David Penniman, a resident of the Rosemary neighborhood, sleuthed out a copy of a document penned in 1984-88 by Richard C Knopf and Miriam F Near. The document, entitled Reminiscences: Not Memoirs, is a free-wheeling remembrance of growing up in the neighborhood around Henderson and Rosemary Parkway in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Dave’s copy came from Ann and Keith Bossard of Dominion Blvd; Dave then digitized the 97 page book and shared it with us. Thanks, Dave!

Both Richard and Miriam are deceased; their obituaries are linked below.
Richard C Knopf, 1/4/1925 – 7/17/2002
Miriam Fowle Near, 6/28/1924 – 12/10/2009

I’m so appreciative of people who preserve local history, as Richard and Miriam, and Dave, have done.

[Digital version of the Knopf and Near typescript courtesy of David Penniman. Knopf obituary came courtesy of the Ashtabula Public Library System based on a search and tip from Nick Taggart, retired librarian par excellence at the Columbus Metropolitan Library.]

Mary Rodgers has written a very nice article about the Clintonville Woman’s Club.

The Clintonville Woman’s Club: The Women Before the Clubhouse
by Mary Rodgers

I was recently asked to speak at an evening meeting of the Clintonville Woman’s Club. Specifically, I was asked to speak on the subject of the history of the land that the Clubhouse occupies. I have always understood that the Clubhouse was located on land from the old Fuller Farm. I was surprised to learn more about the “Fuller” family.

In the 1820s, John Rathbone sold farm lot 5 to Edward Amaziah Stanley. Using today’s landmarks, that land would have been bounded on the east by Indianola Avenue, on the west by the river, on the south by roughly Torrence Road and on the north by roughly Overbrook Drive. When Mr. Stanley died in 1862, his land holdings were passed down to his children. Harriet Marie Stanley (aka Hattie) was one of those children. She was born in Connecticut in 1831. Based on the extensive land holdings throughout Ohio, I believe her father Edward was an Ohio land speculator. After acquiring several thousand acres, in 1829, he returned to Connecticut to marry Abagail Talcott Hooker. Sometime between 1831 and 1834, the family moved to the Clintonville area.

In 1856, Hattie married Erskine Asa Fuller, aka E. A. Fuller. E. A. was known as a dealer in stock animals. When her father passed away, Hattie inherited all of farm lot 5 in Clinton Township Ohio. The 1870 census shows a large extended family living together in Clintonville–the Fullers and their daughters, Hattie’s mother, brother, sister, and several farm hands and servants. The combined household value per that census was in excess of $25,000. Hattie passed away in 1879. E.A. passed away in 1894. After their deaths, the farm was transferred equally to the four Fuller daughters–Abby, Mary, Katherine and Martha.

Martha Fuller and her sister Katherine Fuller Peters lived all of their lives in Clintonville. They owned two brick homes along High Street–Katherine’s just south of where the Library sits today and Martha’s where the Christian Science church sits today. Martha Fuller passed away in 1938. She left half of her land holdings to long time farm hand Matthew McCallen and half to her niece (sister Mary’s daughter) Helen Osborn.

Eventually, all the land was sold off, some to the Christian Science Church, some to the Calvary Bible Church, and the balance to the City of Columbus.

The Clintonville Woman’s Club land was purchased by the Kiwanis Club of Northern Columbus. That Club loaned the ladies the funds needed to build the Clubhouse. In turn, they held a mortgage on the property. The Woman’s Club members worked tirelessly and retire their debt to the Kiwanis within five short years! They have owned the Club house and property ever since.

[Courtesy of Mary Rodgers]

From 1956 until 1975, the United Presbyterian Synod owned the building at 3040 North High Street, at the corner of Weber and North High Street. The building later served as the Capital Care Center, an adult health services clinic that provided, among many other health services, abortions, and as a consequence the building became known for the demonstrations held weekly at that corner for almost 20 years. The building has since been torn down, but this is a picture of the empty lot in 2007.

And here is a Google Earth image of the old building’s rooftop in 2004.

The North M.E. Church, located at East Ave and Tompkins, has a long history, which–thanks to John Clark, a descendant of the Zinn family–can be found here.

