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Whetstone Prairie
The Whetstone Prairie was a joint project between the Columbus Recreation and Parks and Columbus Wild Ones, a non-profit community organization that promotes biodiversity and environmentally sound landscaping practices by using native plants to landscape city and suburban yards. They turned about 5 acres of lowland along the river just to the south of Adena Brook into a prairie using flora native to Franklin County. The Columbus Chapter began planning for the Whetstone Prairie in January, 2003. Seeding and planting was done in 2004. In 2005 the prairie bloomed with the spectacular results shown in this photo. In Summer, 2007, Wild Ones turned over the prairie to the management of the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department in a ceremony at the site of the prairie in Whetstone Park. My favorite time in the prairie is in the early morning during summer, when the sun is shining horizontally through the plants. (Photo by Craig Preston, and displayed courtesy of Marilyn Logue. )
Fred Shannon
Among the many accomplished people of Clintonville is Fred Shannon (1921-2007), a renowned photographer who worked for The Columbus Dispatch. In this picture he is wearing a Mickey Mouse strap given to him by his son. The story goes that Fred was taking pictures of the original Mickey Mouse creators and they were so tickled by the strap he was wearing, they made him cartoon which the Shannon family still has.
Community Band
The Clintonville Community Band was founded in 1984 by Les Susi for North and Whetstone High School graduates as the North Columbus Community Band. In 1997 the name was changed to reflect participants’ true geographic ties. The Clintonville Community Choir was established 2005. The choir often performs music by Clintonville native John Ness Beck, a prolific composer of choral music. This photograph shows their August 2007 concert. (From the Clintonville Community Band’s web site)
East North Broadway
For the residents of East North Broadway, widening their roadway has been a seemingly endless struggle of defending their property against City Hall. Joyce Schatz–for many years an officer in the East North Broadway Street Association–has kept an archive of the issue, and I’ve linked to it here.
The city claims the right of way is 100 feet. Some research shows that it is 70 feet. Residents’ deeds and surveys are all over the place. Some have 15’ listed, many don’t, including recent purchasers. The majority of the parcels at the end of the street do not have the 15’ easement in their deeds. The deed to Steve and Ann Wilson’s home (one of the three slated to lose their yard), specifically includes the footage and states “…Together with the Fifteen (15) feet off the North Side of East North Broadway vacated by resolution of the County Commissioners of Franklin County, Ohio, on October 7, 1952.”
For those of us who don’t live on East North Broadway, the issue is less “Can the City do it?” but “Should the City do it?’ For the time being, the city is not actively pursuing the widening.
Ravines
In my book, Clintonville and Beechwold, I stated that there are 4 ravines in Clintonville. Today there are 4, but originally there were, oh, perhaps 6. The area around Richards and Granden—which used to be called Richards Woods, before it was developed—has been filled in; and there is a low lying ravine between Clinton Heights Avenue and East North Broadway, which was also filled in quite a long time ago.
How did I decide?
I’ve received a few questions about how I went about collecting photographs for my Clintonville and Beechwold book—and why I left some subjects out. Here’s my process. I began by identifying and contacting all the churches and schools in Clintonville. Some churches, like Crestview Presbyterian, had no photographs; others did not, for one reason or another, return my calls. I also hung flyers around town requesting photographs, and spoke with local merchants. I notified The Booster, This Week in Clintonville and several alumni newsletters; both newspapers and several newsletters ran articles about my project. I held open scanning sessions at Clintonville Historical Society meetings and at the Whetstone Branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library. I researched history and made lots calls to families and businesses that had a hand in creating Clintonville’s history. And so on…
