Beechwold Barbecue, 4784 North High Street. “The home of choice barbecue & toasted sandwiches, special Italian Spaghetti dinner. After the theatre or after a dance, drive out to the most popular barbecue in Columbus. Auto parking space. Come hear the wonderful Violano Virtuoso.” [Photo from a 1939 North High Memory Book advertisement]

The Clintonville White Castle, 1941. Note the tracks in the middle of North High Street, and also the buildings to the north and northwest of the 5-cent hamburger joint! Sadly, the Clintonville White Castle closed on Christmas Eve this past December 2010.

Here is one of the many newspaper articles announcing the closure.

Robert Ohaver (b. 1920) lived most of his life in Clintonville and on West North Broadway. He had many stories of old Clintonville to share with us. On September 12, 2003, several community members (Ann and Alan Woods, Barbara Hotchkiss, Nancy Kuhel) interviewed him and preserved the conversation on tape. Now you, too, can listen to Mr. Ohaver’s oral history.

Sadly, Bob Ohaver passed away on June 11, 2009. You can find his obituary here. There is another small entry about his aunt on this web site here.

Bob mother was Laura Ohaver and his father was Walter Harvey Ohaver. Bob also had an older brother named Jack Ohaver who lived in Clintonville at 116 E. Dunedin with his wife Clara Ohaver. Clara passed away May 24, 1993, and Jack passed away on June 14, 2000. Jack and Clara had two daughters. Sue Bowman was born May 8, 1940; she passed away January 4, 2000. Sandra Urban born July 30, 1945. [This family information came to me from Jack’s granddaughter and Sandy’s daughter, Lisa Adkins. Thanks, Lisa!]

Each file is about 30 minutes long.

Contents

Track 1.
Brief Ohaver biography; origins of his family moving to West North Broadway; his World War II years; Clinton Theatre; businesses and homes at the interesection of North Broadway and North High Streets; drugstores and candy stores in Clintonville; the house behind 3391 North High Street; Dispatch carrier’s substation; Olentangy Park; the streetcar storage barn at Arcadia.

Track 2.
Olentangy Park cont’d; street fair at North Broadway and High to celebrate Clinton Theatre, the opening of Clinton School pedestrain subway, and the paving of North High Street after a new sewer line had been installed; the Olentangy River; 3 canoe clubs; development of West North Broadway (“the Broadway Extension”) and the Scott farm; development of the area along the adjoining river bank; the Herron [spelling uncertain]/Zinn home at 285 West Kenworth; Bill Moose AKA “Indian Bill”; Chief Leatherlips.
Note: the “Dr. John Scott” is William H. Scott, president of OSU 1883-1895. See my book, page 17, for a photo of his house.

Track 3.
Chief Leatherlips cont’d; house at 273 Erie Road and excavation of nearby gravel pit; the Fuller farm/Whetstone Park; rambling through the woods; Indian Springs golf course; Bill Moose AKA “Indian Bill”; Olentangy Park; North Columbus including the Ramlow Building; Picadilly Theatre; streetcars and interurbans.

Track 4.
Southwick funeral home; Joy Hunt home; Graceland Shopper’s Mart and Patrick Murnan; Clinton Theatre; the Great Depression; Ohaver family; Brighton Road development; Ohaver’s WWII and postwar years.

Track 5.
Ohaver’s return to Columbus from California in 1962; bombing of the Clinton Theatre in the 1930s.

My book contains a photograph of the annual Turkey Bowl, a football game held in a local park on Thanksgiving day. Attached is a picture of some actual tickets to the event, for 1944! Betty Daniels gave these to the Clintonville Historical Society. [Photo courtesy of the Clintonville Historical Society]

The North Columbus Kroger location at 2579 North High Street became Jone’s Upholstery business. Charles M. Jones moved here in 1943 while his son W. Frank Jones was overseas serving in WWII. When Frank came home in 1946, he worked as a partner with his father until his father’s death. (Charles and Frank are the son and grandson of C. F. Jones.) This photograph was taken in 1945.

Frank continued the business until 1977 when Neocacia Masonic Lodge (which occupied the 2nd story of the building) sold the building. This photo was taken in 1951.

In 1947, here are: Jenny Mocabee, Charles M. Jones, Frank Jones, Ray Bennett, Dick Schaeffer, Bob Hill.

66 East Duncan Street, a house owned by Frank Jones, owner of Jones Upholstery. This house has since been torn down. (Photos courtesy of Frank Jones.)

The old brick school house which became the foundational building of Maple Grove Church was originally built in 1878. The church was organized around 1919, and began meeting in the abandoned school around 1920. In 1923 a frame addition was dedicated and this served as their parish hall for many years. In 1929 the lot was further expanded, and a campaign for new construction began shortly thereafter. (Photo courtesy of the Maple Grove Methodist Church)

The cornerstone was laid on Pearl Harbor Day in 1941. A stop light was installed at the corner of Henderson and High in 1940—a real sign of growth and “progress.”
(Photo courtesy of the Maple Grove Methodist Church)

Because of gas rationing during World War II, many gas stations closed. In 1942, Clintonville Community Council (an umbrella group of Clintonville’s organizations) transformed this vacant gas station at 4070 North High Street to be a civil defense center and canteen for soldiers. It was furnished with first aid station, chairs, and a piano, and light refreshments were served. (Photo courtesy of the Kerchner Family)

There are a couple more pictures here.

This is another view of downtown Clintonville at High Street and Oakland Park Avenue, showing Miller’s Market, Alber’s supermarket, and Oakland Park Pharmacy. The pharmacy had a soda fountain and was undoubtedly a favorite ice cream stop during hot summer evenings. (Photo courtesy of Leeann Faust)

World War II affected every man, woman and child in the community. This World War II signboard listing those who served in the war stood on High Street between Dunedin and Piedmont and honored WWII serviceman from Clintonville. (Photo courtesy of Gordon Brevoort)

This is a view of North High Street looking northwest from Hudson Street during the mid-1940s. The picture shows Hudson-High Pharmacy, Kroger, Minnie Metzgers Grill, and Neoacacia Hall (a Masonic lodge). The tallest building, the Ramlow Building, was built in the late 1800s by Catherine (Seeger) Volk Ramlow. (Photo courtesy of Columbus Metropolitan Libraries)