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]

This is a reprint of an article by Mary Rodgers, originally appearing in the newsletter of The Clintonville Historical Society.

A brief history of Charles T and Sadie M. Legg–long time Clintonville residents–based on The Booster news article dated February 12, 1937, with additions

Charlie Legg was born on the Legg farm on April 23, 1871.  This farm, a dairy, was located North of Clintonville.  The lane leading to the Legg homestead would have been near where Webster Park Avenue is today.

Charlie’s mother was Orell E. Webster, daughter of Amazon Webster and a direct descendant of Noah Webster of American Dictionary fame.  His father was Lewis Legg, believed to be the son (or grandson) of Elijah Legg, a revolutionary war soldier from Massachusetts who settled in Ohio in 1815.

In 1937, Charlie reported that when his grandfather, Amazon Webster, moved to Clinton Township, Indians lived in the section now known as Indian Springs.  Those Indians raised cranberries.  Amazon told his grandchildren that the Indians would walk to Chillicothe to sell their berries.

Charlie’s grandmother was Mary Pinney of Worthington.  She was the daughter of Levi Pinney and Charlotte Beach.  Levi and Charlotte were the first couple to be married in Worthington, Ohio.  That was 1839.

Sadie Mitchell was born on January 27, 1874 in Circleville.  Her father was a builder.  She became Charlie’s blushing bride on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1892.  When she heard of the upcoming wedding, Sadie’s grandmother exclaimed, “Oh that name!”  Sadie’s response was that it was no worse than the last four letters of her present name!

The Leggs were married by Rev. Louis Postle and their first home was behind Dr. Burbacher’s Offices, which were located on the Southeast corner of Oakland Park and High.  The Mennonite Church stands here today.   It was reported that after a year, in 1894, they moved to into a building that had been a church at the Northeast corner of Walhalla and High street (Clinton Chapel–now Southwick-Good and Fortkamp Funeral Home).  They started a dairy farm.  After a year, they moved to property located west of the Olentangy River near what is now Lane Avenue.  Here they set up a “business” farm including the sale of corn to the Sells Circus.  Today, if you are driving north on Kenny Road from Lane Avenue, you will see a road called Legg.

When Charlie’s father could no longer care for his farm, Sadie and Charlie combined their operation with his and moved to the North Clintonville homestead.  In 1907, the Leggs sold the farm to developers Thompson, Johnson and Thompson.  The neighborhood called the Webster Park Addition was platted.  The Leggs built and sold three homes in this development.  Orell Webster Legg, Charlie’s mother, retain the portion of the farm closest to the river.  In 1909, a portion of her property was set aside for a bird sanctuary.  We call this area the Delta.

According to the 1914 records, 346 families, a population of 1,190, represented Clintonville.  The Clinton League Memory Book reports:

In 1913, a new two story brick building was erected on the corner of Dunedin Road and High Street.  It was haled with delight by residents of the neighborhood for at this place Mr. Legg opened a grocery store and Mrs. Legg had a department for notions-live-savers they were where you lived five miles from town.  There were two business rooms in this building so the post-office was moved to the one adjoining the store.  It remained there until 1917 when rural mail delivery was established.”  Today, this building houses Shim’s tailor and Melissa’s Incredible Edibles.

On July 4, 1916, Sadie’s dry goods business moved to 3339 North High.  That building was built in 1910 by J. C. Loren.  The Booster reported him as a well known contractor at the time.  He may have built some of the early homes on East North Broadway.   In fact, the home that was located at 615 East North Broadway, the carriage house for that home still stands and is know the Fisher home, was referred to as the Loren home in the Clinton Memory Book.  We know that the developer of North Broadway, James M. Loren, never lived on North Broadway, so perhaps 615 was J. C. Loren’s home.  Before Sadie, the 3339 North High building was occupied by Swope’s Grocery and Bilikam’s Grocery.  Bilikam’s later moved to North Columbus.  In 1918, the Leggs bought the building and Sadie operated her dry goods store at the site until February of 1937.  Later in life, Sadie lived in the apartment above the store.

Mr. Legg, after selling his grocery, was a city salesman for the E. E. Shedd Mercantile Company and then worked for the L. E. and C. W. Medick Co., Ford Dealers in the Clintonville community.  In fact, at her retirement in 1939, Sadie said that to get full enjoyment from her upcoming vacation, she would need a new V8 Model Ford.  Charlie commented that he wouldn’t be receiving a commission on the upcoming sale.

