Orlando Aldrich (b.1840)
Orlando Aldrich was a prominent lawyer and OSU law professor. Aldrich was the first president of the Worthington, Clintonville & Columbus Street Railway Company and served in this position from 1891 to 1898; he subsequently held an office of the Columbus, Delaware, & Marion Electric Railway. Aldrich had purchased 23 acres of land on the southwest corner of Henderson and North High in 1882; it was a fruit farm called Maple Grove Farm. Aldrich had three great hobbies: horticulture, collecting great art, and collecting rare books about archaeology, and he engaged in these avocations from his lovely house located about [...]
Never Too Many Cookes…(the article)
I wrote this article for the Clintonville Historical Society newsletter and am reproducing it here for your convenience... Never Too Many Cookes… by Shirley Hyatt © Shirley Hyatt We often think of Clintonville as having been established in 1847 near the intersection of Orchard Lane and North High Street on Bull family land, but we mustn’t forget that today’s Clintonville extends north to Worthington, and that other families contributed significantly to the development of Clintonville’s northern reaches. One of the most vibrant little communities was centered near the intersection of today’s Henderson Road and North High Street (or more precisely, [...]
The Park
Around 1880, Robert Turner founded the Olentangy Villa Tavern. It was a small picnic grounds and offered boating and swimming, perhaps a couple rides. By 1895 the park came to be owned by the Columbus Railway, Power and Light Company; enabling the electric company to earn money from both its electric streetcars and from electricity at the park, and ensuring streetcar traffic (with its use of electricity) not only during weekdays when commuters traveled to their jobs in the city, but also on weekends when residents traveled by streetcar to the park. In 1899, brothers Joe and Will Dusenbury purchased [...]
1959 Flood
On January 21, 1959, Clintonville experienced a 24-hour deluge, with a thaw, that left scores homeless. The flood affected homes from Arcadia to Southington. Newspaper articles of the time state that evacuations were made at the west end of Rosslyn, Kanawha, Westview, from Martindale (on the west side of Olentangy opposite Marburn), and in the vicinity of American Legion Park (today’s Clinton-Como Park) and from countless homes in the path of the swollen and ice-carrying river. Gas and electricity had to be cut off for safety. Several people died. Mayor Sensenbrenner declared a state of emergency in the city of [...]
Street Scene
This photo was probably taken along Olentangy River Road. Note the smudge pots, which were used before the advent of electrical blinking warning signs. I assume this picture was taken around 1953. (Photo courtesy of Franklin County Engineers)