An aerial photo of North High Street. On the top center of the photograph is Northend Wrench before that business moved to Indianola.

(Photo courtesy of David M. Wenger)

Until I worked on this book project, I didn’t know what the Charity Newsies–those guys wearing white jumpsuits asking for donations on street corners in December –did and why they did it. But after becoming acquainted with the organization I am so impressed with the group’s charitable accomplishments. Just in case you are as ignorant as I was about the group, here’s what they do: each year they equip needy schoolchildren—about 14,000 of them– with a wardrobe of new clothes for the school year. Every child in the program receives individual attention from a Charity Newsie member. The organization is totally independent and does not receive government money for their effort; they spend the year collecting money for the endeavor. And, they’ve been doing this for 100 years. This photo shows the Newsies when they first moved their headquarters from South High Street to Indianola Avenue (1995). (Photo courtesy of Charity Newsies)

Clintonville Federal Savings was located just north of the Northmoor Fire Station until the bank was demolished to make way for the fire station’s expansion. Note the Northmoor addition pillars marking the entry into that housing development, which was opened in 1921. (Photo courtesy of Melissa Goodrich)

I wish I could have included these pictures of Jerry Devine’s chainsaw sculptures at Como Mower in my book because they are so Clintonville. Unfortunately I had too many pictures and too little space and so I used date (1970s) as a cut-off criteria. Weiland’s has a sculpture as does someone who lives in the vicinity of Northmoor. Note also, in the photograph, the old Darts USA store, which no longer exists. (Photo courtesy of Jerry Devine)

Another prominent Clintonville resident was William and Catherine Gillie. He was a Franklin County Court of Common Please judge for 25 years; by hobby a whittler and ice hockey player, and a contributor to Park of Roses and to many of the area’s senior centers. She was a major force in formation of Columbus’ LifeCare Alliance.

When David H. Schreiner returned from flying planes in World War II, he had his mind set on opening a hardware store. He convinced his father, master plumber Henry J. Schreiner Sr., to join him, and together they opened the Schreiner Plumbing and Hardware Company in 1946 at 2585 North High Street. After serving Clintonville and North Columbus for 52 years, Dave retired in 1998. These photos were taken in 1998. (The exterior photo shows not only the hardware store but also Artist’s Workshop Art Supply Store, a favorite place for supplies among art students around town.) (Photo courtesy of Ruth and David Schreiner)

The Whetstone Prairie was a joint project between the Columbus Recreation and Parks and Columbus Wild Ones, a non-profit community organization that promotes biodiversity and environmentally sound landscaping practices by using native plants to landscape city and suburban yards. They turned about 5 acres of lowland along the river just to the south of Adena Brook into a prairie using flora native to Franklin County. The Columbus Chapter began planning for the Whetstone Prairie in January, 2003. Seeding and planting was done in 2004. In 2005 the prairie bloomed with the spectacular results shown in this photo. In Summer, 2007, Wild Ones turned over the prairie to the management of the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department in a ceremony at the site of the prairie in Whetstone Park. My favorite time in the prairie is in the early morning during summer, when the sun is shining horizontally through the plants.  (Photo by Craig Preston, and displayed courtesy of Marilyn Logue. )

Among the many accomplished people of Clintonville is Fred Shannon (1921-2007), a renowned photographer who worked for The Columbus Dispatch. In this picture he is wearing a Mickey Mouse strap given to him by his son. The story goes that Fred was taking pictures of the original Mickey Mouse creators and they were so tickled by the strap he was wearing, they made him cartoon which the Shannon family still has.

The Clintonville Community Band was founded in 1984 by Les Susi for North and Whetstone High School graduates as the North Columbus Community Band. In 1997 the name was changed to reflect participants’ true geographic ties. The Clintonville Community Choir was established 2005. The choir often performs music by Clintonville native John Ness Beck, a prolific composer of choral music. This photograph shows their August 2007 concert. (From the Clintonville Community Band’s web site)

For the residents of East North Broadway, widening their roadway has been a seemingly endless struggle of defending their property against City Hall. Joyce Schatz–for many years an officer in the East North Broadway Street Association–has kept an archive of the issue, and I’ve linked to it here.

The city claims the right of way is 100 feet. Some research shows that it is 70 feet. Residents’ deeds and surveys are all over the place. Some have 15’ listed, many don’t, including recent purchasers. The majority of the parcels at the end of the street do not have the 15’ easement in their deeds. The deed to Steve and Ann Wilson’s home (one of the three slated to lose their yard), specifically includes the footage and states “…Together with the Fifteen (15) feet off the North Side of East North Broadway vacated by resolution of the County Commissioners of Franklin County, Ohio, on October 7, 1952.”

For those of us who don’t live on East North Broadway, the issue is less “Can the City do it?” but “Should the City do it?’ For the time being, the city is not actively pursuing the widening.