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Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of
Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
, and the third-most populous state capital. Columbus is the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...
of Franklin County; it also extends into
Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...
and Fairfield counties. It is the core city of the Columbus metropolitan area, which encompasses 10 counties in central Ohio. The metropolitan area had a population of 2,138,926 in 2020, making it the largest entirely in Ohio and 32nd-largest in the U.S. Columbus originated as numerous Native American settlements on the banks of the Scioto River. Franklinton, now a city neighborhood, was the first European settlement, laid out in 1797. The city was founded in 1812 at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, and laid out to become the state capital. The city was named for Italian explorer
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
. The city assumed the function of state capital in 1816 and county seat in 1824. Amid steady years of growth and industrialization, the city has experienced numerous floods and recessions. Beginning in the 1950s, Columbus began to experience significant growth; it became the largest city in Ohio in land and population by the early 1990s. The 1990s and 2000s saw redevelopment in numerous city neighborhoods, including Downtown. The city has a diverse economy based on education, government, insurance, banking, defense, aviation, food, clothes, logistics, steel, energy, medical research, health care, hospitality, retail and technology. The metropolitan area is home to the Battelle Memorial Institute, the world's largest private research and development foundation;
Chemical Abstracts Service CAS (formerly Chemical Abstracts Service) is a division of the American Chemical Society. It is a source of chemical information. CAS is located in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Print periodicals ''Chemical Abstracts'' is a periodical index th ...
, the world's largest clearinghouse of chemical information; and the
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
, one of the largest universities in the United States. As of 2022, the Greater Columbus area is home to the headquarters of six corporations in the U.S. Fortune 500: Cardinal Health, American Electric Power, L Brands, Nationwide,
Bread Financial Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. is an American publicly traded provider of loyalty and marketing services, such as private label credit cards, coalition loyalty programs, and direct marketing, derived from the capture and analysis of transaction- ...
and Huntington Bancshares.


Name

The city of Columbus was named after 15th-century Italian explorer
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
at the city's founding in 1812. It is the largest city in the world named for the explorer, who sailed to and settled parts of the Americas on behalf of
Isabella I of Castile Isabella I ( es, Isabel I; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''la Católica''), was Queen of Castile from 1474 until her death in 1504, as well as Queen consort of Aragon from 1479 until 1504 b ...
and Spain. Although no reliable history exists as to why Columbus, who had no connection to the city or state of Ohio before the city's founding, was chosen as the name for the city, the book ''Columbus: The Story of a City'' indicates a state lawmaker and local resident admired the explorer enough to persuade other lawmakers to name the settlement Columbus. Since the late 20th century, historians have criticized Columbus for initiating the European conquest of America and for abuse, enslavement, and subjugation of natives.Bigelow, B. (1992). ''Once upon a Genocide: Christopher Columbus in Children's Literature''. Efforts to remove symbols related to the explorer in the city date to the 1990s. Amid the
George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internat ...
in 2020, several petitions pushed for the city to be renamed. Nicknames for the city have included "the Discovery City," " Arch City," "Cap City," " Cowtown," "The Biggest Small Town in America" and "Cbus."


History


Ancient and early history

Between 1000 B.C. and 1700 A.D., the Columbus metropolitan area was a center to indigenous cultures known as the Mound Builders, including the Adena, Hopewell and Fort Ancient peoples. Remaining physical evidence of the cultures are their burial mounds and what they contained. Most of Central Ohio's remaining mounds are located outside of Columbus city boundaries, though the
Shrum Mound Shrum Mound is a Native American burial mound in Campbell Memorial Park in Columbus, Ohio. The mound was created around 2,000 years ago by the Pre-Columbian Native American Adena culture. The site was added to the National Register of Historic ...
is maintained, now as part of a public park and historic site. The city's Mound Street derives its name from a mound that existed by the intersection of Mound and High Streets. The mound's clay was used in bricks for most of the city's initial brick buildings; many were subsequently used in the
Ohio Statehouse The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the H ...
. The city's
Ohio History Center The Ohio History Center is a history museum and research center in Columbus, Ohio. It is the primary museum for Ohio's history, and is the headquarters, offices, and library of the Ohio History Connection. The building also houses Ohio's state ar ...
maintains a collection of artifacts from these cultures.


18th century: Ohio Country

The area including modern-day Columbus once comprised the Ohio Country, under the nominal control of the French colonial empire through the Viceroyalty of
New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...
from 1663 until 1763. In the 18th century, European traders flocked to the area, attracted by the fur trade. The area was often caught between warring factions, including American Indian and European interests. In the 1740s, Pennsylvania traders overran the territory until the French forcibly evicted them. Fighting for control of the territory in the
French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...
(1754-1763) became part of the international
Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
(1756-1763). During this period, the region routinely suffered turmoil, massacres and battles. The 1763 Treaty of Paris ceded the Ohio Country to the
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
. Until just before the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
, Central Ohio had continuously been the home of numerous indigenous villages. A Mingo village was located at the forks of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, with Shawnee villages to the south and Wyandot and Delaware villages to the north. Colonial militiamen burned down the Mingo village in 1774 during a raid.


Virginia Military District

After the American Revolution, the Virginia Military District became part of the Ohio Country as a territory of Virginia. Colonists from the East Coast moved in, but rather than finding an empty frontier, they encountered people of the
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
,
Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...
, Wyandot,
Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
and Mingo nations, as well as European traders. The tribes resisted expansion by the fledgling United States, leading to years of bitter conflict. The decisive Battle of Fallen Timbers resulted in the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, which finally opened the way for new settlements. By 1797, a young surveyor from Virginia named Lucas Sullivant had founded a permanent settlement on the west bank of the forks of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. An admirer of
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...
, Sullivant chose to name his frontier village " Franklinton." The location was desirable for its proximity to the navigable rivers – but Sullivant was initially foiled when, in 1798, a large flood wiped out the new settlement. He persevered, and the village was rebuilt, though somewhat more inland. After the Revolution, land comprising parts of Franklin and adjacent counties was set aside by the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
for settlement by
Canadians Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
and
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
ns who were sympathetic to the colonial cause and had their land and possessions seized by the British government. The
Refugee Tract The Refugee Tract is an area of land in Ohio, United States granted to people from British Canada who left home prior to July 4, 1776, stayed in the US until November 25, 1783 continuously, and aided the revolutionary cause. Location The Refu ...
, consisting of , was long and wide, and was claimed by 67 eligible men. The Ohio Statehouse sits on land once contained in the Refugee Tract.