The church was located very close to the Zinn Lumber Yard (and the Zinn family residence), and the church was damaged in that business’ November 1925 fire. Then the church had its own fire in March 1928, which necessitated a complete rebuilding of the church. Scott Caputo at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, was kind to send us this article about the fire.

The church was slowly but surely rebuilt and enlarged and improved. J. H. Zinn paid to have a children’s wing built, dedicated in memory to his two boys (who died in their youth) in April, 1953. The sons in whose memory the wing was built were Clyde Webster Zinn (22 Oct 1895 – 07 Apr 1912) and Walter Curry Zinn (12 Jun 1898 – 30 Jan 1903). What you see here photo of Clyde Webster Zinn (with his sister Lillian Mae Zinn). The family does not have a photo that they are confident of, for Walter. Here is an article about that philanthropic contribution. [Photo courtesy of John Clark]

Around October 1956, North M. E. Church held a celebration of their “oldest members,” by which they meant those members who had belonged to the church at least 50 years. J. H. Zinn and his wife were among them. (See photo to the right.) You can read more about that event here and see some of the other members in the photos below. [Photos and news clippings courtesy of John Clark]

There’s more information about the Zinn family and the Zinn Lumber Yard elsewhere on this 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

Debbie Shaw, retired CML librarian, recently provided some local resources about the Underground Railrooad in Clintonville and surrounding area. Thanks for agreeing to share this information, Debbie!

Here’s Debbie’s summary:

This link has a short video as well as text below it from WOSU’s Columbus Neighborhood series on Clintonville; both discuss the Underground Railroad.

and this video from the same series on Downtown/Franklinton shows another area involved in the Underground Railroad here in Columbus.

This link is from the Clintonville History site by Shirley Hyatt. The October 2008 issue discusses Thomas Bull and his family and includes a brief section about the Underground Railroad. [Shirley adds: see my book Clintonville and Beechwold here (to buy it) or here (to borrow it) for a smidgen more information.]

Article from the OSU Lantern Feb. 7, 1999.

Historic Marker on OSU Campus.

Another historical marker.

Excerpt from the book The Underground Railroad: An Encyclopedia of People, Places and Operations by Mary Ellen Snodgrass.

For a broader look at the Underground Railroad in Ohio, you can read the full text draft of The Mysteries of Ohio’s Underground Railroad by Wilbur H. Siebert here.

And of course, the Columbus Metropolitan Library has a lot of this history. Right now during Main Library’s renovation, Local History & Genealogy services are available at a temporary location in the former Whitehall Branch at 4371 E. Broad Street. CML’s web site says to call (614) 645-2275 to learn more. You can still get to a lot online at the here.

Debbie also notes, “This material was easily Googled. As a former librarian, I know that there is a lot of info that is not online. By the way, if you do an advanced book search on books.google.com and limit to full text only and content = books, there are quite a few. I put underground railroad in the ‘with the exact phrase’ field and Ohio underground railroad in the ‘with all of the words’ field. Laws, history, etc. come up, including Ohio Before 1850 and Ohio History Sketches. Of course, some of it is a very brief part of the book. If you add Ohio into the search’s ‘subject’ field, this narrows it a lot.”

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.

More fabulous pix from Leeann Faust of her ancestors’ home at 3100 North High Street. This was originally the site of Clinton Chapel, subsequently modified to make a residence for Mathias Armbruster; the building is now a funeral home. These photos show the old graveyard which was behind the house, as well as the lion with Olentangy Park in the distance. The graves were eventually moved, predominately to Union Cemetery. (Photos courtesy of Leeann Faust)

For additional photos, search “3100 North High” or “Armbruster” on this web site.

A lovely contemporary picture of North Broadway Methodist Church, by Marty Cottrill. Marty has recently published a book entitled The Beers, Brown, and Grove families of North Columbus, Ohio, available at the Columbus Metropolitan Libraries. (Photo courtesy of Marty Cottrill)

Alonson Bull and his brother Jason were abolitionists, Jason serving as a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad from Clinton Chapel at 3100 North High Street. Jason’s photograph is in the Wilbur H. Siebert Collection at the Ohio Historical Society.

Edward L. Sebring (1839?-1905) worked with Jason Bull to aid fugitive slaves escaping to freedom in Canada from Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, to the next safe station. His photograph is in the Wilbur H. Siebert Collection of the Ohio Historical Society.