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Library Activities
Reading has always been a popular Clintonville activity, in part because of its great library programs. The children above are planning the activities for the 1954 National Book Week. (Photo courtesy of the Clintonville Historical Society)
Fourth
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.
Walkers Bait Store
Sorry for the bad image—it’s taken from a photocopy. Walker’s Bait Store was located on the east side of High Street between Arcadia and Dodridge during the 1950s. (Photocopy courtesy of Frank Jones.)
Dispatch holiday contest
In a previous post, I mentioned that Engine House 19 won the Dispatch’s annual holiday decorating content. This house at on East North Broadway won the contest three years in a row. (Photo coourtesy of Judy Kress)
Homedale Post Office
Besides the Orchard and High Street Post office, and the Evanston Post Office, there have been sundry other post offices serving the Clintonville area. This is a cancellation of Homedale’s post office, 1950, located during the 1950s in what would later become part of northern Clintonville. (Photo courtesy of Dave Foust)
Through Rose Colored Glasses
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.]
