The Columbus Canoe Club–which had been turned into a residence back in 1959–is currently on the market, and you can see the inside of this residence here. It has only had 4 owners since it was built, and long-time owner Donna Hickey had given me a tour of the house back in 2009. So sorry to learn that Donna passed away in 2021.

A bit more info here

(I doubt this link to the realtor post will be up long.)

I have no World War I photos of soldiers in Clintonville. But in honor of Armistice Day aka Veterans Day, I am posting this photo of WW I soldiers, being addressed by Norman Barnes Thorp. This might be in front of 180 East Northwood, though I have been unable to confirm that location.

Margaret Nelson, a long time Clintonville resident who has shared many other family pix with us, shared the World War I photo with us. 180 East Northwood was built by Margaret’s grandparents, Johanna Gertrude (Edmondson) (1880-1967) and Norman Barnes Thorp (1867-1934) around 1909, and the house was subsequently owned by the Thorp’s daughter, Norma Thorp Van Ness.

Norman B. Thorp was active in the Northwood Flower and Garden Club, which in turn was active in various ways in the war effort. Of its 60 members, 9 men were in military service and 1 woman was an active nurse.

[Photos courtesy of Margaret Nelson.]

The Clintonville Community Band is one of the Clintonville’s hidden gems. Their concerts are typically free for community events, and they charge a nominal fee for other concerts. Here’s some of its history.

Glenn Williams and Greg Weber convened an organizational meeting for the band on February 27, 1986. Glenn Williams, Greg Weber, Rick Burkhart, and Les Susi, Bob Robuck, and Tom Davenport attended, and so you could credit them with being founders. At the time, the plan was to recruit musicians from any of the local high schools, and to refuse no one.

The first rehearsal was held April 15, 1986 at Whetstone High School. North Columbus Civitan funded the band’s first year. The Band had a concert that summer, as well as a Christmas concert.

On August 31, 1996, they renamed themselves The Clintonville Community Band (from the North Columbus Community Band). By then they’d decided to play at as many local events as possible, including the “Clintonville-on-High” festival, CURB Recycling Saturday, a Christmas concert, and a children’s concert; the goal was to put themselves on a firm financial footing through good community exposure and an increase in donations. At the time they had about 40 active members.

In 2004, they celebrated their 20th year by commissioning a piece by Barry Kopetz. Would you like to hear that song? Click here.

Now, if you’ve read this far, you know they depend on donations. Just do it!

[All the material here is courtesy of the Clintonville Community Band and based on a talk that Glenn Williams, Stuart Smith, and Rick Burkhart gave at the Clintonville Historical Soceity.]

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]

At a recent CHS meeting, Glenn Williams and Stuart Smith shared a song commissioned by the Clintonville Community Band for its 20th anniversary. Snapshots of Clintonville premiered on Oct 1, 2005. It is 11-minute 47-second duration.

Snapshots of Clintonville‘s composer was Barry E. Kopetz, who was Director of Bands and Professor of Conducting at Capital University at that time. Richard Burkart was the Clintonville Community Band’s director. The band has kept a great archive of its history; the program for this concert is here and the announcement of the commissioning of the piece is here.

The individual movements are
1) Main Theme
2) Gothic Gateway Entrance
3) Glen Echo Ravine
4) Bill Moose – Last Of The Wyandots
5) Dance
6) From The Banks Of The Olentangy
7) Underground Railroad
8) Columbus and Worthington Plank Road
9) Weisheimer House
10) McKendree Cemetery
11) Main Theme

The band has made a huge contribution to the community, by providing concerts year after year for more than 30 years. That doesn’t mean they don’t need your support and donations! I recommend going to their web site and donating today.

Are you still reading this? what are you waiting for? Donate!

This little gem was once the garden house at Edgewater, summer home of Harvey and Emma Legg Zinn. (Harvey was founder of the Zinn Lumber Company.) It dates to the 1920s. Zinn’s property at the west end of Kenworth was eventually subdivided and several years ago an additional new house was built on the property.

During construction of the new house, the builder, Kevin Clausen, used the garden house as an office for the building project (shown here in 2014).

Upon the house’s completion, the new homeowners, Gary and Kathy Flynn, donated this lovely shed to Clintonville Resource Center (CRC) instead of demolishing it. Thanks to the Clintonville Historical Society, the American Public Gardens Association, builder Kevin Clausen and some hearty volunteers, it was moved to its new home at the CRC Midgard Community Garden (aka Midgarden). The foundation work was completed in 2017 with the help of Tim Beachy and Anderson Concrete.

This building enables CRC staff and volunteers to collect rainwater for irrigation, start new plant seedlings on site, retrieve seeds for new plantings and provide a space for educational and informational gatherings. And of course, it adds a shedful of pretty to the landscape.

The Clintonville Historical Society October 2017 monthly newsletter contained an interesting article about the land at the Clintonville Women’s Club by Mary Rodgers.

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

I was 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. has 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 was just south of where the Library sits today and Martha’s was 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, and some to the Calvary Bible Church and the balance to the City of Columbus. The lane where the Clintonville Woman’s Club land is located 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.

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

In November, 1977, the Klu Klux Klan held a rally in Columbus, and met at at the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge, which stood on High Street across from Graceland Shopping Center. I’m glad for freedom of speech, sad and mad for what that speech consists of.

At a presentation I gave on the History of Clintonville, someone handed my husband this news item about the opening of the Defense Center in a former filling station at 4070 North High Street at the corner of Glenmont and North High Street in 1942.

The Clintonville Community Council, a group of members representing every organization in Clintonville, sponsored the center. It was to be a center for air raid services, a headquarters for Boy Scouts, a Red Cross distribution point, a center for salvage collection, a precinct station for auxiliary police and eventually a USO clubroom. It included a first aid corner, and a canteen offering coffee and cookies.

In this picture, Mrs. William McCoy, Marilyn Peters, and Joe Miller are getting the place ready.

There is another photo here.