19th century: state capital, city establishment, and development

After Ohio achieved statehood in 1803, political infighting among prominent Ohio leaders led to the state capital moving from Chillicothe to
Zanesville Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 census, down from 25,487 as of the 2010 census. Historically the state capi ...
and back again. Desiring to settle on a location, the state legislature considered Franklinton,
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
, Worthington and
Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...
before compromising on a plan to build a new city in the state's center, near major transportation routes, primarily rivers. As well, Franklinton landowners had donated two plots in an effort to convince the state to move its capital there. The two spaces were set to become Capitol Square (for the
Ohio Statehouse The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the H ...
) and the Ohio Penitentiary. Named in honor of Christopher Columbus, the city was founded on February 14, 1812, on the "High Banks opposite Franklinton at the Forks of the Scioto most known as Wolf's Ridge." At the time, this area was a dense forestland, used only as a hunting ground. The city was incorporated as a borough on February 10, 1816. Nine people were elected to fill the municipality's various positions of mayor, treasurer and several others. Between 1816 and 1817,
Jarvis W. Pike Jarvis W. Pike (1795–September 12, 1854) was the first mayor of Columbus, Ohio. Pike died September 12, 1854. He was buried in a private or family graveyard. He was later reinterred at Union Grove Cemetery located at Canal Winchester, Ohio ...
served as the first appointed mayor. Although the recent
War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...
had brought prosperity to the area, the subsequent recession and conflicting claims to the land threatened the new town's success. Early conditions were abysmal, with frequent bouts of fevers – attributed to
malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...
from the flooding rivers – and an outbreak of
cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium '' Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting an ...
in 1833. It led Columbus to create the Board of Health, now part of the
Columbus Public Health Columbus Public Health is the health department of Columbus, Ohio. The department is accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board. The department dates to 1833, when the city's mayor appointed five citizens to help with its cholera outbreak ...
department. The outbreak, which remained in the city from July to September 1833, killed 100 people. Columbus was without direct river or trail connections to other Ohio cities, leading to slow initial growth. The National Road reached Columbus from
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
in 1831, which complemented the city's new link to the
Ohio and Erie Canal The Ohio and Erie Canal was a canal constructed during the 1820s and early 1830s in Ohio. It connected Akron with the Cuyahoga River near its outlet on Lake Erie in Cleveland, and a few years later, with the Ohio River near Portsmouth. It a ...
, both of which facilitated a population boom. A wave of European immigrants led to the creation of two ethnic
enclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...
s on the city's outskirts. A large Irish population settled in the north along Naghten Street (presently Nationwide Boulevard), while the
Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...
took advantage of the cheap land to the south, creating a community that came to be known as the '' Das Alte Südende'' (The Old South End). Columbus's German population constructed numerous breweries, Trinity Lutheran Seminary and
Capital University Capital University (Capital, Cap, or CU) is a private university in Bexley, Ohio. Capital was founded as the Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio in 1830, and later was associated with that synod's successor, the Ame ...
.Lentz, pp. 63–64 With a population of 3,500, Columbus was officially chartered as a city on March 3, 1834. On that day, the legislature carried out a
special act Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer Literature * ''Specia ...
, which granted legislative authority to the
city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural coun ...
and judicial authority to the mayor. Elections were held in April of that year, with voters choosing John Brooks as the first popularly elected mayor. Columbus annexed the then-separate city of Franklinton in 1837. In 1850, the Columbus and Xenia Railroad became the first railroad into the city, followed by the
Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad The Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad (CC&C) was a railroad that ran from Cleveland to Columbus in the U.S. state of Ohio in the United States. Chartered in 1836, it was moribund for the first 10 years of its existence. Its charter wa ...
in 1851. The two railroads built a joint Union Station on the east side of High Street just north of Naghten (then called North Public Lane). Rail traffic into Columbus increased: by 1875, eight railroads served Columbus, and the rail companies built a new, more elaborate station. Another cholera outbreak hit Columbus in 1849, prompting the opening of the city's Green Lawn Cemetery. On January 7, 1857, the
Ohio Statehouse The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the H ...
finally opened after 18 years of construction. Site construction continued until 1861. Before the abolition of slavery in the
Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
in 1863, the Underground Railroad was active in Columbus and was led, in part, by
James Preston Poindexter James Preston Poindexter (October 26, 1819 – February 7, 1907) was an abolitionist, civil rights activist, politician, and Baptist minister from Columbus, Ohio. He was born in Richmond, Virginia and moved to Ohio as a young man. In Ohio he was ...
. Poindexter arrived in Columbus in the 1830s and became a Baptist preacher and leader in the city's African-American community until the turn of the century. During the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
, Columbus was a major base for the volunteer
Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
. It housed 26,000 troops and held up to 9,000 Confederate
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
at Camp Chase, at what is now the Hilltop neighborhood of west Columbus. Over 2,000 Confederate soldiers remain buried at the site, making it one of the North's largest Confederate cemeteries. North of Columbus, along the Delaware Road, the Regular Army established Camp Thomas, where the 18th U.S. Infantry organized and trained. By virtue of the
Morrill Act of 1862 The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally-owned land, often obtained from indigenous tribes through treaty, cession, or ...
, the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College – which eventually became the
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
– was founded in 1870 on the former estate of William and Hannah Neil. By the end of the 19th century, Columbus was home to several major manufacturing businesses. The city became known as the "Buggy Capital of the World," thanks to the two dozen buggy factories – notably the
Columbus Buggy Company The Columbus Buggy Company was an early buggy and automotive manufacturer based in Columbus, Ohio, United States, from 1875 to 1913. Begun by three business partners, the company set up its manufacturing facilities in what is today the Arena ...
, founded in 1875 by C.D. Firestone. The Columbus Consolidated Brewing Company also rose to prominence during this time and might have achieved even greater success were it not for the Anti-Saloon League in neighboring Westerville. In the steel industry, a forward-thinking man named
Samuel P. Bush Samuel Prescott Bush (October 4, 1863February 8, 1948) was an American businessman and industrialist. Bush was the patriarch of the Bush political family. He was the father of U.S. Senator Prescott Bush, the paternal grandfather of former U.S ...
presided over the
Buckeye Steel Castings Buckeye Steel Castings was a Columbus, Ohio steelmaker best known today for its longtime president, Samuel P. Bush, who was the grandfather of President George H. W. Bush and great-grandfather of President George W. Bush. Buckeye, named for the O ...
Company. Columbus was also a popular location for labor organizations. In 1886, Samuel Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor in Druid's Hall on South Fourth Street, and in 1890, the
United Mine Workers of America The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unit ...
was founded at the old City Hall. In 1894, James Thurber, who would go on to an illustrious literary career in Paris and New York City, was born in the city. Today, Ohio State's theater department has a performance center named in his honor, and his childhood home, the Thurber House, is located in the Discovery District and is on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.


20th century

Columbus earned one of its nicknames, "The Arch City," because of the dozens of wooden arches that spanned High Street at the turn of the 20th century. The arches illuminated the thoroughfare and eventually became the means by which electric power was provided to the new streetcars. The city tore down the arches and replaced them with cluster lights in 1914 but reconstructed them from metal in the Short North neighborhood in 2002 for their unique historical interest. On March 25, 1913, the Great Flood of 1913 devastated the neighborhood of Franklinton, leaving over 90 people dead and thousands of West Side residents homeless. To prevent flooding, the Army Corps of Engineers recommended widening the Scioto River through downtown, constructing new bridges and building a
retaining wall Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...
along its banks. With the strength of the post-
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
economy, a construction boom occurred in the 1920s, resulting in a new civic center, the
Ohio Theatre Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The ...
, the
American Insurance Union Citadel The LeVeque Tower is a 47-story skyscraper in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. At it was the tallest building in the city from its completion in 1927 to 1974, and remains the second-tallest today. Designed by C. Howard Crane, the Art Deco skyscraper ...
and to the north, a massive new Ohio Stadium. Although the
American Professional Football Association The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...
was founded in
Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...
in 1920, its head offices moved to Columbus in 1921 to the New Hayden Building and remained in the city until 1941. In 1922, the association's name was changed to the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...
. Nearly a decade later, in 1931, at a convention in the city, the
Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
took that name by which they are known today. The effects of the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
were less severe in Columbus, as the city's diversified economy helped it fare better than its
Rust Belt The Rust Belt is a region of the United States that experienced industrial decline starting in the 1950s. The U.S. manufacturing sector as a percentage of the U.S. GDP peaked in 1953 and has been in decline since, impacting certain regions an ...
neighbors.
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
brought many new jobs and another population surge. This time, most new arrivals were migrants from the "extraordinarily depressed rural areas" of Appalachia, who would soon account for more than a third of Columbus's growing population. In 1948, the Town and Country Shopping Center opened in suburban Whitehall, and it is now regarded as one of the first modern shopping centers in the United States. The construction of the
Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...
signaled the arrival of rapid suburb development in central Ohio. To protect the city's tax base from this suburbanization, Columbus adopted a policy of linking sewer and water hookups to
annexation Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...
to the city. By the early 1990s, Columbus had grown to become Ohio's largest city in land area and in population. Efforts to revitalize downtown Columbus have had some success in recent decades, though like most major American cities, some architectural heritage was lost in the process. In the 1970s, landmarks such as Union Station and the
Neil House The Neil House was a historic hotel on High Street in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The hotel operated on Capitol Square from 1842 to 1980. Attributes The hotel buildings were located on South High Street across from the Ohio Statehouse. First bui ...
hotel were razed to construct high-rise offices and big retail space. The PNC Bank building was constructed in 1977, as well as the Nationwide Plaza buildings and other towers that sprouted during this period. The construction of the Greater Columbus Convention Center has brought major conventions and trade shows to the city.


21st century

The
Scioto Mile The Scioto Mile is a collection of parks and trails along both banks of the Scioto River in Columbus, Ohio, connecting parts of the Scioto Greenway Trail with downtown Columbus and Franklinton. The nine parks cover . History At the beginning ...
began development along the riverfront, an area that already had the Miranova Corporate Center and The Condominiums at North Bank Park. The 2010 United States foreclosure crisis forced the city to purchase numerous foreclosed, vacant properties to renovate or demolish them – at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. In February 2011, Columbus had 6,117 vacant properties, according to city officials. Since 2010, Columbus has been growing in population and economy; from 2010 to 2017, the city added 164,000 jobs, which ranked second in the United States. The city is focused on downtown revitalization, with recent projects being the
Columbus Commons John F. Wolfe Columbus Commons is a park and green space in downtown Columbus, Ohio, located on the site of the former Columbus City Center mall. The park features gardens, a performance stage, carousel, interactive playground equipment, and ...
park, parks along the Scioto Mile developed along with a reshaped riverfront, and developments in the Arena District and Franklinton. In February and March 2020, Columbus reported its first official cases of
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...
and declared a state of emergency, with all nonessential businesses closed statewide. There were 69,244 cases of the disease across the city, . Later in 2020, protests over the
murder of George Floyd On , George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was murdered in the U.S. city of Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's ...
took place in the city from May 28 into August.


Geography

The confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers is just northwest of Downtown Columbus. Several smaller tributaries course through the Columbus metropolitan area, including Alum Creek, Big Walnut Creek and Darby Creek. Columbus is considered to have relatively flat
topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...
thanks to a large
glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such a ...
that covered most of Ohio during the Wisconsin Ice Age. However, there are sizable differences in elevation through the area, with the high point of Franklin County being
above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...
near New Albany, and the low point being where the Scioto River leaves the county near Lockbourne. Numerous ravines near the rivers and creeks also add variety to the landscape. Tributaries to Alum Creek and the Olentangy River cut through shale, while tributaries to the Scioto River cut through limestone. The city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Columbus currently has the largest land area of any Ohio city; this is due to Jim Rhodes's tactic to annex suburbs while serving as mayor. As surrounding communities grew or were constructed, they came to require access to waterlines, which was under the sole control of the municipal water system. Rhodes told these communities that if they wanted water, they would have to submit to assimilation into Columbus.


