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The John Moses Hess Jr. Homestead
In April 2024 I wrote that Flora Hess sold her property, a flower shop at the intersection of Dodridge and Olentangy River Road, to the state in 1932. She lived in a house close by at 2637 Olentangy River Road; in 1968 Johnny Jones wrote an article about an antique sale at the Hess homestead.
I believe Flora lived in that house for many years. She ran the property as a trailer park from at least the 1930s until the late 1940s. I found several Columbus Dispatch articles that reported her conviction in 1946 of illegally operating a trailer camp on the property. The county had declined to issue her a permit because the property did not meet sanitary requirements. The trailers were mostly occupied by students. I also found many ads for sales of trailers, so the land may have been a dealership. I would love to have learned her side of this story.
The Ohio State University archives has some aerial photos of the old Hess farm with what Jones described as “part of an old windmill;” there’s a map in the collection’s finding aid and you can see the set of aerials here.
Now here’s the sad, sad, story about this homestead. According to a Hess family historian, Flora’s father John Moses Hess Jr. “received his education in the public schools of Franklin County and later attended Otterbein University. He was a farmer all his life. Uncle Moses was well over six feet tall, quiet and easy going. He always had a well groomed driving horse and took me on several Sunday afternoon drives in the north end of Franklin County, telling the history of the Dublin community. I never saw him when he was not wearing a stiff bosomed white shirt. This was one of his several oddities. Aunt Hannah was very opposite, being small and wiry and a human dynamo, and I always marveled how one so small could turn out so much work. Aunt Hannah died August 17, 1922, being murdered by an irresponsible farm hand who died from self-inflicted wounds the following day. Uncle Moses died December 15, 1923 and both are buried in Union Cemetery across the road from the farm home.” You can read the details of this sad tale of murder and suicide is the Columbus Dispatch here.
Flora died in 1962 (b. 06 Mar 1883, d. 06 Nov 1962) and is buried in Union Cemetery near her parents. Her sister Elizabeth died in 1968 at age 89 (b.30 Sep 1879 d. 5 Dec 1968) and is also buried there.
[Photos courtesy of The Ohio State University Archives. Research help courtesy of Harry Campbell.]Flower Power
These lovely pictures are of the Albrecht Floral Shop at 2703 River (or Olentangy) Road–the intersection of Dodridge and Olentangy River Road, looking north.
According to librarian Cindy at the Columbus Metropolitan Library, the flower shop went through several hands in the 1930s.
Cindy found a parcel sheet for what she believes is the property in question. The parcel sheet shows the greenhouse listed as well as a brick building.
There is an ad for Flora Louise Hess, Florist in a 1925 Columbus Women’s Club cookbook that features an illustration of the building matching these photos.
Flora Hess sold the property to the state in 1932. She lived in a house close by at 2637 Olentangy River Road, however. In 1968 Johnny Jones wrote an article about an antique sale at the Hess homestead.
Across the street from the flower shop is a gas station. The Moosehead Filling Station and Moosehead Tavern was across the street at 2696 Olentangy Road as early as 1937. It advertised selling H-C gas; H-C was the first high-octane gasoline. In 1926, Sinclair leapt ahead of most of its competitors with H-C, the industry’s original high-octane premium gasoline for motorcars. The 72-octane auto fuel, developed at its Houston refinery, was better than anything then marketed (Lindbergh’s flight to Paris the following year was on 73-octane gasoline). H-C stood for “Houston Concentrate,” though some advertising men called it “High Compression.”
The Moosewood Tavern was apparently a trouble spot; this Columbus Dispatch newspaper article documents one incident of rowdiness.
[Photos courtesy of the Franklin County Engineers. Articles are from the Columbus Dispatch. Research on these photos and news items mostly came from Cindy at the Columbus Metropolitan Library Local History & Genealogy Desk; thank you Cindy! ]Buy a Steak…or a Steer! Smith’s Deli
Eric Hartzell has been helping Jack Smith–of Smith’s Deli fame at 3737 N. High Street–rewire parts of the deli, and with some repairs. Along the way, Eric has found some fabulous pictures related to the deli.
First, the deli when it was a meat and frozen food center, and–get this–candle store! Eric estimates this picture is from around the mid-1960s.
Here’s another picture courtesy of The Clintonville Spotlight October 01, 2020.
Eric writes, “The first picture above seems to be from late 1960s judging by the cars on the side lot….maybe 1968…or it could be early 70’s. But it is different from the pic in that ad or menu…It is 1961-62 because of the car out front. But the sign on the top of the building is much bigger and goes from end to end on the building….and has the added candle and candy shop on the right end. Since they didn’t discontinue the meat part till 1982…..hard to completely say.”
In the early 1940s the site was Beem Motors, a Packard dealership; this ad is from a 1941 telephone book. There was an auto service station & filling station next door at 3729 N High Street at least as early as 1941 (but not before 1932). As Eric writes, “…[The car dealership] is the reason the 1920’s style garage/gas station is right next to it. There is even a garage door still inside Smith’s Deli right behind the pizza ovens. It was never removed, and infrastructure was just built around it.” By 1943, 3737 N High Street was a grocery, and by 1951 it had become Clintonville Lockers Frozen Food Lockers owned by Guy B. Harris. Jack Smith’s dad purchased the business in 1961.
Here’s a link to an aerial photo of that location from an unknown year. You can see the auto service center to the south of Smith’s.
