood butcher shop in Columbus, eventually focusing on meat cutting and packing. Different aspects of the business were run by various family members–finally by 3rd and 4th generations of the family. Ohio Packing Company closed in April, 2014. You can read a little history of that business here.

In case you are wondering: that other Clintonville market mentioned in the Shredded Wheat ad, Quality Market at 3496 North High Street, was located where Seitan’s Realm is today.

And about that Dispatch ad: Yes, I would LOVE to see them making Shredded Wheat, back in the day; wouldn’t you? You can read more about Henry Perky, the inventor of Shredded Wheat, Triscuits, and the machine that made them, here.

[The ad was provided to me by Loraine of the Columbus Metropolitan Library–Local History and Genealogy Desk; it’s from the Columbus Dispatch published as Columbus Evening Dispatch, April 22, 1926, p14.]

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.

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.]

A roller coaster at Olentangy Amusement Park. [Photo courtesy of Galen Gonser]

This lovely home at 80 West Cooke Rd was originally built in 1925 for Lulu & Carl Cooke. The Cookes owned it for 40 years, and the house has only had 4 owners since it was built. Fortunately the home’s original character and charm has been maintained throughout the years.

I believe I’ve passed the house many times without noticing it, and suspect its lines were obscured by foliage until recently. What a gem it is!

The house is in the Rosemary housing division, developed by Charles Johnson in 1923 and named after his mother.

As a side note, the Mediterranean Revival style–so unusual in Clintonville–reminds me of the old Zimmerman home that used to be located at the NW corner of Henderson and Olentangy River Roads.

There are also examples of that style at 44 West Jeffrey Place (left photo below) and 223 West Beechwold Blvd (right photo below) in Old Beechwold. An historic inventory for 44 West Jeffrey can be found here. 223 West Beechwold seems to have had the address “4923 West Beechwold” and may have been designed by architect Frank Kinzig, according to the Old Beechwold Historic District Nomination.

My friend Nancy Campbell tells me that in the 1920s, there was a lot of interest in exotic styles for houses, usually attributed to the young men who came back from WWI. Having seen more of the world, they were interested in Tudor, Mediterranean, Mission, Chateauesque (French) styles. The Sears and Aladdin kit houses, though offering predominantly Craftsman or “plain” styles, also offered the others. These three houses were more upscale versions of an interesting mix of styles. According to Virginia McAlester’s book, A Field Guide to American Houses: The Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America’s Domestic Architecture, tile roofs were used in Spanish Eclectic, Mission, Italian Renaissance, and Prairie styles. The Cooke Rd. house seems somewhat Tudor, with the “musicians’ balcony” overlooking the living room.

[Real estate listing & photos courtesy of Judy Minister; historic architecture information from Nancy Campbell.]

Mary Rodgers has written a very nice article about the Clintonville Woman’s Club.

The Clintonville Woman’s Club: The Women Before the Clubhouse
by Mary Rodgers

I was recently asked to speak at an evening meeting of the Clintonville Woman’s Club. Specifically, I was asked to speak on the subject of the history of the land that the Clubhouse occupies. I have always understood that the Clubhouse was located on land from the old Fuller Farm. I was surprised to learn more about the “Fuller” family.

In the 1820s, John Rathbone sold farm lot 5 to Edward Amaziah Stanley. Using today’s landmarks, that land would have been bounded on the east by Indianola Avenue, on the west by the river, on the south by roughly Torrence Road and on the north by roughly Overbrook Drive. When Mr. Stanley died in 1862, his land holdings were passed down to his children. Harriet Marie Stanley (aka Hattie) was one of those children. She was born in Connecticut in 1831. Based on the extensive land holdings throughout Ohio, I believe her father Edward was an Ohio land speculator. After acquiring several thousand acres, in 1829, he returned to Connecticut to marry Abagail Talcott Hooker. Sometime between 1831 and 1834, the family moved to the Clintonville area.

In 1856, Hattie married Erskine Asa Fuller, aka E. A. Fuller. E. A. was known as a dealer in stock animals. When her father passed away, Hattie inherited all of farm lot 5 in Clinton Township Ohio. The 1870 census shows a large extended family living together in Clintonville–the Fullers and their daughters, Hattie’s mother, brother, sister, and several farm hands and servants. The combined household value per that census was in excess of $25,000. Hattie passed away in 1879. E.A. passed away in 1894. After their deaths, the farm was transferred equally to the four Fuller daughters–Abby, Mary, Katherine and Martha.

Martha Fuller and her sister Katherine Fuller Peters lived all of their lives in Clintonville. They owned two brick homes along High Street–Katherine’s just south of where the Library sits today and Martha’s where the Christian Science church sits today. Martha Fuller passed away in 1938. She left half of her land holdings to long time farm hand Matthew McCallen and half to her niece (sister Mary’s daughter) Helen Osborn.

Eventually, all the land was sold off, some to the Christian Science Church, some to the Calvary Bible Church, and the balance to the City of Columbus.

The Clintonville Woman’s Club land was purchased by the Kiwanis Club of Northern Columbus. That Club loaned the ladies the funds needed to build the Clubhouse. In turn, they held a mortgage on the property. The Woman’s Club members worked tirelessly and retire their debt to the Kiwanis within five short years! They have owned the Club house and property ever since.

[Courtesy of Mary Rodgers]

Gary Mean’s stunning restoration effort of 242 East North Broadway was included in Old House Journal, April-May 2011 issue.

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.]