Neighborhoods

Columbus has a wide diversity of neighborhoods with different characters, and is thus sometimes known as a "city of neighborhoods." Some of the most prominent neighborhoods include the Arena District, the
Brewery District The Brewery District, traditionally known as the Old German Brewing District, is a neighborhood located in Columbus, Ohio. Located just south of the central business district and west of German Village, it is bounded by Interstate 70 on the north, ...
, Clintonville, Franklinton,
German Village German Village is a historic neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, just south of the city's downtown. It was settled in the early-to-mid-19th century by a large number of German immigrants, who at one time comprised as much as a third of the city's ...
, The Short North and Victorian Village.


Climate

The city's climate is humid continental (
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
''Dfa'') transitional with the humid subtropical climate to the south characterized by warm, muggy summers and cold, dry winters. Columbus is within
USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...
hardiness zone 6a, now 6b bordering on 7a in the 1991 to 2020 normals chart. Winter snowfall is relatively light, since the city is not in the typical path of strong winter lows, such as the
Nor'easter A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below), or an East Coast low is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. The original use o ...
s that strike cities farther east. It is also too far south and west for lake-effect snow from
Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also ha ...
to have much effect, although the lakes to the north contribute to long stretches of cloudy spells in winter. The highest temperature recorded in Columbus is , which occurred twice during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s: once on July 21, 1934, and again on July 14, 1936.Records for Columbus.
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...
. Retrieved on 2008-11-16.
The lowest recorded temperature was , occurring on January 19, 1994. Columbus is subject to severe weather typical to the
Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
. Severe thunderstorms can bring
lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average ...
, large hail and on rare occasions
tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, alt ...
es, especially during the spring and sometimes through fall. A tornado that occurred on October 11, 2006, caused F2 damage. Floods, blizzards and ice storms can also occur from time to time.


Demographics


2010 census

In the
2010 United States census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...
, there were 787,033 people, 331,602 households and 176,037 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 370,965 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city included 815,985 races tallied, as some residents recognized multiple races. The racial makeup was 61.9%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 29.1% Black or African American, 1% Native American or Alaska Native, 4.6% Asian, 0.2% Native Hawaiian or
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, and 3.2% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.9% of the population. Of the 331,602 households, 29.1% had children under the age of 18, 32% were married couples living together, 15.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.1% had a male householder with no wife present and 46.9% were non-families. 35.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31, and the average family size was 3.04. The median age in the city was 31.2 years. The age makeup of the city comprised 23.2% of residents under the age of 18, 14% between the ages of 18 and 24, 32.3% between 25 and 44, 21.8% between 45 and 64, and 8.6% 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.8% male and 51.2% female.


2020 census

In th
2020 United States census
there were 905,748 people and 362,626 households residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 57.4%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 29.2% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American or Alaska Native, and 5.9% Asian. Hispanic or Latino of any race made up 6.3% of the population.


Population makeup

Columbus historically had a significant population of
white people White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as ...
. In 1900, whites made up 93.4% of the population. Although European immigration has declined, the Columbus metropolitan area has recently experienced increases in African, Asian and
Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-e ...
immigration, including groups from
Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
,
Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...
,
Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...
,
Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...
and
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
. While the Asian population is diverse, the city's Hispanic community is mainly made up of
Mexican Americans Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...
, although there is a notable Puerto Rican population. Many other countries of origin are represented in lesser numbers, largely due to the international draw of
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
. 2008 estimates indicate that roughly 116,000 of the city's residents are foreign-born, accounting for 82% of the new residents between 2000 and 2006 at a rate of 105 per week. 40% of the immigrants came from Asia, 23% from Africa, 22% from Latin America and 13% from Europe."Capacity Building Initiative: Immigrant and Refugee Organizations"
, Columbus Foundation. 2006. Retrieved July 3, 2012.
The city had the second-largest Somali and Somali American population in the country, as of 2004, as well as the largest expatriate Bhutanese-Nepali population in the world, as of 2018. Due to its demographics, which include a mix of races and a wide range of incomes, as well as urban, suburban and nearby rural areas, Columbus is considered a "typical" American city, leading retail and restaurant chains to use it as a
test market A test market, in the field of business and marketing, is a geographic region or demographic group used to gauge the viability of a product or service in the mass market prior to a wide scale roll-out. The criteria used to judge the acceptabilit ...
for new products. Columbus has maintained a steady population growth since its establishment. Its slowest growth, from 1850 to 1860, is primarily attributed to the city's cholera epidemic in the 1850s. According to the 2017 Japanese Direct Investment Survey by the
Consulate-General of Japan, Detroit The is a diplomatic mission of Japan. It is located in Suite 1600 Tower 400 of the GM Renaissance Center in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. Its jurisdiction includes the states of Michigan and Ohio. The Japanese government proposed opening the consu ...
, 838 Japanese nationals lived in Columbus, making it the municipality with the state's second-largest Japanese national population, after
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
. Columbus is home to a proportional
LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...
community, with an estimated 34,952 gay, lesbian or bisexual residents. The 2018 American Community Survey (ACS) reported an estimated 366,034 households, 32,276 of which were held by unmarried partners. 1,395 of these were female householder and female-partner households, and 1,456 were male householder and male-partner households. Columbus has been rated as one of the best cities in the country for gays and lesbians to live, and also as the most underrated gay city in the country. In July 2012, three years prior to legal same-sex marriage in the United States, the Columbus City Council unanimously passed a domestic partnership registry.


Italian-American community and symbols

Columbus has numerous
Italian Americans Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...
, with groups including the Columbus Italian Club, Columbus Piave Club and the Abruzzi Club.
Italian Village Italian Village is a neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, that contains an array of residential, commercial, and industrial buildings. It is a designated historic district, known for its historical and cultural preservation. The building types and arch ...
, a neighborhood near Downtown Columbus, has had a prominent Italian American community since the 1890s. The community has helped promote the influence
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
had in drawing European attention to the Americas. The Italian explorer, erroneously credited with the lands' discovery, has been posthumously criticized by historians for initiating colonization and for abuse, enslavement and subjugation of natives. In addition to the city being named for the explorer, its seal and flag depict a ship he used for his first voyage to the Americas, the . A similar-size replica of the ship, the
Santa Maria Ship & Museum The Santa Maria Ship & Museum was a museum ship in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The craft was a full-size replica of the '' Santa María'', one of three ships Christopher Columbus used in his first voyage to the Americas. The ship was displayed in C ...
, was displayed downtown from 1991 to 2014. The city's Discovery District and Discovery Bridge are named in reference to Columbus's "discovery" of the Americas; the bridge includes artistic bronze medallions featuring symbols of the explorer. Genoa Park, downtown, is named after
Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus and one of Columbus's sister cities. The Christopher Columbus Quincentennial Jubilee, celebrating the 500th anniversary of Columbus's first voyage, was held in the city in 1992. Its organizers spent $95 million on it, creating the horticultural exhibition
AmeriFlora '92 AmeriFlora '92 was an international horticultural exhibition held in Columbus, Ohio, United States from April 20 to October 12, 1992. Taking place on 88 acres (356,123 m2) of landscaped grounds at Franklin Park, the exhibition cost $95 million to ...
. The organizers also planned to create a replica Native American village, among other attractions. Local and national native leaders protested the event with a day of mourning, followed by protests and fasts at City Hall. The protests prevented the native village from being exhibited, and annual fasts continued until 1997. A protest also took place during the dedication of the ''Santa Maria'' replica, an event held in late 1991 on the day before Columbus Day and in time for the jubilee. The city has three outdoor statues of the explorer; the statue at City Hall was acquired, delivered and dedicated with the assistance of the Italian American community. Protests in 2017 aimed for this statue to be removed, followed by the city in 2018 ceasing to recognize Columbus Day as a city holiday. During the 2020
George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internat ...
, petitions were created to remove all three statues and rename the city of Columbus. Two of the statues – one at City Hall and the other at Columbus State Community College – were removed, while the city is also looking into changing its flag and seal to remove the reference to Christopher Columbus. The future of the third statue, at the Ohio Statehouse, will be discussed in a meeting on July 16. The city was the first of eight cities to be offered the ''
Birth of the New World The ''Birth of the New World'' ( es, Nacimiento del Nuevo Mundo, colloquially known as ''La Estatua de Colón'' or literally ''Columbus' Statue'') is a bronze sculpture located on the Atlantic coastline of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. When completed ...
'' statue, in 1993. The statue, also of Christopher Columbus, was completed in Puerto Rico in 2016, and is the tallest in the United States – taller than the
Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States. The copper statue, ...
, including its pedestal. At least six U.S. cities rejected it, including Columbus, based on its height and design.


Religion

According to the 2019 American Values Atlas, 26% of Columbus metropolitan area residents are unaffiliated with a religious tradition. 17% of area residents identify as White evangelical Protestants, 14% as White mainline Protestants, 11% as Black Protestants, 11% as White Catholics, 5% as Hispanic Catholics, 3% as other nonwhite Catholics, 2% as other nonwhite Protestants and 2% as Mormons. Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and Hispanic Protestants each made up 1% of the population, while Jehovah's Witnesses, Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Unitarians and members of New Age or other religions each made up under 0.5% of the population. Places of worship include Baptist, Evangelical, Greek Orthodox, Latter-day Saints, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Quaker, Roman Catholic and Unitarian Universalist churches. Columbus also hosts several Islamic centers, Jewish synagogues, Buddhist centers, Hindu temples and a branch of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Religious teaching institutions include the Pontifical College Josephinum and several private schools led by Christian organizations.