And about Smith’s arch and counter, Eric writes: “When I asked Jack if I could rewire the arch for safety sake..(it was still with the original 1907 wiring) I started to also do the research on it. All he could tell me was that it came from a Chillicothe drug store, named A.B. Howson’s Pharmacy in the famous Carisle Building. Didn’t take long to find a picture of it inside that drug store with the help of the historical society down there. Was like finding buried treasure, there it was from a picture taken in 1909. It was built in 1907. Now [the arch] has 100% LED lights….even used the new LED Edison style lamps that really gave it that old time look. The drug store closed in 1967….or was it 1969….anyway, that was when his father purchased it and moved it to the current store, marble and all. More about the drugstore, including the names of the boys staffing the counter here.
Thanks for sharing, Eric!
[Images courtesy of Eric and his original sources, and to Dave Wenger at Northend Wrench for the aerial photo.]James (Jerry) Welsh, Dairyman
Here’s a very sad story about one of our Clintonville residents from former times. James Welsh, commonly called Jerry, was a dairyman along High Street. His farm burned on January 27, 1897, and Jerry was himself badly burned in the fire. Jerry survived the fire, however, and he eventually died on Sept 5, 1905 at the age of 72 or 73 of dropsy (edema, or heart failure). He was originally from Ireland, was a Civil War veteran, and is buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery.
There’s no record of his having owned a farm on High Street or in Clinton Township, so perhaps he leased the farm land. When he died, Jerry lived at 34 Richards Road with his wife Bridget; I presume he lived close to his dairy farm. The couple also lived with a lad named Fay Osborn; Osborn is likely the 14-year old boy who was also at the scene of the 1897 fire and who was credited with saving the 20 cows.
Dairy Barn Burned
Cows Saved With Difficulty From the Flames–Loss $900.The big dairy barn of Jerry Welsh on High street above Clintonville was totally destroyed by fire Tuesday afternoon, together with a stock of fodder. In the barn at the time the blaze was discovered were about 2[0] cows and some horses. All the animals were finally removed though Welsh and his neighbors had a lively time of it taking the frantic beasts from the fiery furnace.
Luckily there was little, if any, wind and the other outbuildings and the house were saved.
There was no means of fighting the fire, and all that could be done was to run to the neighbors’ for buckets of water to pour upon the house. About [6]00 tons of millet was burned. The loss on the property will be about $900.
Was Fire at Jerry Welch’s
Dairy BarnMr. Welch Himself Badly Burned And Narrowly Escaped Death
There came near being a tragedy at the fire above Clintonville Tuesday afternoon.
It will be remembered that Jerry Welch’s big dairy barn was totally destroyed, as stated in The Dispatch at the time.
It seems that Welch, who is quite an old man, was in the barn when the fire broke out, but became so excited that had it not been for the efforts of a 14-year-old boy who was in an adjoining field gathering fodder, over 20 cows would have been burned. The lad released the maddened animals just as the roof of the structure fell in.
All this time Welch was working heroically at the other end of the barn endeavoring to save the horses. In some way he slipped and fell right into the awful furnace. He was dragged therefrom by a neighbor who had hastened to the scene. Welch’s hair was singed, his hand and face badly scorched, and he would have burned to death had not the neighbor pulled him out and extinguished the fire by rolling the victim in the snow.
Cindy at the Columbus Metropolitan Library shared most of the above details about Mr. Welsh with us. She writes: “I was able to find a little more information about Jerry Welsh. First, I believe the name was actually Welsh, not Welch [as in the 2nd article above]…I am attaching Mr. Welsh’s obituary. I was able to find him on the 1900 census with his wife, and it looks like he was a veteran of the Civil War because I found a grave registration card that matches up with his grave information in Mount Calvary Cemetery. Unfortunately, I was not able to find that he owned any property in Clinton Township. I checked maps, including a 1895 plat map that has landowners names on it. I also checked deed indexes on the recorder’s site for that time frame for both grantors and grantees and still did not find anything. It is possible he was renting the land that the barn was on.”
I do love our Columbus Metropolitan Library System and especially appreciate the Local History and Genealogy staff. THANK YOU CINDY!
318 Orchard Lane (Columbus Canoe Club)
The Columbus Canoe Club–which had been turned into a residence back in 1959–was currently on the market, and you can see the inside of this residence here. It has only had 4 owners since it was built, and long-time owner Donna Hickey had given me a tour of the house back in 2009. So sorry to learn that Donna passed away in 2021.
A bit more info here
(I doubt this link to the realtor post will be up long.)
In Honor of Armistice Day
I have no World War I photos of soldiers in Clintonville. But in honor of Armistice Day aka Veterans Day, I am posting this photo of WW I soldiers, being addressed by Norman Barnes Thorp. This might be in front of 180 East Northwood, though I have been unable to confirm that location.
Margaret Nelson, a long time Clintonville resident who has shared many other family pix with us, shared the World War I photo with us. 180 East Northwood was built by Margaret’s grandparents, Johanna Gertrude (Edmondson) (1880-1967) and Norman Barnes Thorp (1867-1934) around 1909, and the house was subsequently owned by the Thorp’s daughter, Norma Thorp Van Ness.
Norman B. Thorp was active in the Northwood Flower and Garden Club, which in turn was active in various ways in the war effort. Of its 60 members, 9 men were in military service and 1 woman was an active nurse.
[Photos courtesy of Margaret Nelson.]