District History

In 1808, David Beers built a modest log cabin at the corner of what is now North Street and High Street and opened a trading post. Captured by the Indians as a youth, Beers was well acquainted with their customs and languages. The Beers cabin, one of the oldest still standing in Columbus is still in the area, having been moved to East Norwich Avenue in the early part of this century.

In 1842, Solomon Beers, the son of the pioneer, laid out a town plat and called it North Columbus. By 1853, when the plat was filed for village status, North Columbus was a small but thriving hamlet along the Columbus-Worthington Plank Road, as High Street was called.

The heart of North Columbus was the commercial blocks located between Hudson Street and Dodridge Street. Dodridge Street was a major thoroughfare because of its easy crossing of the Olentangy River. North of Dodridge along the Glen Echo Ravine stood a hotel and a mill which operated until well into the late nineteenth century. North Columbus was also a major switching station for the stagecoach lines operating along the turnpike. The switching station was located here for a number of reasons not the least of which was the strength of the temperance movement in Methodist-dominated Clintonville to the north.

With the coming of the railroads on either side of the town in the 1960s, North Columbus retained its economic advantage and seemed a likely spot for a military installation during the Civil War. Camp Thomas, located just up the road, was a major influence on the local economy. At the end of the war came a period of quiet growth for North Columbus and the wonderful three and four story buildings with their elaborate architectural detail that were built after this part of Clinton Township was annexed to Columbus in 1871.

Good fortune was virtually guaranteed by the opening of Olentangy Park at the end of the streetcar lines in 1896. The major attraction combined with North High School in the 1920s and the annexation of Clintonville in 1928 led to the transformation of the old village downtown into a vital and important neighborhood commercial business area.

Because of the high percentage of homeowners in the area, North Columbus retained its urban identity until well after World War II when increasing expansion of the University and a concomitant influx of renters led to a loss of neighborhood identity. In recent years the success of the North University Neighborhood Development Corporation and a number of strong neighborhood organizations has reversed this pattern and sustained the vitality of daily life in this area.