Economy

Columbus has a generally strong and diverse economy based on education, insurance, banking, fashion, defense, aviation, food, logistics, steel, energy, medical research, health care, hospitality, retail and technology. In 2010, it was one of the 10 best big cities in the country, according to Relocate America, a real estate research firm."Ranking: Columbus among top 10 big cities"
, BizJournals. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
According to the
Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is one of 12 regional Reserve Banks that, along with the Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up the United States' central bank. Missouri is the only state to have two main Federal Reserve Banks (Ka ...
, the GDP of Columbus in 2019 was $134 billion. During the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
between 2007 and 2009, Columbus's economy was not impacted as much as the rest of the country, due to decades of diversification work by long-time corporate residents, business leaders and political leaders. The administration of former mayor
Michael B. Coleman Michael B. Coleman (born November 18, 1954) is an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as the 52nd mayor of Columbus, Ohio. He was the first African-American to serve as the mayor of Ohio's capital city. Coleman was a memb ...
continued this work, although the city faced financial turmoil and had to increase taxes, allegedly due in part to fiscal mismanagement. Because Columbus is the state capital, there is a large government presence in the city. Including city, county, state and federal employers, government jobs provide the largest single source of employment within Columbus. In 2019, the city had six corporations named to the U.S. Fortune 500 list: Alliance Data,
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and affiliated companies, commonly shortened to Nationwide, is a group of large U.S. insurance and financial services companies based in Columbus, Ohio. The company also operates regional headquarters in S ...
, American Electric Power, L Brands, Huntington Bancshares and Cardinal Health in suburban
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
."Top 100 U.S. metro economies"
, U.S. Conference of Mayors. Retrieved April 22, 2010.
Other major employers include schools (e.g., the Ohio State University) and hospitals (among others, Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children's Hospital, which are among the teaching hospitals of the
Ohio State University College of Medicine The Ohio State University College of Medicine (formerly known as The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health) is the medical school at The Ohio State University and is located in Columbus, Ohio. The college is nationally rec ...
), high-tech research and development such as the Battelle Memorial Institute, information/library companies such as OCLC and
Chemical Abstracts Service CAS (formerly Chemical Abstracts Service) is a division of the American Chemical Society. It is a source of chemical information. CAS is located in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Print periodicals ''Chemical Abstracts'' is a periodical index th ...
, steel processing and pressure cylinder manufacturer Worthington Industries, financial institutions such as
JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, t ...
and Huntington Bancshares, as well as
Owens Corning Owens Corning is an American company that develops and produces insulation, roofing, and fiberglass composites and related materials and products. It is the world's largest manufacturer of fiberglass composites. It was formed in 1935 as a partn ...
. Fast-food chains
Wendy's Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was ...
and White Castle are also headquartered in the Columbus area. Major foreign corporations operating or with divisions in the city include Germany-based Siemens and Roxane Laboratories, Finland-based Vaisala, Tomasco Mulciber Inc., A Y Manufacturing, as well as
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
-based ABB and
Mettler Toledo Mettler Toledo () is a multinational manufacturer of scales and analytical instruments. It is the largest provider of weighing instruments for use in laboratory, industrial, and food retailing applications. The company also provides various ana ...
. The city also has a significant fashion and retail presence, home to companies such as Big Lots, L Brands, Abercrombie & Fitch, DSW and Express.


Food and beverage industry

North Market, a public market and food hall, is located downtown near the Short North. It is the only remaining public market of Columbus's original four marketplaces. Numerous restaurant chains are based in the Columbus area, including
Charleys Philly Steaks Charleys Philly Steaks is an American restaurant chain of Philly cheesesteak stores headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as Charley's Steakery and Charley's Grilled Subs, the franchise was established in 1986 on the campus of Ohio S ...
, Bibibop Asian Grill,
Steak Escape Steak Escape is a restaurant chain based in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Locations are typically found in food courts in shopping malls as well as airports, all serving a variety of menu items, including cheesesteaks. The company is known as ...
, White Castle, Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, Bob Evans Restaurants, Max & Erma's, Damon's Grill, Donatos Pizza and
Wendy's Wendy's is an American international fast food restaurant chain founded by Dave Thomas (1932–2002) on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. Its headquarters moved to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. As of December 31, 2018, Wendy's was ...
. Wendy's, the world's third-largest hamburger fast-food chain, operated its first store downtown as both a museum and a restaurant until March 2007, when the establishment was closed due to low revenue. The company is presently headquartered outside the city in nearby
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
. Budweiser has a major brewery located on the north side, just south of I-270 and Worthington. Columbus is also home to many local
micro breweries Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...
and pubs. Asian frozen food manufacturer
Kahiki Foods Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Aust ...
was located on the east side of Columbus and now operates in its Gahanna suburb. Wasserstrom Company, a major supplier of equipment and supplies for restaurants, is located on the north side.


Arts and culture


Landmarks

Columbus has many notable buildings, including the
Ohio Statehouse The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the H ...
, the
Ohio Judicial Center The Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center is a state courthouse, office building, and library in Columbus, Ohio, in the city's downtown Civic Center. The building is the headquarters of the Supreme Court of Ohio, the state's highest court, as wel ...
, the Greater Columbus Convention Center, Rhodes State Office Tower, LeVeque Tower and One Nationwide Plaza. Construction of the Ohio Statehouse began in 1839 on a plot of land donated by four prominent Columbus landowners. This plot formed Capitol Square, which was not part of the city's original layout. Built of Columbus
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
from the
Marble Cliff Quarry Co. The Marble Cliff Quarry Co., is located in the community of San Margherita and operated the largest limestone quarry in the United States from its founding in 1913 until its sale in 1985. History In the early 1840s, quarry activities began in ...
, the Statehouse stands on foundations deep that were laid by prison labor gangs rumored to have been composed largely of masons jailed for minor infractions. It features a central recessed
porch A porch (from Old French ''porche'', from Latin ''porticus'' "colonnade", from ''porta'' "passage") is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance of a building. A porch is placed in front of the facade of a building it commands, and form ...
with a
colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or cur ...
of a forthright and primitive Greek Doric mode. A broad and low central pediment supports the windowed
astylar Astylar (from Gr. ''ἀ-'', privative, and ''στῦλος'', a column) is an architectural term given to a class of design in which neither columns nor pilasters are used for decorative purposes; thus the Riccardi and Strozzi palaces in Florence ...
drum under an invisibly low saucer dome that lights the interior rotunda. There are several artworks within and outside the building, including the ''
William McKinley Monument The ''William McKinley Monument'', or ''McKinley Memorial'', is a statue and quotation array honoring the assassinated United States President William McKinley which stands in front of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. Created by Hermon Atk ...
'' dedicated in 1907. Unlike many U.S. state capitol buildings, the Ohio State Capitol owes little to the architecture of the national Capitol. During the Statehouse's 22-year construction, seven architects were employed. The Statehouse was opened to the legislature and the public in 1857 and completed in 1861, and is located at the intersection of Broad and High streets in downtown Columbus. Established in 1848, Green Lawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in the Midwestern United States. Within the Driving Park heritage district lies the original home of Eddie Rickenbacker, a World War I fighter pilot ace. Built in 1895, the house was designated a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...
in 1976.


Museums and public art

Columbus has a wide variety of museums and galleries. Its primary art museum is the Columbus Museum of Art, which operates its main location as well as the
Pizzuti Collection The Pizzuti Collection is a museum for contemporary art in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It has been part of the Columbus Museum of Art since September 2018. The three-story gallery is located in the Short North and Victorian Village neighborhood ...
, featuring
contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic ...
. The museum, founded in 1878, focuses on European and
American art Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial arc ...
up to early
modernism Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
that includes extraordinary examples of
Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...
, German
Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it ra ...
and Cubism. Another prominent art museum in the city is the Wexner Center for the Arts, a
contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic ...
gallery and research facility operated by the
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
. The Ohio History Connection is headquartered in Columbus, with its flagship museum, the
Ohio History Center The Ohio History Center is a history museum and research center in Columbus, Ohio. It is the primary museum for Ohio's history, and is the headquarters, offices, and library of the Ohio History Connection. The building also houses Ohio's state ar ...
, north of downtown. Adjacent to the museum is Ohio Village, a replica of a village around the time of the American Civil War. The
Columbus Historical Society The Columbus Historical Society (CHS) is the historical society for Columbus, Ohio, chronicling the city's history. The society office and museum building is located in the Franklinton neighborhood. In 2020, the Columbus Historical Society aims ...
also features historical exhibits, which focus more closely on life in Columbus. COSI is a large science and children's museum in downtown Columbus. The present building, the former Central High School, was completed in November 1999, opposite downtown on the west bank of the Scioto River. In 2009, '' Parents'' magazine named COSI one of the 10 best science centers for families in the country. Other science museums include the
Orton Geological Museum University, Hayes and Orton Halls are three historic buildings on the Oval at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. On July 16, 1970, they were added to the National Register of Historic Places. The original University Hall was demolish ...
and the Museum of Biological Diversity, which are both part of the Ohio State University. The
Franklin Park Conservatory Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is a botanical garden and conservatory located in Columbus, Ohio. It is open daily and an admission fee is charged. Today, it is a horticultural and educational institution showcasing exotic plant ...
is the city's
botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
, which opened in 1895. It features over 400 species of plants in a large Victorian-style glass greenhouse building that includes rain forest, desert and Himalayan mountain biomes. The conservatory is located just east of Downtown in Franklin Park Biographical museums include the Thurber House (documenting the life of cartoonist James Thurber), the
Jack Nicklaus Museum The Jack Nicklaus Museum is a museum focused on and honoring championship golfer Jack Nicklaus. It is on the campus of the golfer's alma mater of Ohio State University in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. The museum, opened in 2002, is a facilit ...
(documenting the golfer's career, located on the OSU campus) and the
Kelton House Museum and Garden The Kelton House Museum and Garden is a Greek Revival and Italianate mansion in the Discovery District of downtown Columbus, Ohio. The museum was established by the Junior League of Columbus to promote an understanding of daily life, customs, and ...
, the latter of which being a
historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...
memorializing three generations of the Kelton family, the house's use as a documented station on the Underground Railroad, and overall Victorian life. The
National Veterans Memorial and Museum The National Veterans Memorial and Museum (NVMM) is the United States' national museum for veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. The museum is located in Columbus, Ohio, along the Scioto River between Franklinton and Downtown Columbus. The museum ...
, which opened in 2018, focuses on the personal stories of military veterans throughout U.S. history. The museum replaced the Franklin County Veterans Memorial, which opened in 1955. Other notable museums in the city include the
Central Ohio Fire Museum The Central Ohio Fire Museum is a firefighting museum in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The museum is housed in the former Engine House No. 16 of the Columbus Fire Department, built in 1908. It was listed on the Columbus Register of Historic Properties ...
, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and the Ohio Craft Museum.


