A nice homage to a veteran. I do not know who Bob is, but he certainly did his part. Thanks, Bob–and thanks to all the other vets out there.

[Image is from The Booster, and courtesy of the Hollenback Collection at the Clintonville Historical Society.]

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

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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.

Joyce Ailes Schatz shared some wonderful Maiden of the Roses treasures with us. The photos were taken by her dad, Howard Ailes, on May 30, 1954, and they are of that year’s Maiden of the Roses pageant. The winner that year was Nancy Blanchard (later, Mrs. Clyde Graham). Nancy is Joyce’s cousin.

Nancy attended Mifflin High School, which in 1954 was a county school and located on Sunbury Road near Agler Road. Nancy was born April 23, 1938 in Columbus, and died May 10, 2018. [Images courtesy of Joyce Schatz]

You can read more about this pageant here.

In these images, Queen Nancy is joined by her court, Ruthann Limotta, Carol Newhouse, Dorothy Corfee, Charlene McNair, & Louise Winzenreid (in unknown order). The court’s other member was Barbara Harder, but she does not appear in the picture. Does anyone know who the man is?

In the next two images of the queen and her court, we are not sure who the two extra women are.

Nancy and her mother, Mrs. Bernice (Ailes) Blanchard. Bernice was the photographer’s sister.

In the next three images: Mayor of Columbus Jack Sensenbrenner, Mrs Jane Lausche (wife of Ohio Governor Frank Lausche), and Ray McNamara (Ohio Director of the American Rose Society)

Nancy Blanchard and her court, and Ray McNamara, Ohio Director of the American Rose Society.

And a few more from Joyce’s treasure trove of pictures.

Another beautiful house on East North Broadway is on the market: 250 East North Broadway. Here, courtesy of realtor Judy Minister, is a video tour of the house.

According to Mary Rodgers, the house was built in 1927 at an original cost of $8,320.  The first owner of the home was Vera Hults Benoy.  Her husband Wilbur was an attorney. He graduated from Ohio State University and was admitted to the bar in 1910.  He served as City Attorney, County Prosecutor, and as Special Assistant to the Ohio Supreme Court.  He had some fairly large legal cases, including the 1926 prosecution of the Mayor of Grove City for race track betting.   Later, he maintained an office in the AUI building (now the LeVeque Tower).

Wilbur was raised in Licking Co.  His father owned a grocery in Croton.  Wilbur’s mother died in a car accident in Columbus in 1921.  Vera was born in Delaware, Ohio.    Prior to her marriage in 1912, Vera was a school teacher.

Wilbur and Vera had four children: Alice, Harlan, Ellen (aka Peggy) and Halden.  Their daughter Alice was a music teacher.

[Information and family photograph courtesy of Mary Rodgers, Clintonville Historical Society.]

This is not Clintonville! But it is close enough that folks in the Clintonville neighborhood would surely have frequented it.

George W. Smith, a well-known Columbus dancing instructor, built Smith’s Iuka Dance Gardens around 1903. Two seasons later, Smith and his wife opened Smith’s Skating Rink, a roller skating rink.

Both establishments were located at 2150 North Fourth Street in Columbus, Ohio, until they closed in 1971.

George Willard Smith is interred in Greenlawn Abbey, and here is an excerpt about George and his wife Adele Green Smith from the Abbey’s web site:

Abbey resident George Willard Smith was known as the “King of the Outdoor Amusements” in the early days of the 20th century. He certainly didn’t start out that way. He was born on Christmas day, in 1860, in Syracuse, New York. His parents, John and Fannie Smith, were hard working blue collar kind of people. The family would make their way to Columbus in 1872 and John would find a job as a salesman. (The directories of the time list him as a “peddler”.) A few years later around 1875, George would join in with his father to help with rent and bills and they both would be carriage trimmers by the late 1870’s. Carriage trimmers were responsible for upholstering the seats, floors and roofs of buggies, and the Columbus Buggy Company was a large manufacturer in the city, employing well over 1,000 people by 1880. Work was so efficient, that they finished a buggy every 8 minutes on average. John would pass away in early 1882 at the age of 50, and which must’ve struck a chord in 22 year old George, with him not wanting to die young laboring away like his father did. It’s clear that George had another plan in mind. In those days it was very common to learn dance instruction by reading a book, as private lessons were expensive. Society minded people were getting waltz lessons and trying to be more genteel. George never spoke of any dance schools he attended, so the likely explanation as to how he learned and then taught dancing lessons was he got one of these books as well. (“The Universal Dancing Master,” written by Lucien Carpenter, was popular book published in the same year of John Smith’s death.) Although he was listed as still being a carriage trimmer until 1893, George started a “Home Academy of Dance” in 1894, giving himself the title of professor and calling himself a dancing master.

It’s not known how long Smith was courting Adele Green, daughter of William J. Green, a local Columbus physician. It’s possible that Adele, born in Knox county in 1880, was a student of George’s and he took a shine to her. George was 40 in 1900, Adele was 20, and they both shared an interest in dancing. It could also be that her father was a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks, just like George was, and they were introduced to each other through that. Smith wasn’t an old man by any means, and even though it may look a little odd today, marrying a man many years older than her was a normal thing for a woman to do then. The age difference didn’t seem to matter to them much and they were married in 1902.

