Ann Conner allowed me to see the inside of her 168 Westwood Ave home when I was working on my book. You can get a glimpse of it here, in a 1988 10tv item.

Or here, as an AirBnB listing.

Sadly Ann died in 2018 as did Dale.

Here are some cool links for old maps:

City of Columbus Planning Maps, Historic Maps.

The City of Columbus’ web site gives us plenty of maps and data to play with, from Census demographic changes to despicable redlining and more. Check out especially the “City of Columbus Historic Panoramic Images, 1922,” which is based on a 1922 Ohio State University masters thesis by Forest Ira Blanchard. “Blanchard, inspired by the Chicago School of Sociology, sought to study the racial and ethnic composition of the city, with a particular focus on the role of transportation (railroads, roads) in shaping the urban landscape. Source: Forest Ira Blanchard, An Introduction to the Economic and Social Geography of Columbus, Ohio. Thesis (M.A.), Ohio State University, 1922.”

Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Columbus and Ohio Map Collection. If you haven’t donated to the library yet, now’s the time! It and and it’s staff are such great resources.

Sanborn Maps for Franklin County (scroll down to see Columbus). This is a Library of Congress site.

USGS Historical Topographic Map Explorer allows you to specify a place you want to explore, then click on a location to see its historical maps.

Prolific programmer Randy Majors has produced several products of interest, including his Historical U.S. Counties Map Tool and Auto-Checker Extension. He has also created a couple of video walkthroughs of a couple of the the software tools he has created. I recommend you view them in order, as understanding the Historical U.S. Counties map tool will help you have better success with using the Auto-Checker chrome extension.

Old Maps Online OldMapsOnline.org indexes over 400,000 maps, thanks to the archives and libraries that were open to the idea and provided their online content.

Do you know of other map resources? Let me know and I will add them to this post.

Sometimes a house tells the story of a person, right? In this case the story is about Frank and Bertha Rorer.

This story was sent to me by Wendy Bayer, who writes, “During COVID, I did quite a bit of walking around Clintonville and found myself on West Kanawha one afternoon…I noticed an intriguing house at 314 W Kanawha and did some research on it (naturally! My curiosity is so strong!) I found this great newspaper article from 1939 about the builders and residents; you might find them interesting, too.”

The Rorers bought a tract of undeveloped land on what is now West Kanawha. They took scout troops there, and hiked their property. Their first house on Kanawha was a tiny house constructed from washing machine crates. (Why? because Mr. Rorer was a plumber.) They also built a cave on the property for refrigeration. They initially used this tiny house as a weekend getaway, but Bertha spent more and more time there. Later they built a white clapboard house nearby, and then in the late 1930s they built their dream house at 314 West Kanawha from salvaged walnut-wood logs.

Today there are a cluster of properties along Kanawha formerly affiliated with the Rorers; here are some of their ownership histories:
290 W. Kanawha–nothing
300 W. Kanawha–1922-1937 Rorers owned it. This is where they lived in April 1931.
304 W. Kanawha–1923-1959 Rorers owned it, new house built 1959
310 W. Kanawha–1937-1959 Rorers owned it, new house built 1960
314 W. Kanawha–log home. Rorers owned it 1923?-59
320 W. Kanawha– nothing

Here’s the “Ohio Historic Inventory sheet” for 314 West Kanawha, from the Ohio Historic Preservation Office at Ohio History Connection.

Bertha Rorer died in 1974, her husband Frank Rorer died 1976 (You can click through to read their obituaries.)

[Research courtesy of Wendy Bauer, and inventory courtesy of Nancy Campbell/OHPO.]

In April 2024 I wrote that Flora Hess sold her property, a flower shop at the intersection of Dodridge and Olentangy River Road, to the state in 1932. She lived in a house close by at 2637 Olentangy River Road; in 1968 Johnny Jones wrote an article about an antique sale at the Hess homestead.

I believe Flora lived in that house for many years. She ran the property as a trailer park from at least the 1930s until the late 1940s. I found several Columbus Dispatch articles that reported her conviction in 1946 of illegally operating a trailer camp on the property. The county had declined to issue her a permit because the property did not meet sanitary requirements. The trailers were mostly occupied by students. I also found many ads for sales of trailers, so the land may have been a dealership. I would love to have learned her side of this story.

The Ohio State University archives has some aerial photos of the old Hess farm with what Jones described as “part of an old windmill;” there’s a map in the collection’s finding aid and you can see the set of aerials here.

Now here’s the sad, sad, story about this homestead. According to a Hess family historian, Flora’s father John Moses Hess Jr. “received his education in the public schools of Franklin County and later attended Otterbein University. He was a farmer all his life. Uncle Moses was well over six feet tall, quiet and easy going. He always had a well groomed driving horse and took me on several Sunday afternoon drives in the north end of Franklin County, telling the history of the Dublin community. I never saw him when he was not wearing a stiff bosomed white shirt. This was one of his several oddities. Aunt Hannah was very opposite, being small and wiry and a human dynamo, and I always marveled how one so small could turn out so much work. Aunt Hannah died August 17, 1922, being murdered by an irresponsible farm hand who died from self-inflicted wounds the following day. Uncle Moses died December 15, 1923 and both are buried in Union Cemetery across the road from the farm home.” You can read the details of this sad tale of murder and suicide is the Columbus Dispatch here.

