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.”

Jim Drake recently contributed these wonderful photos and family histories of the Bower (Weber) family.

Eda Weber Bower and her spouse, Henry G. Bower owned and operated the Bower & Company General Store at 2643 North High St. The photo to the left shows the store’s delivery wagon and, at the right of the image, a section of the Bower family home at 26 East Duncan Street.

This photo is the 1901 wedding portrait of Eda Weber (1869-1951), of the historic Frederick Weber family, and Henry Bower (1856-1935). They were married on January 1, 1901.

This photo was taken of the Bowers in 1934. In addition to his civic activities, Henry Bower was a founder and principal stockholder in the Northern Savings Bank (which eventually became part of the Huntington Bank system).

John J. Bower, one of Henry Bower’s brothers, was initially a partner in the general store, but eventually opened a hardware store on the southeast corner of Duncan and High streets. The Bower brothers are shown in this photo (left to right): Ernest E. Bower, Henry G. Bower, Owen Bower (son of Ernest E.), John J. Bower, his son Everett Bower, and Charles Bower.

Although Henry Bower had hoped to have at least one son to inherit the general store, he fathered five daughters instead. After his first daughter, Anna, was born, he pre-selected a male name for each successive child, but in every instance he had to opt for a female form of the name.

Consequently, “Albert Bower” became “Alice Bower,” “George” became “Georgia” Bower, “Henry” became “Henrietta,” and “Wilbur” became “Wilda” Bower. In this 1960 snapshot, the five daughters are arranged in their birth order from left to right: Anna Bower Mylander, Alice Bower Jesson, Georgia Bower O’Brien, Henrietta Bower Kuntz, and Wilda Bower Drake.

Of the five Bower daughters, Alice (Mrs. Frederick) Jesson had a long and successful career as Director of Restaurants and Cafeterias of the F. & R. Lazarus Company.

(Photos and write-up courtesy of Jim Drake) Note: there is one more image of the Bowers’ cart here.

There is no doubt that my book Clintonville & Beechwold, and this ClintonvilleHistory.com web site, would not exist if it had not been for the support and encouragement of Algy McBride.

I first met Algy in 2007, when I thought I “might” write a history of Clintonville. He was the long-standing president of the Clintonville Historical Society at the time, and enthusiastic about getting the book written. We were strangers, but he opened his house and the wealth of his library and history collection to me. He was an indefatigable source of information about people I should call and stories I should look into.

Algy was intellectually rich and curious, and so active and involved…with the local genealogical society, with the local senior center, with civil war discussion groups, even with the annual Clintonville Fourth of July flag raising ceremony. It takes my breath away even now, thinking back on Algy, his support of his community, his support of me.

Algy’s obituary can be found here
and Southwick-Good’s video tribute can be found here

Algy, we’ll all miss you.

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.

From Unforgettable Columbus, volume 2: “Although Herb Bash is not considered a pro, he did give lessons and was considered a pretty fair golfer. [Early on, he leased Indian Springs Golf Course.] In 1948 he opened a unique golfing complex on W. Dodridge St. between Olentangy River and the Olentangy River Rd. These 60 acres consisted of an 18-hole golf course and a large driving range. He sold the land in 1962 to Chemical Abstracts and moved his entire operation to just beyond Rte 161 on Dublin Road…The driving range on Dodridge was a place where many a Columbus duffer sharpened his game. Bash died in 1979 at the age of 86.”

According to Bill Case’s web site, “former South High coach Herb Bash … made his living in the golf industry. Herb and his wife owned the Berwick Golf Course, a public facility located on the city’s southeast side. Herb helped grow the game at Berwick by conducting numerous golf clinics for the city’s youths. Shortly after joining The Elks’ in 1928, Bash, in partnership with Bugs Raymond, opened another golf course- Indian Springs, opposite Henderson Road on the east side of High Street. Herb later added the “Bash Driving Range” in Dublin to his collection of entrepreneurial golf activities. Like many of his compatriots at Elks’-Wyandot, Herb Bash could golf his ball. Prior to joining The Elks’, he won Dublin Road’s club championship. Herb was also a mainstay of the 1932 Wyandot golf team which won the inter-club championship.” [Image courtesy of Bill Case.]

I never tire of seeing old images of Clinton- ville. Collector Galen Gonser shared these 1920 images with us. Admittedly they are taken with a simple box camera, but still, what’s not to like? (Photos courtesy of Galen Gonser.)

The first image below is Chute the Chutes at Olentangy Park.

We don’t know who these gentlemen are.

These images are taken looking north from Dodridge Bridge up the Olentangy River toward Olentangy Park–the second of the pair is a close-up.

For additional photos, search “Olentangy Park” on this web site.

Clintonville resident Tom Thacker has been researching former Clintonville resident Nelson Evans, who lived at the end of East North Broadway near the railroad tracks between 1891 and 1910. The Evans family evenutally moved to Hollywood, and Mr. Evans became a notable photographer. Check out Tom’s blog detailing his search for Mr. Evans here.

I can’t help loving this photo! Bob Fowle, left; Bob Scott, second from left; and Richard Knopf, third from right, around a kettle of sap in the old Clintonville neighborhood. (Photo courtesy of William Dunning)

After reading the entry on this web site about 100 Walhalla, Sarah Ellis contacted me with some information about her own house, 92 Walhalla. She shared the following:

An interesting article from the OSU website, and
An article that appeared in the This Week newspaper in 2009 when 92 Walhalla was on the homes tour.

Thanks Sarah!

William R. Case has published a book about the Elks / Wyandot Golf Course. The book’s title is Golf in Columbus at Wyandot Country Club. As of this posting, The Book Loft in German Village (Columbus, OH) or Barnes and Noble at Easton Town Center have it in stock. If, like me, you are a prolific library user, you can also locate the book in a library near you here.

Bill has collected lots of great photos and researched this golf course (now the location of the Ohio State School for the Blind and the Ohio School for the Deaf) extensively. You will enjoy his book! [Images courtesy of Bill Case]