Columbus

Columbus, city, Franklin, Fairfield, and Delaware counties, capital (1816) of Ohio, U.S., and seat (1824) of Franklin county. It is situated in the central part of the state on the relatively flat Ohio till plain, at the junction of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. Columbus is at the centre of a metropolitan complex that includes Dublin (northwest), Gahanna and Westerville (northeast), Reynoldsburg (east), and Grove City (southwest); several municipalities, including Upper Arlington, Worthington, Bexley, and Whitehall, are wholly or largely surrounded by the city. Inc. city, 1834. Area city, 213 square miles (552 square km). Pop. (2010) 787,033; Columbus Metro Area, 1,836,536; (2020) 905,748; Columbus Metro Area, 2,138,926.

History

Columbus was planned in 1812 as a political centre by the Ohio legislature and was named for Christopher Columbus. The state government moved to the city in 1816 from Chillicothe, and Columbus later absorbed the nearby earlier settlement of Franklinton (founded 1797). The city experienced significant growth after a feeder branch of the Ohio and Erie Canal was opened to it in 1831 and the Cumberland (National) Road from Maryland reached it in 1836. The first railroad arrived in 1850, further stimulating development.

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During the American Civil War, Columbus became a major staging area for Union forces, and Camp Chase, one of the North’s largest facilities for Confederate prisoners of war, was built on the city’s west side. The local economy continued to boom after the war. Columbus became one of the country’s major manufacturers of horse-drawn vehicles. By 1900, when the population exceeded 125,000, the city had emerged as an important transportation and commercial centre. Following damaging floods in 1913, the Scioto River was widened and levees, retaining walls, and bridges constructed, which allowed riverfront development.

Unprecedented industrial growth occurred after 1940. A large aircraft plant established there provided the initial stimulus, but many branches of national companies were also attracted to the area. Columbus continued to grow in size mainly because it pursued a policy of annexing adjacent land; between 1950 and 2000 the city’s land area increased fivefold, and its population nearly doubled. By 1990 it was Ohio’s largest city. People of European ancestry have long constituted the great majority of its residents, but the African American proportion of the population has steadily increased to about one-fourth of the total.

The contemporary city

In the early 21st century the fastest-growing sectors of the local economy were education and health, transportation and utilities, and professional and business services. High-technology industries and manufacturing (automobiles, motorcycles, communications equipment, steel and steel products, and nutritional supplements) were also important. The city’s favourable geographic position was enhanced by the presence of main-line railroads, an extensive highway network, and an international airport. Nearly half of the U.S. population was located within a 500-mile (about 800-km) radius of Columbus.

The main campus of the Ohio State University (1870), which has one of the largest enrollments of any American university, occupies a large site north of downtown. Other institutions of higher learning include Franklin University (1902), Capital University (1830), Ohio Dominican College (1911), Otterbein University (1847), Pontifical College Josephinum (1888), Columbus College of Art and Design (1879), Columbus State Community College (1963), and state schools for the hearing and visually impaired. Notable research organizations are Battelle Memorial Institute (1929; technology), the Orton Ceramic Foundation, and the Chemical Abstracts Service. The federal government operates a large military supply centre and other facilities. Many of the state’s institutions and offices and the state fairgrounds are in the city. The Ohio Statehouse (a limestone structure in Doric style, completed in 1861) has a monument by sculptor Levi Tucker Scofield.

Also of interest are the McKinley Monument, Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery, the Ohio Historical Center (1970) and adjacent Ohio Village outdoor museum, and COSI Columbus, a science and industry centre. The city supports an art museum and a symphony orchestra. The home of author James Thurber is preserved as a literary centre. The city maintains a large park system, and there is a conservatory and botanical garden east of downtown. The Columbus Zoo, located in the northwest near Dublin, is one of the country’s most renowned zoos. Area reservoirs (including Griggs, O’Shaughnessy, and Hoover) are also popular recreational venues, as is Alum Creek State Park north of the city. Scioto Downs and Beulah Park have horse racing. Annual events include an arts festival (June), the state fair (August), and Oktoberfest (September; based at the restored 19th-century German Village area south of downtown). Olentangy Indian Caverns, just north of the city, has caves once used by Iroquoian-speaking peoples.