The Leggs told The Booster that they recalled when a saloon existed at what would now be the southwest corner of Orchard Lane and High Street (the Kroger parking lot).  The story is that while there were a dozen saloons in North Columbus, there were none in Clintonville.  Then a man was elected mayor of Columbus who closed the saloons on Sunday.  This drove the liquor dealers to move outside the city.  In those days there was a “one-mile limit” law which meant that city police could arrest people within one mile of the city limits.  So the new saloons were set up, including the one here.  The local place did a “land-office business. ” The mayor found out however that the Clintonville saloon was a few feet inside the one mile limit. (The city limit at the time was Mock Rd–now Arcadia Ave.)  So, on a Sunday morning he sent the “Black Maria,” as it was called in those days, to get the drunkards and the proprietor.  A new mayor reopened the City saloons on Sunday and the Clintonville establishment failed.

When interviewed by The Booster in 1937, the Leggs recalled the tollgate that used to block High Street just north of Arcadia.  The gate had a 3 cent per rig fee.  They also recalled when “…there was no such a thing in those days as cross streets coming into High Street, except North Broadway.  So the cars stopped at numbered stops…a pleasant memory when one thinks again of Stop 6 (now Pacemont–once known as Jason Avenue); Stop 7, (now Como); Stop 8 (North Broadway); Stop 9 Clintonville (Oakland Park).  And then the stops were farther apart, and little used until one reached Cooke’s Corners (Cooke Road).”

Charlie and Sadie are buried in Walnut Grove cemetery on the south side of Worthington.  Charlie passed in October of 1946 and Sadie in November of 1957.

Side note:  One of Charlie’s sisters, Emma, married James Harvey Zinn, born 1 October 1871 Ohio, in 1895. J. Harvey Zinn was the President of the J. H. Zinn Lumber Company of Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Zinn was reported to be an ardent fisherman who followed his favorite sport in practically every part of Canada, as well as in Florida waters. His attractive estate “Edgewater,” was located on the Olentangy River just north of West North Broadway. This estate still exists in Clintonville; for more information listen to Robert Ohaver’s oral history.

[Article courtesy of Mary Rodgers and the Clintonville Historical Society]

There is a new gastropub at Graceland Shopping Center, cutely named Pat and Gracie’s. The tavern is named after the early 20th century gambler who owned the land upon which Graceland Shopping Center was built: Pat Murnan and his wife Grace Backenstoe. The restaurant owners are on a quest to find an image of Grace Backenstoe. (They already have pictures of Pat.) Does anyone out there have one? Let me know and I’ll post it here as well as forward it to the restaurateurs. And thanks!

[Update: my update on this topic at here.]

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]

Jim Drake recently contributed these wonderful photos and family histories of the Bower (Weber) family.

Eda Weber Bower and her spouse, Henry G. Bower owned and operated the Bower & Company General Store at 2643 North High St. The photo to the left shows the store’s delivery wagon and, at the right of the image, a section of the Bower family home at 26 East Duncan Street.

This photo is the 1901 wedding portrait of Eda Weber (1869-1951), of the historic Frederick Weber family, and Henry Bower (1856-1935). They were married on January 1, 1901.

This photo was taken of the Bowers in 1934. In addition to his civic activities, Henry Bower was a founder and principal stockholder in the Northern Savings Bank (which eventually became part of the Huntington Bank system).

John J. Bower, one of Henry Bower’s brothers, was initially a partner in the general store, but eventually opened a hardware store on the southeast corner of Duncan and High streets. The Bower brothers are shown in this photo (left to right): Ernest E. Bower, Henry G. Bower, Owen Bower (son of Ernest E.), John J. Bower, his son Everett Bower, and Charles Bower.

Although Henry Bower had hoped to have at least one son to inherit the general store, he fathered five daughters instead. After his first daughter, Anna, was born, he pre-selected a male name for each successive child, but in every instance he had to opt for a female form of the name.

Consequently, “Albert Bower” became “Alice Bower,” “George” became “Georgia” Bower, “Henry” became “Henrietta,” and “Wilbur” became “Wilda” Bower. In this 1960 snapshot, the five daughters are arranged in their birth order from left to right: Anna Bower Mylander, Alice Bower Jesson, Georgia Bower O’Brien, Henrietta Bower Kuntz, and Wilda Bower Drake.

Of the five Bower daughters, Alice (Mrs. Frederick) Jesson had a long and successful career as Director of Restaurants and Cafeterias of the F. & R. Lazarus Company.