Performing arts

Columbus is the home of many performing arts institutions including the Columbus Symphony Orchestra,
Opera Columbus Opera Columbus (Opera Association of Central Ohio, OC) is an American professional opera company in Columbus, Ohio, founded in 1981, and is a member of Opera America. OC employs nearly 350 artists and creative professionals annually—vocalists, a ...
, BalletMet Columbus, the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, CATCO, Columbus Children's Theatre, Shadowbox Live, and the Columbus Jazz Orchestra. Throughout the summer, the
Actors' Theatre of Columbus Actors' Theatre of Columbus is a performing arts theater troupe located in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded in 1982 by Gary and Patricia Ellson, and was initially called Actors' Summer Theatre. Actors' Theatre presents plays by William Shakespeare a ...
offers free performances of
Shakespearean William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
plays in an open-air amphitheater in Schiller Park in historic
German Village German Village is a historic neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, just south of the city's downtown. It was settled in the early-to-mid-19th century by a large number of German immigrants, who at one time comprised as much as a third of the city's ...
. The Columbus Youth Ballet Academy was founded in the 1980s by ballerina and artistic director Shir Lee Wu, a discovery of
Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She ...
. Wu is now the artistic director of the Columbus City Ballet School. Columbus has several large concert venues, including the Nationwide Arena,
Value City Arena Value City Arena is a multi-purpose arena, located on the campus of Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The arena opened in 1998 and is currently the largest by seating capacity in the Big Ten Conference, with 19,049 seats, w ...
, Express Live!, Mershon Auditorium and the Newport Music Hall. In May 2009, the Lincoln Theatre, formerly a center for Black culture in Columbus, reopened after an extensive restoration. Not far from the Lincoln Theatre is the King Arts Complex, which hosts a variety of cultural events. The city also has several theaters downtown, including the historic Palace Theatre, the
Ohio Theatre Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The ...
and the Southern Theatre. Broadway Across America often presents touring Broadway musicals in these larger venues. The Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts houses the Capitol Theatre and three smaller studio theaters, providing a home for resident performing arts companies.


Film

Movies filmed in the Columbus metropolitan area include '' Teachers'' in 1984, '' Tango & Cash'' in 1989, '' Little Man Tate'' in 1991, ''
Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and us ...
'' in 1997, ''
Traffic Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...
'' in 2000, '' Speak'' in 2004, ''
Bubble Bubble, Bubbles or The Bubble may refer to: Common uses * Bubble (physics), a globule of one substance in another, usually gas in a liquid ** Soap bubble * Economic bubble, a situation where asset prices are much higher than underlying fund ...
'' in 2005 and '' Parker'' in 2013.


Sports


Professional teams

Columbus hosts two major league professional sports teams: the
Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ...
of the
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...
(NHL), which play at Nationwide Arena, and the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer (MLS), which play at
Lower.com Field Lower.com Field is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It serves primarily as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer, replacing the club's previous home, Historic Crew Stadium. The new stadium cost ...
. The Crew previously played at
Historic Crew Stadium Historic Crew Stadium, previously known as Columbus Crew Stadium and Mapfre Stadium, is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It primarily served as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer from 1999 u ...
, the first
soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi- ...
built in the United States for a Major League Soccer team. The Crew were one of the original members of MLS and won their first
MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...
in
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, with a second title in 2020. The Columbus Crew moved into
Lower.com Field Lower.com Field is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It serves primarily as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer, replacing the club's previous home, Historic Crew Stadium. The new stadium cost ...
in the summer of 2021, which will also feature a mixed-use development site named Confluence Village. The Columbus Clippers, the International League affiliate of the
Cleveland Guardians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...
, play in Huntington Park, which opened in 2009. The city was home to the Panhandles/Tigers football team from 1901 to 1926; they are credited with playing in the first NFL game against another NFL opponent. In the late 1990s, the
Columbus Quest The Columbus Quest was a professional women's basketball franchise located in Columbus, Ohio in the now-defunct American Basketball League (ABL). They were one of the league's original eight teams that started play in 1996. In the league's bri ...
won the only two championships during American Basketball League's two-and-a-half season existence. The Ohio Aviators were based in Obetz, Ohio, and began play in the only PRO Rugby season before the league folded.


Ohio State Buckeyes

Columbus is home to one of the nation's most competitive intercollegiate programs, the
Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...
of
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
. The program has placed in the top 10 final standings of the Director's Cup five times since 2000–2001, including No. 3 for the 2002–2003 season and No. 4 for the 2003–2004 season. The university funds 36 varsity teams, consisting of 17 male, 16 female and three co-educational teams. In 2007–2008 and 2008–2009, the program generated the second-most revenue for college programs behind the Texas Longhorns of The University of Texas at Austin. The Ohio State Buckeyes are a member of the
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
's
Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
, and their football team plays home games at Ohio Stadium. The Ohio State–
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...
football game (known colloquially as "The Game") is the final game of the regular season and is played in November each year, alternating between Columbus and Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 2000,
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
ranked the Ohio State–Michigan game as the greatest rivalry in North American sports. Moreover, "Buckeye fever" permeates Columbus culture year-round and forms a major part of Columbus's cultural identity. Former New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, an Ohio native who received a master's degree from Ohio State and coached in Columbus, was an Ohio State football fan and major donor to the university who contributed to the construction of the band facility at the renovated Ohio Stadium, which bears his family's name. During the winter months, the Buckeyes
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
and hockey teams are also major sporting attractions.


Other sports

Columbus has a long history in motorsports, hosting the world's first 24-hour car race at the Columbus Driving Park in 1905, which was organized by the Columbus Auto Club. The Columbus Motor Speedway was built in 1945 and held its first motorcycle race in 1946. In 2010, the
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
student-built
Buckeye Bullet 2 The Buckeye Bullet is a series of four experimental electric cars created by students from Ohio State University ( the Buckeyes) as a joint project with Venturi. The cars were designed to break the land speed record on the Bonneville Speedway, a ...
, a fuel-cell vehicle, set an FIA world speed record for electric vehicles in reaching 303.025 mph, eclipsing the previous record of 302.877 mph. The annual
All American Quarter Horse Congress The All American Quarter Horse Congress (AAQHC) is known as the largest single breed horse show in the world. The annual event is held at the 360 acre Ohio Expo Center and State Fairgrounds in Columbus, Ohio, and is hosted by the Ohio Quarter Ho ...
, the world's largest single-breed horse show, attracts approximately 500,000 visitors to the Ohio Expo Center each October. Columbus hosts the annual Arnold Sports Festival. Hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the event has grown to eight Olympic sports and 22,000 athletes competing in 80 events. In conjunction with the Arnold Classic, the city hosted three consecutive
Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...
events between 2007 and 2009, as well as other
mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incor ...
events. Westside Barbell, a world-renowned powerlifting gym, is located in Columbus. Its founder,
Louie Simmons Louie Simmons (October 12, 1947 – March 24, 2022) was an American powerlifter and strength coach. He was active as a powerlifter and coach for more than fifty years. Simmons was the founder of Westside Barbell and has developed several training ...
, is known for his popularization of the "Conjugate Method," while he is also credited with inventing training machines for reverse hyper-extensions and belt squats. Westside Barbell is known for producing multiple world record holders in powerlifting. The Columbus Bullies were two-time champions of the American Football League (1940–1941). The Columbus Thunderbolts were formed in 1991 for the Arena Football League, and then relocated to Cleveland as the Cleveland Thunderbolts; the Columbus Destroyers were the next team of the AFL, playing from 2004 until the league's demise in 2008 and returned for single season in 2019 until the league folded a second time.
Ohio Roller Derby Ohio Roller Derby (OHRD) is a women's flat track roller derby league based in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 2005, the league currently consists of two mixed teams which compete against teams from other leagues. Ohio Roller Derby is a founding member ...
(formerly Ohio Roller Girls) was founded in Columbus in 2005 and still competes internationally in Women's Flat Track Derby Association play. The team is regularly ranked in the top 60 internationally.


