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Can You Canoe?
The Olentangy Park Canoe Club, ca. 1906. I’m told that at one time, Clintonville had at least 4 canoe clubs.
Beechwold Theatre
This is an ad that just happens to show the signage of the old Beechwold Theatre at 4250 N. High (aka Camelot North and Drexel North, and currently an athletic club).
The theatre was built by the F & Y Building Service (aka F & Y Construction Company). Mark Fontana informs me that the “Y” in this name is Yassenoff, and the first manager of the Beechwold Theatre was Milton Yassenoff, adopted son of Leo Yassenoff.
If anyone out there is aware of the whereabouts of blueprints, construction photos and high-res b/w photos of the finished theater, please let us know! The ad was shared with me by Mark Fontana, former manager of the Drexel North (aka Camelot North and Beechwold Theater) Mark is a collector. In another place on this web site I link to his web site.
Somebody Please Say “Cheese!”
First graders at the Clinton Township School on Clinton Heights Avenue (also called the “1904 Building”). Presumably Rand Hollenback is somewhere in this photograph. As of this web posting, the building is still there, though its fate is uncertain.
Donald Ross, and the Elks / Wyandot Golf Course
Bill Case has done a wonderful job of researching and writing the history of Donald Ross’ design of the Elks/Wyandot County Club. Check out his web site here. It’s a work in progress so check Bill’s site frequently.
The first picture (to the left) is, of course, Donald Ross. In the left-hand image below, Harold J. Kaufman, John W. Kaufman, Arthur Shannon, Donald Ross, and J.V. Taylor peruse a topo map.
The right-hand image below is the 5th hole–308 yards–par 4. See Bill’s web site for the history and for more image gems.
(Images courtesy of Bill Case and Betty Huber)
Baseball at the Zoo
The zoo in Beechwold may have been one of the earliest sites of the Columbus Clippers!
According to Joe Santry, Historian at The Columbus Clippers, “In 1895 the Columbus Statesmen opened the season playing at The Zoo Baseball Grounds. The grounds were owned by the Zoological Garden company. Could this be the old zoo grounds in Clintonville? …The team played at the Zoo Grounds for a couple of months before moving to Recreation Park in German Village…
“In 1895, according to the local papers, Columbus played at ‘the Zoo Grounds’ (May 21), ‘Zoo Baseball Park’ (May 4), ‘Zoo Park’ (May 5). There are stories about temporary grandstands, then a ‘new grandstand’ (May 12).
“By June 1, however, the OSJ reports that the club now ‘holds the lease on the Schiller street grounds’ and the club ‘will play the last game on the Zoo grounds this afternoon and the work of removing the grandstand, bleachers, and fences to Recreation Park’ will follow.
“The problem is how inconsistently the papers reported the games that season. The more I research this the more I think the Zoo Grounds park was in or near some type of amphitheatre on the zoo grounds. The park had other smaller attractions prior to 1905.”
Scott Caputo, librarian at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, found this article in the 8-8-1904 Ohio State Journal. It mentions a drill field and a ball game used by several masonic groups at the Zoo. This, shortly before it closed down.
Also linked here is a image/map of the old zoo, courtesy of Mary Rodgers of the Clintonville Historical Society.
New Posts December 2013
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. 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.