(Photos and write-up courtesy of Jim Drake) Note: there is one more image of the Bowers’ cart here.

I enjoy the attached article by Don Hollenback originally published in a 1997 Booster. It enumerates some of the residents who made their mark on the community–Doc Rymer, Bill Taylor, Cookie Stevens, Ted Barclay and many others who formed Clintonville Boy Association, Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, and more.

In my book, I have a wonderful photo of the inside of Stop 18, an interurban stop containing a mom-and-pop grocery store. Located at approximately 5534 North High Street, it reopened in 1934 as the Stop 18 Inn, owned by Jacque Criticos. The tavern continued to operate until it was sold to Hudson Oil in 1968.

According to the Dispatch‘s Johnny Jones, canoeists from the Olentangy Canoe Club (presumably the one located in Olentangy Park) used to row their canoes from their clubhouse up the river to Stop 18. That location on the river also served as a popular skinny-dipping location.

Three fun articles are attached:

An announcement of its opening, in the Columbus Star June 10 1934, p.28
An article about its closing in the Columbus Dispatch January 28, 1968, p.21a
An article about its naming and history in the Columbus Dispatch, January 29, 1968 p.3b

From Unforgettable Columbus, volume 2: “Although Herb Bash is not considered a pro, he did give lessons and was considered a pretty fair golfer. [Early on, he leased Indian Springs Golf Course.] In 1948 he opened a unique golfing complex on W. Dodridge St. between Olentangy River and the Olentangy River Rd. These 60 acres consisted of an 18-hole golf course and a large driving range. He sold the land in 1962 to Chemical Abstracts and moved his entire operation to just beyond Rte 161 on Dublin Road…The driving range on Dodridge was a place where many a Columbus duffer sharpened his game. Bash died in 1979 at the age of 86.”

According to Bill Case’s web site, “former South High coach Herb Bash … made his living in the golf industry. Herb and his wife owned the Berwick Golf Course, a public facility located on the city’s southeast side. Herb helped grow the game at Berwick by conducting numerous golf clinics for the city’s youths. Shortly after joining The Elks’ in 1928, Bash, in partnership with Bugs Raymond, opened another golf course- Indian Springs, opposite Henderson Road on the east side of High Street. Herb later added the “Bash Driving Range” in Dublin to his collection of entrepreneurial golf activities. Like many of his compatriots at Elks’-Wyandot, Herb Bash could golf his ball. Prior to joining The Elks’, he won Dublin Road’s club championship. Herb was also a mainstay of the 1932 Wyandot golf team which won the inter-club championship.” [Image courtesy of Bill Case.]

This is an ad that just happens to show the signage of the old Beechwold Theatre at 4250 N. High (aka Camelot North and Drexel North, and currently an athletic club).

The theatre was built by the F & Y Building Service (aka F & Y Construction Company). Mark Fontana informs me that the “Y” in this name is Yassenoff, and the first manager of the Beechwold Theatre was Milton Yassenoff, adopted son of Leo Yassenoff.

If anyone out there is aware of the whereabouts of blueprints, construction photos and high-res b/w photos of the finished theater, please let us know! The ad was shared with me by Mark Fontana, former manager of the Drexel North (aka Camelot North and Beechwold Theater) Mark is a collector. In another place on this web site I link to his web site.

John Krygier found a few maps that he was kind enough to share with us: 3 Sanborn maps of the sewer pipe factory (and later, brick yard) formerly occupying the area where old North High currently sits at 100 Arcadia. Interestingly, the ravine behind the factory was apparently dammed, making a significant (and the only?) pond in Clintonville (not sure if the one in Whetstone counts). John requests that if anyone knows of any other sources documenting this pond, to let him know. You can do that by commenting on this post and I will send it along to John.

John also found a map showing the rail grade that connected the sewer pipe factory to the main RR line to the east. The interurban (Columbus, Marion and Delaware) used part of that spur (north of Glen Echo Park) as a bypass.
This Worthington Bypass went from Indianola Ave, east along the top of Glen Echo, then north up what is now the alley along the RR track, then curved west at North Broadway over to and running parallel along Indianola. This curve is preserved in some of the lots around Oakland Park–in particular, the odd orientation of the IndiaOak Tavern is the result of it being built on a curved parcel, part of the old RR right of way. A map of current parcels (with the approximate route of the RR grade) is also attached.

There are 7 photos of this Worthington bypass around the time it was built, showing the eastern end of C-ville at the time, at this web site.

Thanks, John!

(Photos courtesy of John Krygier)