Flora died in 1962 (b. 06 Mar 1883, d. 06 Nov 1962) and is buried in Union Cemetery near her parents. Her sister Elizabeth died in 1968 at age 89 (b.30 Sep 1879 d. 5 Dec 1968) and is also buried there.

[Photos courtesy of The Ohio State University Archives. Research help courtesy of Harry Campbell.]

Eric Hartzell has been helping Jack Smith–of Smith’s Deli fame at 3737 N. High Street–rewire parts of the deli, and with some repairs. Along the way, Eric has found some fabulous pictures related to the deli.

First, the deli when it was a meat and frozen food center, and–get this–candle store! Eric estimates this picture is from around the mid-1960s.

Here’s another picture courtesy of The Clintonville Spotlight October 01, 2020.

Eric writes, “The first picture above seems to be from late 1960s judging by the cars on the side lot….maybe 1968…or it could be early 70’s. But it is different from the pic in that ad or menu…It is 1961-62 because of the car out front. But the sign on the top of the building is much bigger and goes from end to end on the building….and has the added candle and candy shop on the right end. Since they didn’t discontinue the meat part till 1982…..hard to completely say.”

In the early 1940s the site was Beem Motors, a Packard dealership; this ad is from a 1941 telephone book. There was an auto service station & filling station next door at 3729 N High Street at least as early as 1941 (but not before 1932). As Eric writes, “…[The car dealership] is the reason the 1920’s style garage/gas station is right next to it. There is even a garage door still inside Smith’s Deli right behind the pizza ovens. It was never removed, and infrastructure was just built around it.” By 1943, 3737 N High Street was a grocery, and by 1951 it had become Clintonville Lockers Frozen Food Lockers owned by Guy B. Harris. Jack Smith’s dad purchased the business in 1961.

Here’s a link to an aerial photo of that location from an unknown year. You can see the auto service center to the south of Smith’s.

And about Smith’s arch and counter, Eric writes: “When I asked Jack if I could rewire the arch for safety sake..(it was still with the original 1907 wiring) I started to also do the research on it. All he could tell me was that it came from a Chillicothe drug store, named A.B. Howson’s Pharmacy in the famous Carisle Building. Didn’t take long to find a picture of it inside that drug store with the help of the historical society down there. Was like finding buried treasure, there it was from a picture taken in 1909. It was built in 1907. Now [the arch] has 100% LED lights….even used the new LED Edison style lamps that really gave it that old time look. The drug store closed in 1967….or was it 1969….anyway, that was when his father purchased it and moved it to the current store, marble and all. More about the drugstore, including the names of the boys staffing the counter here.

Thanks for sharing, Eric!

[Images courtesy of Eric and his original sources, and to Dave Wenger at Northend Wrench for the aerial photo.]

The Columbus Canoe Club–which had been turned into a residence back in 1959–is currently on the market, and you can see the inside of this residence here. It has only had 4 owners since it was built, and long-time owner Donna Hickey had given me a tour of the house back in 2009. So sorry to learn that Donna passed away in 2021.

A bit more info here

(I doubt this link to the realtor post will be up long.)

On one of my daily walks, I noticed this grave in Union Cemetery, which set me a wonderin’. “School Mate” is such a peculiar thing to put on a grave marker!  I did a bit of research, and Wendy Ritter Bayer joined me in the effort.

Here is the cluster of gravestones I was so curious about: Carrie Reid, Ellis & Nina Reid, Mary Frances Jones.  Carrie Reid’s  epitaph says “School Mate” but she shares a last name with Ellis and Nina Reid, and is their general age.  Also, she died in her 70s, so it seemed unusual to hark back to her school friends. 

Gravestones left to right are: Carrie Reid, Ellis & Nina Reid, Mary Frances Jones. Carrie Reid was Ellis’ 3rd and final wife. Nina married then was divorced from Ellis yet was buried alongside Ellis. Mary Frances is Nina’s child by a previous marriage.

(1) Ellis Harlen Reid was married 3 times: 
–Flora Ellen Rice m. 1902. In 1903 he and Flora had 1 son, Russ, who died in 1991. Ellis and Flora presumably divorced.
–Nina Jones m. 1927. For some reason Ellis’ second wife Nina owed his first wife Flora $500 for a real estate matter which was paid in full by May 1937. Ellis Reid filed for divorce from Nina in May 1947, the same year Nina died–in September 1947–after a couple month’s illness “survived by her husband Ellis.” 
–Carrie B Quinn m. 1950.  Three years after divorcing Nina, Ellis married Carrie B. Quinn, who predeceased him.