Parks and attractions

Columbus's Recreation and Parks Department oversees about 370 city parks. Also in the area are 19 regional parks and the Metro Parks, which are part of the Columbus and Franklin County Metropolitan Park District. These parks include Clintonville's Whetstone Park and the Columbus Park of Roses, a rose garden. The
Chadwick Arboretum Chadwick Arboretum is a arboretum on the Agriculture campus of The Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The main arboretum collection is located just across Lane Avenue from the Schottenstein Center with its other collections ...
on Ohio State's campus features a large and varied collection of plants, while its
Olentangy River Wetland Research Park The Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park is an experimental wetland complex located adjacent to the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, United States and is part of the School of Environment and Natural Res ...
is an experimental wetland open to the public. Downtown, the painting ''
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte ''A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte'' (french: Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte) was painted from 1884 to 1886 and is Georges Seurat's most famous work. A leading example of pointillist technique, executed o ...
'' is represented in topiary at Columbus's
Topiary Park Topiary Park is a public park and garden in Columbus, Ohio's Discovery District. The park's topiary garden, officially the Topiary Garden at Old Deaf School Park, is designed to depict figures from Georges Seurat's 1884 painting, '' A Sunday A ...
. Also near downtown, the
Scioto Audubon Metro Park Scioto Audubon Metro Park is a public park and nature preserve in Columbus, Ohio. The park is managed by the Columbus and Franklin County Metro Parks and is part of the Scioto Mile network of parks and trails around Downtown Columbus. The park f ...
on the Whittier Peninsula opened in 2009 and includes a large Audubon nature center focused on the birdwatching the area is known for. The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium's collections include lowland gorillas, polar bears, manatees, Siberian tigers, cheetahs and kangaroos. Also in the zoo complex is the Zoombezi Bay water park and amusement park.


Fairs and festivals

Annual festivities in Columbus include the Ohio State Fair – one of the largest state fairs in the country – as well as the Columbus Arts Festival and the Jazz & Rib Fest, both of which occur on the downtown riverfront. In mid-May from 2007 to 2018, Columbus was home to Rock on the Range, which was held at
Historic Crew Stadium Historic Crew Stadium, previously known as Columbus Crew Stadium and Mapfre Stadium, is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It primarily served as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer from 1999 u ...
and marketed as America's biggest rock festival. The festival, which took place on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday, has hosted Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Slipknot and other notable bands. In May 2019, it was officially replaced by the Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival. During the first weekend in June, the bars of Columbus's North Market District host the Park Street Festival, which attracts thousands of visitors to a massive party in bars and on the street. June's second-to-last weekend sees one of the Midwest's largest
gay pride parades A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, legal rights, and pride. The events som ...
,
Columbus Pride Columbus Pride (or Stonewall Columbus Pride Parade) is an LGBTQ festival in Columbus, Ohio hosted by Stonewall Columbus. The event first took place in 1981, and has grown into the second largest LGBT pride event in the Midwest, behind Chicago. In ...
, reflecting the city's sizable gay population. During the last weekend of June, Goodale Park hosts
ComFest ComFest (officially The Community Festival) is a free, non-corporate, music and arts annual festival currently held each June at Goodale Park in the Victorian Village area of Columbus, Ohio. Description The festival bills itself as "The Party wit ...
(short for "Community Festival"), an immense three-day music festival marketed as the largest non-commercial festival in the U.S., with art vendors, live music on multiple stages, hundreds of local social and political organizations, body painting and beer. Greek Festival is held in August or September at the
Greek Orthodox Church The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...
downtown. The Hot Times Community Arts & Music Festival, a celebration of music, arts, food and diversity, is held annually in the Olde Towne East neighborhood. The city's largest dining event, Restaurant Week Columbus, is held twice a year in mid-January and mid-July. In 2010, more than 40,000 diners went to 40 participating restaurants, and $5,000 was donated the Mid-Ohio Foodbank on behalf of sponsors and participating restaurants. The Juneteenth Ohio Festival is held each year at Franklin Park on Father's Day weekend. Started by Mustafaa Shabazz, Juneteenth Ohio is one of the largest African American festivals in the United States, including three full days of music, food, dance and entertainment by local and national recording artists. The festival holds a Father's Day celebration, honoring local fathers. Around the Fourth of July, Columbus hosts Red, White & Boom! on the Scioto riverfront downtown, attracting crowds of over 500,000 people and featuring the largest fireworks display in Ohio. The Doo Dah Parade is also held at this time. During Memorial Day Weekend, the Asian Festival is held in Franklin Park. Hundreds of restaurants, vendors and companies open up booths, and
traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
is played, martial arts are performed and cultural exhibits are set up. The Jazz & Rib Fest is a free downtown event held each July, featuring jazz artists like Randy Weston, D. Bohannon Clark and Wayne Shorter, along with rib vendors from around the country. The Short North is host to the monthly Gallery Hop, which attracts hundreds to the neighborhood's art galleries (which all open their doors to the public until late at night) and street musicians. The Hilltop Bean Dinner is an annual event held on Columbus's West Side that celebrates the city's Civil War heritage near the historic Camp Chase Cemetery. At the end of September,
German Village German Village is a historic neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, just south of the city's downtown. It was settled in the early-to-mid-19th century by a large number of German immigrants, who at one time comprised as much as a third of the city's ...
throws an annual Oktoberfest celebration that features German food, beer, music and crafts. The Short North also hosts HighBall Halloween and Masquerade on High, a fashion show and street parade that closes down High Street. In 2011, in its fourth year, HighBall Halloween gained notoriety as it accepted its first Expy award. HighBall Halloween has much to offer for those interested in fashion and the performing and visual arts, or for those who want to celebrate Halloween with food and drinks from all around the city. Each year, the event is put on with a different theme. Columbus also hosts many conventions in the Greater Columbus Convention Center, a large convention center on the north edge of downtown. Completed in 1993, the convention center was designed by architect Peter Eisenman, who also designed the Wexner Center.


Shopping

Both of the metropolitan area's major shopping centers are located in Columbus: Easton Town Center and
Polaris Fashion Place Polaris Fashion Place is a two level shopping mall and surrounding retail plaza serving Columbus, Ohio, United States. The mall, owned locally by Washington Prime Group, is located off Interstate 71 on Polaris Parkway in Delaware County just to t ...
. Developer
Richard E. Jacobs Richard E. "Dick" Jacobs (June 16, 1925 – June 5, 2009) was an American businessman and real estate developer who co-founded the Jacobs Entertainment, Richard E. Jacobs Group, and owner of the Cleveland Indians from 1986-1999. Biography Jacob ...
built the area's first three major shopping malls in the 1960s: Westland, Northland and
Eastland SS ''Eastland'' was a passenger ship based in Chicago and used for tours. On 24 July 1915, the ship rolled over onto its side while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. In total, 844 passengers and crew were killed in what was the largest loss ...
. Of these, only Eastland remains in operation. Near Northland Mall was The Continent, an open-air mall in the Northland area, mostly vacant and pending redevelopment. Columbus City Center was built downtown in 1988, alongside the first location of Lazarus; this mall closed in 2009 and was demolished in 2011. Easton Town Center was built in 1999 and
Polaris Fashion Place Polaris Fashion Place is a two level shopping mall and surrounding retail plaza serving Columbus, Ohio, United States. The mall, owned locally by Washington Prime Group, is located off Interstate 71 on Polaris Parkway in Delaware County just to t ...
in 2001.


Environment

The City of Columbus has focused on reducing its environmental impact and
carbon footprint A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbo ...
. In 2020, a citywide ballot measure was approved, giving Columbus an
electricity aggregation Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), also known as Community Choice Energy, municipal aggregation, governmental aggregation, electricity aggregation, and community aggregation, is an alternative to the investor owned utility energy supply system in ...
plan which will supply it with
100% renewable energy 100% renewable energy means getting all energy from renewable resources. The endeavor to use 100% renewable energy for electricity, heating, cooling and transport is motivated by climate change, pollution and other environmental issue ...
by the start of 2023. Its vendor, AEP Energy, plans to construct new wind and solar farms in Ohio to help supply the electricity. The largest sources of pollution in the county, as of 2019, are the Ohio State University's McCracken Power Plant, the landfill operated by the
Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO) was established by the Ohio General Assembly in 1989 as part of Ohio House Bill 592, which created Ohio’s current solid waste management planning and regulatory programs. SWACO is a government- ...
(SWACO) and the
Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV ( AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...
Columbus Brewery. Anheuser-Busch has a company-wide goal of reducing emissions by 25% by 2025. Ohio State plans to construct a new heat and power plant, also powered by fossil fuels, but set to reduce emissions by about 30%. SWACO manages to capture 75% of its methane emissions to use in producing energy, and is looking to reduce emissions further.


Government


Mayor and city council

The city is administered by a mayor and a seven-member unicameral council elected in two classes every two years to four-year terms at large. Columbus is the largest city in the United States that elects its city council at large as opposed to districts. The mayor appoints the director of safety and the director of public service. The people elect the auditor, municipal court clerk, municipal court judges and city attorney. A charter commission, elected in 1913, submitted a new charter in May 1914, offering a modified federal form, with a number of progressive features, such as nonpartisan ballot, preferential voting, recall of elected officials, the referendum and a small council elected at large. The charter was adopted, effective January 1, 1916. Andrew Ginther has been the mayor of Columbus since 2016.


