Members of the Columbus Rose Club & The Central Ohio Rose Society had long dreamed about a municipal rose garden for Columbus. Late in 1951 a committee was formed, consisting of members from both rose clubs, meeting several times with Mayor James A. Rhodes. The result being on April 19, 1952 Columbus City Council passed an ordinance and issued bonds for the Park of Roses. At the same time the Mayor created an advisory council known as the Columbus Rose Commission, administered by the Columbus Recreation & Parks Department, whose duties were to plan and execute a rose garden to be located in Whetstone Park. George B. Tobey, landscape architect, joined the efforts for park design and development. (Photo courtesy of the Clintonville Historical Society)

Construction began June 1952. Minimal grading was necessary as the gentle slope of the meadow was ideal for drainage and air circulation. The entire area of 13 acres had sandy loam topsoil to a depth of 11-15 inches, which was indeed fortunate. All beds were excavated to a depth of 24 inches. The existing soil was removed and mixed with imported peat moss and commercial fertilizer. The materials were mixed four times before returning to the beds. The beds were allowed to settle before any planting was begun. (Photo courtesy of Terry Miller)

There were at least 3 bowling alleys in Clintonville: Olentangy Bowling Center (shown here), where Giant Eagle is today; at Graceland (northwest end), and also on the east side of High Street between Oakland Park and Dunedin. Hanging out at bowling alleys was a big deal for many teenagers—whether you bowled or not was immaterial. (Photo courtesy of Galen Gonser)

Clintonville’s Fourth of July celebration goes back at least as far as the 1930s, when The Booster and local business association sponsored an annual summer or fall community picnic at Olentangy Amusement Park. (The annual get-together may well be older yet.) Much like today, the early events had pet parades, bike parades, and fireworks. After the amusement park closed, the annual event was held at the Columbus Zoo. And then, when Whetstone Park was dedicated in the early 1950s, the community picnic was moved there and “annualized” to be held on the Fourth of July. The annual community breakfast, originally held for the volunteer workers of the Fourth of July picnic, quickly became another holiday tradition.

In 1954 Nancy Blanchard, a 16-year-old student at Mifflin High School, became the first winner of Maiden of the Roses competition. The pageant, a yearly event held each June at the Park of Roses and sponsored by North Columbus Civitan, was held from 1954 until 1974. Thanks to Nancy and her cousin Joyce Schatz, we have Nancy’s clippings file from that era, and that newspaper articles are linked to the thumbnail images below as PDFs. [Clippings courtesy of Joyce Schatz.]

Here are more pictures showing a few of Kiwanis’ contributions to Clintonville–

World War II memorial to fallen soldiers at Union Cemetery;softball team sponsorship; scholarship program; Easter egg hunt at Whetstone.

I’m enthralled by pictures of the Maiden of the Roses pageant, held at the Park of Roses each Father’s Day from about 1954 until 1974. The pageants were sponsored by North Columbus Civitan. They evoke an era which is now gone. The celebration included floats, a dance, and the beauty competition, with the award given to the Franklin County girl who “made the greatest contribution to the community and who has worked most in her school.” The 1964 Maiden was Lynn Wilson, from Upper Arlington High School. (Photo courtesy of Glenn Williams)

From 1954 or 1955 until 1974, North Columbus Civitan (along with Columbus Parks & Recreation) sponsored a Maiden of Roses Festival at the Rose Garden. While rummaging through Civitan’s archive for the festival, I came across a written composition of music, clearly intended to be played at the festival and perhaps at the award event. I don’t know who composed it (does the sheet say, “Al Waslon”?). My musician friend and technical advisor Mark Bendig played and recorded the tune for me and now you, too, can listen to it. Click the play button below to stop/play the music. (Access to Civitan’s archive courtesy of Glenn Williams, music courtesy of Mark Bendig.)

The Columbus Marathon began in 1980 and participants ran through Clintonville during its first three years. Runners ran north on Kenny to Henderson, over to the bicycle path then south to Piedmont, east on Piedmont to Calumet, then south toward campus. This picture shows Robert Koch at mile 21 near Arcadia Avenue and Calumet Street. (Photo courtesy of Robert Koch Family)

I wonder how long school children have been parading in their costumes on Halloween day. Certainly they were doing so early on at Glenmont Elementary School. In the early days, neighbors probably turned out to watch the parade; nowadays they are more likely to watch from inside their houses. (Photo courtesy of Indian Springs Elementary School)

The Whetstone Prairie was a joint project between the Columbus Recreation and Parks and Columbus Wild Ones, a non-profit community organization that promotes biodiversity and environmentally sound landscaping practices by using native plants to landscape city and suburban yards. They turned about 5 acres of lowland along the river just to the south of Adena Brook into a prairie using flora native to Franklin County. The Columbus Chapter began planning for the Whetstone Prairie in January, 2003. Seeding and planting was done in 2004. In 2005 the prairie bloomed with the spectacular results shown in this photo. In Summer, 2007, Wild Ones turned over the prairie to the management of the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department in a ceremony at the site of the prairie in Whetstone Park. My favorite time in the prairie is in the early morning during summer, when the sun is shining horizontally through the plants.  (Photo by Craig Preston, and displayed courtesy of Marilyn Logue. )