Crestview Market, the Asian/International grocery store that was for many years located at the corner of Crestview and North High Street, recently closed and the building’s owners, Gahanna-based craft brewer Kindred Beer, is looking for a lessee. As part of the building’s renovation, workers removed some of the facade, and I was surprised to see that it used to be an auto dealership.

The picture below is the Crestview Market as it appeared in August 2007 (courtesy of Google Streetview), before the building was painted blue.

Nick Taggart of the Local History and Genealogy Department of the Columbus Metropolitan Library sent me the following information:

The history of the building at the corner of Crestview and North High looks to be quite varied. It has a history of auto sales businesses, under various names for various years. The earliest year I could find it in the Columbus City Directories was 1926 and at that time, the address was listed as 2952-2954. Here are the listings for the auto related businesses:

1926 – Tetlow Motor Sales Co.
1927 – Lindimore Motor Sales Co.
1928 – Hi-Crestview Garage
1929 – Vacant
1930 – VanHorns Motor Sales
1931 – Allen K Bentine auto pntr
1933 – Rufus B. Hay auto repr and Perl Mitchell auto repr
1936 – Orsborn Motors Inc. (the address was 2952-2958 and yes, it was “Orsborn” not “Osborn)
1937 – Same listing but it was spelled “Osborn)
1938 – Orsborn-Baynes Inc. auto (yes, it returned to the “Orsborn” spelling)
1939 – Vacant
1940 – Curtis B. Brown auto repair and Harley J. Arnold auto bodies (the address was just 2952)
1941 through 1945 – Curtis B. Brown auto repair

The auto-related businesses appear to have ceased at this point.

1946 through 1967 – Elephant Lumber Stores
1970 – Six different businesses are listed at this address and for the first time, it shows the 2950 address

I only spot-checked years after this; here is what I found:

1975 – Psychic Science Institute Science of Mind Center
First Church of Religious Science
1978 – Call Dean Inc. int. design school
Psychic Science Institute
1985 – Grid Publishing
1986 – Grid Publishing
1989 – Crestview Market (the first year I find it listed in the City Directory at this address)

By the way, I found an article from a March 1, 1989 NeighborNews (accessible through the electronic edition of the Columbus Dispatch database in the Library’s Reference databases), that mentions Crestview Market’s move to the 2950 location. It reads: “Crestview Market relocated to a larger store in January, just a few blocks from its original location. Mei-Yu Yang Ting, who owns the store with her husband, Jui-I Ting, said the new location, at 2950 N. High St., is 1 1/2 times larger than the original at Crestview Road and Calumet Street.”

A big thanks to Nick and to the Columbus Metropolitan Library!

[Update: see also my subsequent post showing the Elephant Lumber Yard signage, on the side of this building.

…and so we were delighted to see Weiland’s Market featured in Edible Columbus, Winter 2016, pp 58-61. Weiland’s Market, with its multiple generations of owners John Williams, Jennifer Williams and Scott Bowman, and its staff, have been exemplary and generous citizens of Clintonville and the community, and fed us all to-boot. [Booster ad courtesy of Jennifer Williams. Article courtesy of Edible Columbus with apologies in advance for not linking directly to their web site.]

Columbus City Attorney Rick Pfeiffer, who grew up in Clintonville, does a wonderful job giving an informal tour of the Clintonville community. (He has done this for the other neighborhoods of Columbus as well!) Thanks Rick! and we wish you well in your 2017 retirement.
Part One: https://bit.ly/CMosey1
Part Two: https://bit.ly/CMosey2

I realize these are low-quality photos, but they are, alas, the only photos that I have of this topic. Bob Meyer’s Standard Oil Station was located on the southeast corner of Morse Road and North High Street. It closed in 1984 after doing business more than 48 years. The photo above was taken in December, 1944, and the one below was taken in 1984 upon Bob’s retirement. Click through that 1984 image for the article about the station’s closing. [Photos courtesy of the Clintonville Historical Society]

I assume this late 1930s picture was taken somewhere along the Olentangy River in the area of Clintonville. Note that both the trees and the stone structure are actually in the water. Does anyone out there recognize the location? [From a North High Memory Book]

Libby Wetherholt recently gave this presentation about the Zimmerman family to the Clintonville Historical Society, and has kindly agreed to share it with us.

In November, 1977, the Klu Klux Klan held a rally in Columbus, and met at at the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge, which stood on High Street across from Graceland Shopping Center. I’m glad for freedom of speech, sad and mad for what that speech consists of.

A. B. Graham (Albert Belmont Graham) was one of the key founders of the 4-H Club, and was also a leader in developing the nation’s county extension services that are still so helpful to farmers and gardeners and cooks. In his retirement years Mr. Graham lived at 159 Clinton Heights Avenue in Clintonville. (His son lived in Clintonville as well.) The Clinton Heights house is the last surviving house known to be associated with Mr. Graham, and on this basis the house has recently been put on the Register of Historic Places.

You can find more information elsewhere on this web site

Bob Henry (North High School Class of 1957) was kind enough to share this photograph of himself in the days when he was a Columbus Dispatch carrier.

The Dispatch sub-station he was posted from was located in the alley behind the Clinton Theater on High Street. This picture was taken circa 1950 and shows a bunch of Dispatch carriers in front of the station. Earl McBlain, shown in the doorway, was the station manager. From Bob:

In those days, the carriers, ages 10 to 15, would ride their bikes to the station after school, where Earl would count out our papers to us. The station had a bench along the walls, which we used to fold and bag our papers. In the center of the room was a pot-belly stove that burned yesterdays papers to keep us warm in the winter. Once we had bagged our papers, we rode to our routes throughout Clintonville. Mine was on West Dunedin, along Olentangy Blvd, Winthrop and Weston Place, about 70 houses. Carrying papers took a couple of hours each day, including Sat and Sun morning; on Thurs, and Fri nights we collected money from each house on the route, which required another couple of hours. I believe the cost was 40 cents per week for a seven-day subscription. The Weds Star cost another 15 cents. When my mom learned I was carrying the Star, which was a risqué paper in those days, she called Earl to complain, but he could not do anything about it.

On Saturdays before noon we had to go to the station to pay our paper bill of about $20 and kept the rest, about $8.

[Photo courtesy of Bob Henry]

At a presentation I gave on the History of Clintonville, someone handed my husband this news item about the opening of the Defense Center in a former filling station at 4070 North High Street at the corner of Glenmont and North High Street in 1942.

The Clintonville Community Council, a group of members representing every organization in Clintonville, sponsored the center. It was to be a center for air raid services, a headquarters for Boy Scouts, a Red Cross distribution point, a center for salvage collection, a precinct station for auxiliary police and eventually a USO clubroom. It included a first aid corner, and a canteen offering coffee and cookies.

In this picture, Mrs. William McCoy, Marilyn Peters, and Joe Miller are getting the place ready.

There is another photo here.