Government offices

As Ohio's capital and the county seat, Columbus hosts numerous federal, state, county and city government offices and courts. Federal offices include the
Joseph P. Kinneary U.S. Courthouse The Joseph P. Kinneary United States Courthouse is a federal courthouse in Columbus, Ohio, in the city's downtown Civic Center. It was formerly known as the U.S. Post Office and Court House. It was designed by Richards, McCarty & Bulford and was ...
, one of several courts for the District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, after moving from 121 E. State St. in 1934. Another federal office, the
John W. Bricker Federal Building The John W. Bricker Federal Building is a federal office building in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The structure was designed in the Brutalist architecture style and was built in 1977 to house federal offices. It has seven stories, and is part of a fa ...
, has offices for U.S. Senator
Sherrod Brown Sherrod Campbell Brown (; born November 9, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Ohio, a seat which he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for Ohio ...
, as well as for the Internal Revenue Service, the
Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability and survivor benefits. To qualify f ...
and the Departments of Housing & Urban Development and
Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...
. The State of Ohio's capitol building, the
Ohio Statehouse The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the H ...
, is located in the center of downtown on Capitol Square. It houses the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate. It also contains the ceremonial offices of the
governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
, lieutenant governor, state
treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury ...
and state auditor. The Supreme Court, Court of Claims and Judicial Conference are located in the
Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center The Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center is a state courthouse, office building, and library in Columbus, Ohio, in the city's downtown Civic Center. The building is the headquarters of the Supreme Court of Ohio, the state's highest court, as well ...
downtown by the Scioto River. The building, built in 1933 to house 10 state agencies along with the
State Library of Ohio The State Library of Ohio is a state agency that provides services to state government and all types of libraries to ensure that all Ohio residents, rich or poor, rural or urban, receive the best possible library service and are able to engage in ...
, became the Supreme Court after extensive renovations from 2001 to 2004. Franklin County operates the
Franklin County Government Center The Franklin County Government Center is a government complex of Franklin County, Ohio in the city of Columbus. The government center has included several iterations of the Franklin County Courthouse, including a building completed in 1840 and ...
, a complex at the southern end of downtown Columbus. The center includes the county's municipal court, common pleas court, correctional center, juvenile detention center and sheriff's office. Near City Hall, the
Michael B. Coleman Government Center The Michael B. Coleman Government Center is a municipal office building of Columbus, Ohio, in the city's downtown Civic Center. The building, completed in 2018, is named for former mayor Michael Coleman. Attributes The Michael B. Coleman Gover ...
holds offices for the departments of building and zoning services, public service, development and public utilities. Also nearby is 77 North Front Street, which holds Columbus's city attorney office, income-tax division, public safety, human resources, civil service and purchasing departments. The structure, built in 1929, was the police headquarters until 1991, and was then dormant until it was given a $34 million renovation from 2011 to 2013.


Emergency services and homeland security

Municipal police duties are performed by the
Columbus Division of Police The Columbus Division of Police (CPD) is the main policing unit for the city of Columbus, Ohio, in the United States. It is the largest police department in the state of Ohio, and among the twenty-five largest in the United States.Based upon the ...
, while
emergency medical services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...
(EMS) and fire protection are through the
Columbus Division of Fire The Columbus Division of Fire (CFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to Columbus, Ohio. The department operates 35 stations; the newest station opened March 2020. The stations are divided into seven battalions. The Columbu ...
. Ohio Homeland Security operates the Strategic Analysis and Information Center (SAIC) fusion center in Columbus's Hilltop neighborhood. The facility is the state's primary public intelligence hub and one of the few in the country that uses state, local, federal and private resources.


Social services and homelessness

Columbus has a history of governmental and nonprofit support for low-income residents and the homeless. Nevertheless, the homelessness rate has steadily risen since at least 2007. Poverty and differences in quality of life have grown, as well; Columbus was noted as the second-most economically segregated large metropolitan area in 2015, in a study by the University of Toronto. It also ranked 45th of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in terms of social mobility, according to a 2015 Harvard University study.


Education


Colleges and universities

Columbus is the home of two public
college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
s: the
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
, one of the largest college campuses in the United States, and
Columbus State Community College Columbus State Community College (CSCC) is a public community college in Columbus, Ohio. Founded as Columbus Area Technician's School in 1963, it was renamed Columbus Technical Institute in 1965 and was renamed again to its current name in 198 ...
. In 2009, Ohio State University was ranked No. 19 in the country by ''U.S. News & World Report'' on its list of best public universities, and No. 56 overall, scoring in the first tier of schools nationally.U.S. News and Reports, Best Colleges
Retrieved July 26, 2009.
Some of Ohio State's graduate school programs placed in the top 5, including No. 5 for both best veterinary programs and best pharmacy programs. The specialty graduate programs of social psychology was ranked No. 2, dispute resolution was No. 5, vocational education was No. 2, and elementary education, secondary teacher education, administration/supervision was No. 5.Ohio State University, News Release
Retrieved July 26, 2009.
Private institutions in Columbus include
Capital University Law School Capital University Law School is an ABA-accredited private law school located in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The law school is affiliated with Capital University, the oldest university in Central Ohio and one of the oldest and largest Lutheran-affi ...
, the Columbus College of Art and Design,
Fortis College Fortis College (also Fortis Institute and Fortis College of Nursing in some locations) is a Private for-profit college with multiple campuses throughout the United States. It was established in 2008 and is operated by Education Affiliates and own ...
, DeVry University,
Ohio Business College Ohio Business College is a private for-profit junior college with multiple locations in Ohio. It is owned by Tri-State Educational Systems, Inc. with corporate headquarters located in Middletown, Ohio. Currently, Ohio Business College operates ...
, Miami-Jacobs Career College, Ohio Institute of Health Careers, Bradford School and Franklin University, as well as the religious schools Bexley Hall Episcopal Seminary, Mount Carmel College of Nursing,
Ohio Dominican University Ohio Dominican University is a private Dominican liberal arts university in Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-mos ...
, Pontifical College Josephinum and Trinity Lutheran Seminary. Three major suburban schools also have an influence on Columbus's educational landscape: Bexley's
Capital University Capital University (Capital, Cap, or CU) is a private university in Bexley, Ohio. Capital was founded as the Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio in 1830, and later was associated with that synod's successor, the Ame ...
, Westerville's Otterbein University and Delaware's Ohio Wesleyan University.


Primary and secondary schools

Columbus City Schools (CCS) is the largest district in Ohio, with 55,000 pupils. CCS operates 142 elementary, middle and high schools, including a number of magnet schools (which are referred to as
alternative school An alternative school is an educational establishment with a curriculum and methods that are nontraditional. Such schools offer a wide range of philosophies and teaching methods; some have strong political, scholarly, or philosophical orientati ...
s within the school system). The suburbs operate their own districts, typically serving students in one or more townships, with districts sometimes crossing municipal boundaries. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus also operates several parochial elementary and high schools. The area's second-largest school district is South-Western City Schools, which encompasses southwestern Franklin County, including a slice of Columbus itself. Other portions of Columbus are zoned to the
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
, New Albany-Plain, Westerville and Worthington school districts. There are also several private schools in the area, such as St. Paul's Lutheran School, a K-8 Christian school of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod in Columbus. Some sources determine that the first kindergarten in the United States was established here by Louisa Frankenberg, a former student of Friedrich Fröbel. Frankenberg immigrated to the city in 1838 and opened her kindergarten in the German Village neighborhood in that year. The school did not work out, so she returned to Germany in 1840. In 1858, Frankenberg returned to Columbus and established another early kindergarten in the city. Frankenberg is often overlooked, with
Margarethe Schurz Margarethe Meyer-Schurz (born Margarethe Meyer; also called Margaretha Meyer-Schurz or just Margarethe Schurz; 27 August 1833 – 15 March 1876) was a German-American woman who opened the first German-language kindergarten in the United States at ...
instead given credit for her "
First Kindergarten The First Kindergarten in Watertown, Wisconsin, is the building that housed the first kindergarten in the United States, opened in 1856. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 for its significance to the history of edu ...
" she operated for two years. In addition, Indianola Junior High School (now the
Graham Elementary and Middle School Graham Elementary and Middle School (formerly Graham Expeditionary Middle School and Graham Primary School) is a public K-8 charter school in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally the Indianola Junior High School, the first junior high school in the ...
) became the nation's first junior high school in 1909, helping to bridge the difficult transition from elementary to high school at a time when only 48% of students continued their education after the
ninth grade Ninth grade, freshman year, or grade 9 is the ninth year of school education in some school systems. Ninth grade is often the first school year of high school in the United States, or the last year of middle/junior high school. In some countrie ...
.


Libraries

The Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML) has served central Ohio residents since 1873. The system has 23 locations throughout Central Ohio, with a total collection of 3 million items. This library is one of the country's most-used library systems and is consistently among the top-ranked large city libraries according to Hennen's American Public Library Ratings. CML was rated the No. 1 library system in the nation in 1999, 2005 and 2008. It has been in the top four every year since 1999, when the rankings were first published in the '' American Libraries'' magazine, often challenging upstate neighbor
Cuyahoga County Public Library Cuyahoga County Public Library (CCPL) has 27 branches that serve 47 communities in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. It was ranked the number one public library in the United States among libraries serving populations of more than 500,000 by the Hennen's Ame ...
for the top spot.


