Do you have a parent or friend who lived or lives in Clintonville? Of course you do! My book Clintonville and Beechwold makes a great holiday gift or stocking stuffer. You can buy it from this web site, at Giant Eagle in Clintonville, at Walgreens on the corner of North High and Jeffrey and Morse Roads, or at most bookstores such as Barnes and Noble. If you buy it from this web site, I will be happy to inscribe it to the person you are giving it to. (Please note: If you are unable to place an order on this web site, just email me and PayPal me the appropriate amount of money.)

[Image, originally from The Booster, courtesy of the Hollenbach Collection of the Clintonville Historical Society]

Katie Knostman has shared some photos of the old pavers on Olentangy Blvd at Rustic Place (near the driveway for 4783 Olentangy Blvd), exposed during the recent construction that the residents of Old Beechwold have been enduring. 

On close inspection, two of the bricks say Hocking Dunn Patent):

And on the topic of bricks: Here is a photo of a brick that Clintonville Historical Society has in its archive.

CHS actually has 2 bricks. According to Mary Rodgers: “These are the actual pavers from the street [near American Vitrified Products, which was located on the former site of North High School at Arcadia and Calumet]. The official name of the brick is covered in mortar. You can see the diamonds. Those keep the horses from slipping when the bricks are wet. We might try to remove the mortar from one. It is interesting. They are porous–lighter than I thought…I have seen some articles that are associated with the early use of site. William Wassell seems like an interesting character. They made pipe and bricks. Supposedly, this is one of their bricks. In the late 1800s, they made a fountain for the fairgrounds-all out of pipe. I would love to find a photo of that!” Here’s an article about the fountain.

And finally, a house on East North Broadway has many bricks lining the driveway. These may have come from that roadbed.

[Photos courtesy of Katie Knostman, and Mary Rodgers and the CHS.]

138 East North Broadway. Ralph Taylor Van Ness (1902-1989) and his wife Norma Thorp Van Ness (1910-2000) bought this house from North Broadway Methodist Church in 1960 and remodeled it.

Their daughter Margaret Van Ness (now Margaret Nelson) is shown on the porch. 

Margaret writes,

Father dug out the basement and built his office downstairs. We lived next to the warden of the State Penitentiary.  One time we bought a set of golf clubs from the warden’s sister. Another time, when my parents found an old safe in the attic of the garage,  my father asked the trustees if there were any safe crackers amongst them.  The answer: “No, Doc, but maybe next week.”  My parents sent the safe to a company that could open it, so, we’ll never know if there was a treasure or a treasure map inside!  Living on the other side of us was Arch Heck, a professor at Ohio State University, in charge of the Fulbright program, bringing students from abroad to study at OSU. Thus, my parents became hosts to several students, one from Nepal who, he told them, slept on the floor rather than messing up the bed. 

The Van Nesses lived at this address until 1971. It has been significantly remodeled and expanded since the Van Ness time.

[Photos and narrative courtesy of Margaret Van Ness Nelson]

Margaret Nelson grew up in Clintonville and has kindly shared her treasure trove of pix of Clintonville with us. This is the medical office building her father, Dr. Ralph Taylor Van Ness, built in the 1950s at 25 Tibet Road.

Below is a view of the inside. You can see patients in the waiting room, the nurse, Margaret Deckard, at her desk, and Margaret’s father, Dr. Ralph Taylor Van Ness, in another room.  The photo on the right shows Mrs. Deckard in the supply room.

The Van Ness family lived next door to the medical office, at 29 Tibet Road.

Here are Margaret’s parents in their 1950s kitchen. They sold to Dr. John Gardiner in 1959 and then moved to 138 East North Broadway.

[Courtesy of Margaret Van Ness Nelson]

Amy Ervin Smithson shared this wonderful web site that shows the range of signage created by sign vendor Fred M. Ervin Sign Service, 2447 Middlesex Rd, Upper Arlington OH.

[Site courtesy of Amy Ervin Smithson, by way of Jim Garrison.]

Scott Jones, a professor in the OSU School of Music, kindly shared some terrific photos of the 1947 construction of his house at 528 Acton Road.

The photos came to Scott from Sally Schock (Moore) who grew up in the house and whose father’s brother built the home in 1947.

The house looks today very much like it did when finished in 1947.

[Photos are courtesy of Sally Schock (Moore), via Scott Jones.]

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.]

Until today, I’ve arranged material on this web site roughly in chronological order; information about earlier events at the top, and more recent history has been put at the end of this web site. For your ease in locating newly posted material, I’ve listed fresh content and any changed entries in the “Recent Postings” category. Arranging the listings this was is quite a bit of labor, though, so as of this month, I’m throwing in the towel. From now on, new postings will be put on the front page, willynilly, regardless of their era.

This month I’m adding quite a lot of material! Some new maps and information about the sewer pipe factory on Arcadia, great new photos of the Armbruster family and residence, a new old picture of Weisheimer Miller and Olentangy Park, and some new information about the Columbus Clippers.

Note: the New Posts link often contains more than one screenful of entries–so be sure to click “older entries” at the bottom of that page to see more new posts! And please be aware that because I interlace new postings in their historical order–because I fudge the dates on entries–RSS feeds don’t work with this site. (They will only pick up entries with a current date.)

Changed posts–If and when I revise or add to a posting, you can find it here.

Events Page–Consider coming to a presentation, buying a copy of Clintonville & Beechwold, and getting it signed by the author! I also include events of the Clintonville Historical Society