Whetstone Library Turns 40
Preston Harmon had a very nice article about the Whetstone Library, in the July 2025 issue of the Clintonville Spotlight. Click here or on the photo above to read the article.
Our library is an exceptional community resource. Don’t forget to donate to it! Happy birthday, library!
[Photo and article courtesy of the Clintonville Spotlight.]Moseying with Rick Pfeiffer through Clintonville
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
The First Clintonville Library
In my book, I wrote that the first Clintonville Library was at 3317 North High Street, near the corner of Longview and North High Street. What an intriguing fact! The Columbus Metropolitan Library Biography, History, and Travel Desk had brought this to my attention, and even sent me copies of minutes from old Board meetings where this was discussed. I’ve scanned them and you can read them here:
February 11, 1929 minutes
May 24, 1929 minutes
Tax Assessment List for 14 W. Lakeview, where the “new” library was built.
I’ve subsequently found an article in The Booster that told the same library story.
Indian Springs Golf Course Trophy
As the author of a book on the History of Clintonville, I often get fun calls from people who own a tiny bit of Clintonville history and want a bit more. This morning was one of those days. Ian Crowe called me from Utah. He’d purchased a trophy at a local estate sale, and was wondering where the trophy was from and who won it.
The trophy was for an Indian Springs Golf Club, in 1931. Could it be Clintonville’s own Indian Springs Golf Club?
Apparently Ian had called quite a few golf clubs by the same name, until he found my web site.
I referred the question to Scott Caputo at the Columbus Metropolitan Library. His research can be found here. He learned that the golf course did exist in 1931–Indian Springs Golf Club was listed in the telephone directory as early as 1929, and had been issued a building permit for a new clubhouse in 1931. He learned that there was a Norman I. Blanchard living on 385 Wyandotte, just 3-1/2 miles from the course. According to census records, Norman would have been about 23 or 24 at the time of the tournament.
So, the trophy is extremely likely to have come from the Clintonville golf course.
When I exclaimed that the trophy was really a martini shaker, I was informed that this was a very common form of golf trophy back then.
Great job, Scott!
Library Activities
Reading has always been a popular Clintonville activity, in part because of its great library programs. The children above are planning the activities for the 1954 National Book Week. (Photo courtesy of the Clintonville Historical Society)
Clintonville Library 1969
In 1969, the Clintonville Branch Library moved to 2800 North High Street (from 14 West Lakeview), into quarters built by the Schottenstein Company. This photo shows Virginia Wiltshire, Marge Dersh, and Bob Armour on moving-in day. The library occupied the northwest end of the shopping center, which also had a Kroger and SupeRx drug store. In 1985, the Clintonville and Beechwold branches were merged to become the Whetstone branch library at 3909 North High. (Photo courtesy of the Clintonville Historical Society)
Whetstone Library
The Whetstone branch of the Columbus Public Library was originally planned to be between the Recreation Center and the Clintonville Women’s Club. The library would rent the land from the park for $1.00 a year. The plans to build the library were controversial at the time. I did not find records describing why they changed the location, and don’t know what the library pays today. The new library at 3909 North High Street was dedicated in 1985.
Clinton League
In the summer of 1912, a book agent promoted an 11-volume set of books entitled The Foundation for Young People. Buyers were entitled to a Certificate of Membership in the Child Welfare League of America. Twenty-five local women pledged, and 11 of them came to the first local meeting. In the early days they met in the guild room of Saint James Episcopal Church. They held readings and had discussions on predetermined topics. They supported Columbus’ Baby Camp; they held Minstrel shows to benefit the Belgian Relief Fund; they sponsored a hot lunch program in the local schools. Clintonville was outside the city limits in these early days and had no city library service, and so club members established a branch of the state library within Clinton School from 1914-1915, and when that was deemed impractical, they had a lending library at Cummings Drugstore located at Clinton Heights Avenue and North High Street—another idea that proved to be impractical. Eventually a Columbus Public Library 
branch was put into Clintonville, and when the local group became aware of the local library’s need for books, they held a “book shower” to bring in book donations. They engaged in war relief work in 1917. They advocated getting rid of some dirty carriage sheds at the Clinton school. In 1915 they were also able to convert two vacant lots owned by J. E. Pierson on Dunedin near Beach Hill Avenue (now Calumet Street) for use as community tennis courts. The club contributed to the community through World War I, the flu epidemic of 1918, the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Over the years their name changed from Clinton Child Welfare League to the Clinton Social Welfare League (1913) to the Clinton Welfare League (1915) to the Clinton League (1925). The group disbanded around 1977. Their papers can be read on microfilm at the Ohio Historical Society.
From 1945 to 1953, they donated books to the Clintonville Library. In this photograph, Mrs. Miller presents books to the children at the Clintonville Library, on behalf of the Clinton League. (Photo courtesy of the Clintonville Historical Society)