(2) Nina was married 2 times:
–Thomas W Jones in West Virginia;  he died in 1965 so presumably they divorced.  They had a daughter, Marie Frances Jones; Marie died in 1934 and her stone is next to her mother’s.
–In 1927 she married Ellis Reid, divorced him in 1947, and died later that year.  Her house at 524 Lincoln Ave was to be sold and proceeds paid “to my niece, Sylvia Cole, and my sister Ivy Robinson, share and share alike, or to the survivor of them.”

(3) Carrie was married 4 times:
–Oscar Bowman m. 1901; he died in 1954 so she must have divorced him. Carrie and Oscar had 2 living daughters:  Bertha Leola, born 1903, and Helen E., b. 1906. Their address was 1268 1/2 N. High St.  (Bertha married James Dolan in 1921 and Helen married Charles A. Taylor on 16 Aug 1927). Carrie and Oscar also had an infant daughter who died of “pre-mature birth” in 1909. Their address was 1181 Say Ave.
–Elmer Preston Buchanan m. 1918; he died in 1956 so presumably they divorced.
–Loren George Webster m. 1939; he died in 1940 from “barbital poisoning (addict).”
–Ellis Reid, m. 1950. He was 70, she was 67 when they married; she died 5 years after marrying him.  He died in 1961.

I’m surprised at the sheer number of divorces–at least 4 between them. Ellis is buried alongside his second wife, rather than his 3rd and final wife, though that’s not all that uncommon; cemeteries and monument sellers often offer a “2 for one” price, so widowers ended up with a plot they might otherwise be unable to use. Also it wouldn’t surprise me if somehow Nina was instrumental in the choice, since her daughter by previous marriage is in the same plot and style stone.

Now, back to my original inquiry.  Carrie was born and raised in Ohio, as was Ellis.  Nina was born and raised in WV.  So if Carrie was a “school mate,” it was with Ellis.  I am unable to  research whether that happened. But what kind of husband puts “school mate” on his newly deceased, current, wife’s stone?  I’m wondering whether she was a SOUL Mate and the carvers got it wrong.  If so, what a hoot.

138 East North Broadway. Ralph Taylor Van Ness (1902-1989) and his wife Norma Thorp Van Ness (1910-2000) bought this house from North Broadway Methodist Church in 1960 and remodeled it.

Their daughter Margaret Van Ness (now Margaret Nelson) is shown on the porch. 

Margaret writes,

Father dug out the basement and built his office downstairs. We lived next to the warden of the State Penitentiary.  One time we bought a set of golf clubs from the warden’s sister. Another time, when my parents found an old safe in the attic of the garage,  my father asked the trustees if there were any safe crackers amongst them.  The answer: “No, Doc, but maybe next week.”  My parents sent the safe to a company that could open it, so, we’ll never know if there was a treasure or a treasure map inside!  Living on the other side of us was Arch Heck, a professor at Ohio State University, in charge of the Fulbright program, bringing students from abroad to study at OSU. Thus, my parents became hosts to several students, one from Nepal who, he told them, slept on the floor rather than messing up the bed. 

The Van Nesses lived at this address until 1971. It has been significantly remodeled and expanded since the Van Ness time.

[Photos and narrative courtesy of Margaret Van Ness Nelson]

Margaret Nelson grew up in Clintonville and has kindly shared her treasure trove of pix of Clintonville with us. This is the medical office building her father, Dr. Ralph Taylor Van Ness, built in the 1950s at 25 Tibet Road.

Below is a view of the inside. You can see patients in the waiting room, the nurse, Margaret Deckard, at her desk, and Margaret’s father, Dr. Ralph Taylor Van Ness, in another room.  The photo on the right shows Mrs. Deckard in the supply room.

The Van Ness family lived next door to the medical office, at 29 Tibet Road.

Here are Margaret’s parents in their 1950s kitchen. They sold to Dr. John Gardiner in 1959 and then moved to 138 East North Broadway.

[Courtesy of Margaret Van Ness Nelson]

The Van Ness family lived at 310 East Weber from about 1947 to about 1950.

This is the front of the house with Margaret Van Ness Nelson’s brother John Van Ness standing in front.

Though the house was on the north side of Weber, the building itself faced north toward a right-of-way that was never developed into a street. Or maybe the right of way was partially developed and is now “Iswald Road”?

There were 4 houses between 310 E Weber, and the corner of Weber and Calumet. The current house on that corner hadn’t been built yet when the Van Nesses lived there.

This is a side view–the east side–of 310 E Weber.

Margaret writes, “Our front yard was a ditch that was supposed to be a street but was never built. We played in the woods. We called it the Hala [after ‘Walhalla’]. There was the first Hala and the second Hala, which is where the white Mooney house still stands. It was sort of scary so we didn’t go near it. On the other side of Hala #2 was where Darien and Jan Mooney lived in a one-story house, which intrigued us with the kitchen on the first floor.”

The house at 310 Weber was eventually torn down to make a parking lot for Crestview School.

[Vintage photos courtesy of Margaret Van Ness Nelson.]