Fallis Road in the Dominion Park Addition, in 1913, showing office, sidewalks and forms set ready for curb and gutter. –from Dominion Land Company Columbus Home News July 1913, Volume 1 Number 4.

This wonderful arts and crafts-styled home on West Beechwold Boulevard was the gatekeeper’s house for the Columbus Zoo, originally located where Old Beechwold is today. It was renovated in the 1990s in the Arts and Crafts style and still has the original cistern.

Joseph A. Jeffrey, a Columbus manufacturer, built this house around 1906 as a summer home. The land had previously been a zoo. Jeffrey’s wife called their estate Beechwalde, meaning “beech forest.” Jeffrey sold his property in 1914 to Charles H. Johnson, a Columbus land developer, who changed the name to Beechwold (because it was easier to spell) and sold plots for $1200. (Photo courtesy of the Columbus Metropolitan Libraries)

The old barn, an outbuilding of the Columbus Zoo, and eventually the Jeffrey summer home in Beechwalde, still stands and was remodeled, on the request of the homeowners, by students at the Interior Design Institute in 1983 for use as a guest house. (Photo courtesy of Terry Miller)

The photos you are seeing here are lovely images of the Beechwold area (west side of High Street) before, or as, the land was being developed into the housing subdivision we know today as “Old Beechwold.” Some of these photos were later used in a promotional brochure–a lovely brochure called “Beechwold the Beautiful,” with a dark green heavy paper cover tied with dark green string with engravings by the Bucher Engraving Co., illustrations and text by Stacy G. Taylor, and printed by the Stoneman Press Company. This same brochure has recently been reprinted by the TWIG organization for use as a fundraiser.

Why the spelling change? Previous owners Joseph Jeffrey had named his country estate “Beechwalde,” and it was changed to “Beechwold” for marketing purposes (=easier to spell) when the land was subdivided and sold for housing units by Charles Johnson.

These photographs were given to me by the granddaughter of Frank Sweigart; Frank worked for Charles F. Johnson for eight years. I am mounting the Beechwold photos in several postings to facilitate some comparisons.

(Images courtesy of Karen Sweigart Longava)

Compare these two images–a photo (albeit reversed) from the collection of Karen Longava Sweigart (granddaughter of Frank Sweigart), and a watercolor print from the promotional brochure from the early days of Old Beechwold. Did the photo inspire the watercolor? (Images courtesy of Karen Sweigart Longava)

Compare these two images of this wooden structure located somewhere on Beechwold property as the property was being subdivided into a housing development. You can click on the thumbnails to see them in a larger format.


The first photograph shows tire tracks driving right up to the opening between the two sections of the structure. In that photo there are window panes in the windows, and the structure is surrounded by brush and foliage.


In the second photo, the windows and the foliage are gone. A different photo of the structure during this era is found in my book, Clintonville and Beechwold.


I have been unable to find anyone who remembers the structure first-hand. (The first photo is courtesy of Karen Sweigart Longava; the second photo courtesy of Amy Westervelt.)

Compare this watercolor from the promotional brochure for Beechwold, Beechwold the Beautiful, to the image found in my book, Clintonville and Beechwold, on page 26. (Image courtesy of Karen Sweigart Longava.)

“The Dominion Land Company has purchased the Whipp and Ingham farm containing 90 acres of land, Stop 15 C.D. & M. on North High Street. The ground was purchased by the company to supply numerous customers with large lots where the soil is rich. It is to be platted into extremely large lots and will be sold on easy terms so as to enable a great number of people to follow their regular work in the City and at the same time, have lands where they can have a nice garden and keep a few chickens and thus help the problem of the high cost of living…The name of this sub-division will be Highland Gardens.” –from The Dominion Land Company Columbus Home News, May 1913, Volume 1 Number 2.

(This photo is Louise Corp on Tulane Road, but I’m sure the chickens of Highland Gardens looked much the same.  Photo courtesy of the Clintonville Historical Society.)

“The natural beauty of these lands would inspire even one not familiar with the business of platting of allotments. The elevation of this tract is nearly 920 feet above sea level. The middle section of these lands slope both east and west and to the south, thus giving the sunny side of the hill in winter and the shady side in Summer. The view from the top of the hill is the most magnificent and inspiring sight in or around Columbus. The rolling valley of the Olentangy River, dotted with beautiful forest trees, bungalows and other types of homes, show a real masterpiece of Nature’s Handiwork. Back of the beautiful valley the rising hills continue for miles and miles. The view in any direction from this beautiful location is almost without bounds…This new tract will be known as the Dominion Park Addition.” –from The Dominion Land Company Columbus Home News, May 1913, Volume 1 Number 2.

Caption: Dr. D.G. Sanor residence at the entrance to the Indian Springs Addition