Smith actually had an article in the Columbus Dispatch claiming that he taught 26,000 people how to dance, and that he was going to officially retire from teaching his home dancing classes. He would still own them for several years, but would employ instructors. His big break was that he was able to lease some land from the Neil family in the area of Iuka Ravine where Northwood and 4th is today for a dance pavilion. A few years later, in 1905, there would also be a roller skating rink on the same property, which George named “Smith’s Iuka Park Gardens.” Roller skating competitions would be held in the rink, where the best skaters in the state would compete to see who could skate the fastest laps.1909 was the biggest year for such a competition.

George had enough money by this time to own and operate the B. F. Keith Theater on Gay Street, a vaudeville theater. His in laws lived in an apartment on the floors above the theater itself, and that’s also where Smith had his office…

As the teens waned and the 20’s came roaring, George and Adele would do less with the theater work and spend more time on their more profitable dance hall and skating rink ventures. Iuka Park Gardens became an institution for the community, even employing boys as young as 12 years old to help lace up the skate to the shoes of the patrons. Several people would meet their sweethearts for the first time at the rink, get their first kisses, and engagements there over the years. The Smith’s employees loved them and some would stay employed by them for decades. George’s brother in law Ivan would help run the business in 1938, and George would pass away in 1948. Adele would continue Iuka Park Gardens until her death in 1965, and it would remain open until Ivan had to close the business in 1971. The land was sold, the dance hall and rinks bulldozed, and the Iuka Park Commons apartments are there to this day. The Smiths had no children.

[Image courtesy of Galen Gonser}

Two more terrific pictures taken in the old old days of 242 East North Broadway‘s history.

This house was known as the Winfield Scott house, after the owner in the early part of the 1900s. The people in the first photo are Winfield Scott (1848-1934) and his wife Francis Anna Whipple. This homeowner bears no relation to the Civil War general. He is also not the son or brother or nephew of a former OSU President.

There were various Winfield Scotts living at the same time and in the same areas, and it makes for some confusion. There is a Winfield Scott (1846-1916) who was the brother to William Henry Scott, the OSU president; William Henry lived on North High Street a scant block from 242 East North Broadway. (This is confirmed with matching parents’ names, Alexander and Susan Scott, appearing on both of their death certificates, viewed on Familysearch.org.) This Winfield brother was married to someone named Josephine.

The Winfield Scott living at 242 E. N. Broadway was the son of Lancelot and Jane Scott, and he was married to Francis Anna Whipple. He also had a son named Winfield Kenath Scott (spelling based on his death certificate) who lived from 1876-1915. Winfield and Francis had a daughter named Florence May Scott who married Clarence B. Hoover; their daughter was Elizabeth Hoover and Elizabeth lived in the Rosemary Parkway neighborhood of Clintonville. In 1991 she sent a letter to the homeowners of 242 E. N. Broadway and you can find that letter here.

There is a mention on OhioMemory.org, that the Winfield Scott who lived at 242 E N Broadway was the son of the OSU president William Henry Scott. But that is not the case. This Winfield was of the same generation as William Henry Scott and Winfield Scott, so they may have been cousins.

By the way, both of these Scott lines lived in Athens County in the 19th Century, so that adds to the evidence that they may have been related (and also adds to the confusion!

[Thanks to Nick at the Columbus Metropolitan Library Local History and Genealogy Desk for this genealogy information. The photographs came from Elizabeth Hoover and are shared courtesy of Gary Means and Jane Hoffelt.]

Amanda Page wrote a very nice article about Frank Packard, architect of the former North High School. The article is in Ravinia Spring/Summer 2014, pp 1,3.

I just learned that Leeann Faust passed away. What a loss.

If I could describe Leeann in just one phrase, that phrase would be “all in”. When Leeann was enthusiastic about a person or cause, she was all in–whether it was an actress (Leeann was a long-standing president of the Carol Lawrence Fan Club) or the North High School Polar Bears (she was the historian/editor of the Alumni Association), or the history and legacy of her family (she was a descendant of Mathias Armbruster). Leeann was extremely generous with her time and her knowledge and her collection of articles, newspapers, & memorabilia. She was indefatigable in contributing to the community around her; she kept her friends close; and she was routinely cheerful.

Leeann, you will be missed.

Leeann’s obituaray can be found here.

J. Harvey Zinn, owner of the Zinn lumber yard, lived in Clintonville and was a civic leader and philanthropist. 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 at 285 Kenworth on the Olentangy River just north of West North Broadway. This estate still exists in Clintonville.

J. Zinn died in 1957. Attached are some obituaries from The Columbus Dispatch and elsewhere.

The Zinns were very active in the North M. E. Church. Though the church is not, technically, in Clintonville, I’ve also posted some information about the church.

[Photos and clippings courtesy of John Clark]

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.