Weekend education

The classes of the Columbus Japanese Language School, a weekend Japanese school, are held in a facility from the school district in Marysville, while the school office is in Worthington. Previously it held classes at facilities in the city of Columbus.


Media

Several weekly and daily newspapers serve Columbus and Central Ohio. The major daily newspaper in Columbus is '' The Columbus Dispatch''. There are also neighborhood- or suburb-specific papers, such as the Dispatch Printing Company's ''ThisWeek Community News'', the '' Columbus Messenger'', the ''Clintonville Spotlight'' and the ''Short North Gazette''. '' The Lantern'' and ''
1870 Events January–March * January 1 ** The first edition of ''The Northern Echo'' newspaper is published in Priestgate, Darlington, England. ** Plans for the Brooklyn Bridge are completed. * January 3 – Construction of the Br ...
'' serve the
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...
community. Alternative arts, culture or politics-oriented papers include '' ALIVE'' (formerly the independent ''Columbus Alive'' and now owned by the ''Columbus Dispatch''), ''
Columbus Free Press The ''Columbus Free Press'' is an American alternative journal published in Columbus, Ohio since 1970. Founded as an underground newspaper centered on anti-war and student activist issues, after the winding down of the Vietnam War it successfully m ...
'' and ''Columbus Underground'' (digital-only). The ''Columbus Magazine'', ''CityScene'', ''614 Magazine'' and ''
Columbus Monthly ''Columbus Monthly'' is a magazine that has been an important and influential voice in Central Ohio. The magazine which was created in June 1975 has a well-earned reputation for tweaking the local establishment, challenging the monopoly daily on ...
'' are the city's magazines. Columbus is the base for 12 television stations and is the 32nd-largest television market as of September 24, 2016. Columbus is also home to the 36th-largest radio market.


Infrastructure


Healthcare

Numerous medical systems operate in Columbus and Central Ohio. These include OhioHealth, which has three hospitals in the city proper:
Mount Carmel Health System Mount Carmel Health System is the second-largest health care system in central Ohio. They employ over 8,000 employees and 1,500 doctors in their numerous outpatient facilities and their four hospitals: Mount Carmel East near Reynoldsburg, Mount ...
, which has one hospital among other facilities; the
Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is a multidisciplinary academic medical center located in Columbus, Ohio, United States, on the main campus of The Ohio State University. For 29 consecutive years, '' U.S. News & World Report'' has ...
, which has a primary hospital complex and an east campus in Columbus; and Nationwide Children's Hospital, which is an independently operated hospital for pediatric health care. Hospitals in Central Ohio are ranked favorably by the '' U.S. News & World Report'', where numerous hospitals are ranked as among the best in particular fields in the United States. Nationwide Children's is regarded as among the top 10 children's hospitals in the country, according to the report.


Utilities

Numerous utility companies operate in Central Ohio. Within Columbus, power is sourced from Columbus Southern Power, an American Electric Power subsidiary. Natural gas is provided by Columbia Gas of Ohio, while water is sourced from the City of Columbus Division of Water.


Transportation


Local roads, grid and address system

The city's two main corridors since its founding are Broad and High Streets. They both traverse beyond the extent of the city; High Street is the longest in Columbus, running (23.4 across the county), while Broad Street is longer across the county, at . The city's street plan originates downtown and extends into the old-growth neighborhoods, following a
grid pattern In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orth ...
with the intersection of High Street (running north–south) and Broad Street (running east–west) at its center. North–south streets run 12 degrees west of due north, parallel to High Street; the avenues (vis. Fifth Avenue, Sixth Avenue, Seventh Avenue, and so on) run 12 degrees off from east–west. The address system begins its numbering at the intersection of Broad and High, with numbers increasing in magnitude with distance from Broad or High, as well as cardinal directions used alongside street names. Numbered avenues begin with First Avenue, about north of Broad Street, and increase in number as one progresses northward. Numbered streets begin with Second Street, which is two blocks west of High Street, and Third Street, which is a block east of High Street, then progress eastward from there. Even-numbered addresses are on the north and east sides of streets, putting odd addresses on the south and west sides of streets. A difference of 700 house numbers means a distance of about (along the same street). For example, 351 W. Fifth Ave. is approximately west of High Street on the south side of Fifth Avenue. Buildings along north–south streets are numbered in a similar manner: the building number indicates the approximate distance from Broad Street, the prefixes "N" and "S" indicate whether that distance is to be measured to the north or south of Broad Street and the street number itself indicates how far the street is from the center of the city at the intersection of Broad and High. This street numbering system does not hold true over a large area. The area served by numbered avenues runs from about Marble Cliff to South Linden to the Airport, and the area served by numbered streets covers Downtown and nearby neighborhoods to the east and south, with only a few exceptions. There are quite few intersections between numbered streets and avenues. Furthermore, named streets and avenues can have any orientation. For example, while all of the numbered avenues run east–west, perpendicular to High Street, many named, non-numbered avenues run north–south, parallel to High. The same is true of many named streets: while the numbered streets in the city run north–south, perpendicular to Broad Street, many named, non-numbered streets run east–west, perpendicular to High Street. The addressing system, however, covers nearly all of Franklin County, with only a few older suburbs retaining self-centered address systems. The address scale of 700 per mile results in addresses approaching, but not usually reaching, 10,000 at the county's borders. Other major, local roads in Columbus include Main Street, Morse Road, Dublin-Granville Road ( SR-161), Cleveland Avenue/Westerville Road (
SR-3 SR 3 may refer to: * SR-3 Vikhr, a Russian assault rifle * SR-3 Blackstar, the first stage of a reported American covert spaceplane program * Matich SR3, an Australian sports car * Radical SR3, an English sports car * '' Saints Row: The Third'', ...
), Olentangy River Road, Riverside Drive, Sunbury Road, Fifth Avenue and Livingston Avenue.


Highways

Columbus is bisected by two major Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highways: Interstate 70 in Ohio, Interstate 70 running east–west and Interstate 71 running north to roughly southwest. They combine downtown for about in an area locally known as "The Split," which is a major traffic congestion point, especially during rush hour. U.S. Route 40 (Ohio), U.S. Route 40, originally known as the National Road, runs east–west through Columbus, comprising Main Street to the east of downtown and Broad Street to the west. U.S. Route 23 in Ohio, U.S. Route 23 runs roughly north–south, while U.S. Route 33 in Ohio, U.S. Route 33 runs northwest-to-southeast. The Interstate 270 (Ohio), Interstate 270 Ring road, Outerbelt encircles most of the city, while the newly redesigned Innerbelt consists of the Interstate 670 (Ohio), Interstate 670 spur on the north side (which continues to the east past the Airport and to the west where it merges with I-70), Ohio State Route 315, State Route 315 on the west side, the I-70/71 split on the south side and I-71 on the east. Due to its central location within Ohio and abundance of outbound roadways, nearly all of the state's destinations are within a two- or three-hour drive of Columbus.


Bridges

The Columbus riverfront hosts several bridges. The Discovery Bridge connects downtown to Franklinton across Broad Street. The bridge opened in 1992, replacing a 1921 concrete arch bridge; the first bridge at the site was built in 1816. The Main Street Bridge (Columbus, Ohio), Main Street Bridge opened on July 30, 2010. The bridge has three lanes for vehicular traffic (one westbound and two eastbound) and another separated lane for pedestrians and bikes. The Rich Street Bridge opened in July 2012 adjacent to the Main Street Bridge, connecting Rich Street on the east side of the river with Town Street on the west. The Lane Avenue Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge that opened on November 14, 2003, in the University District. The bridge spans the Olentangy River with three lanes of traffic each way.


Airports

The city's primary airport, John Glenn Columbus International Airport, is on the city's east side. Formerly known as Port Columbus, John Glenn provides service to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Cancun, Mexico (on a seasonal basis), as well as to most domestic destinations, including all the major hubs along with San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, Salt Lake City International Airport, Salt Lake City and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Seattle. The airport was a hub for Low-cost carrier, discount carrier Skybus Airlines and continues to be home to NetJets, the world's largest fractional ownership air carrier. According to a 2005 market survey, John Glenn Columbus International Airport attracts about 50% of its passengers from outside of its radius primary service region. It is the 52nd-busiest airport in the United States by total passenger boardings. Rickenbacker International Airport, in southern Franklin County, is a major cargo facility that is used by the Ohio Air National Guard. Allegiant Air offers nonstop service from Rickenbacker to Florida destinations. Ohio State University Airport, Ohio State University Don Scott Airport and Bolton Field are other large general-aviation facilities in the Columbus area.


=Aviation history

= In 1907, 14-year-old Cromwell Dixon built the ''SkyCycle,'' a pedal-powered blimp, which he flew at Driving Park."75 Years of Flight in Columbus"
Port Columbus International Airport. Retrieved July 3, 2012.
Three years later, one of the Wright brothers' exhibition pilots, Phillip Parmalee, conducted the world's first commercial cargo flight when he flew two packages containing 88 kilograms of silk from Dayton to Columbus in a Wright Model B. Military aviators from Columbus distinguished themselves during World War I. Six Columbus pilots, led by top Flying ace, ace Eddie Rickenbacker, achieved 42 "kills" – a full 10% of all US aerial victories in the war, and more than the aviators of any other American city. After the war, Port Columbus Airport (now known as John Glenn Columbus International Airport) became the axis of a coordinated rail-to-air transcontinental system that moved passengers from the East Coast to the West. TAT, which later became Trans World Airlines, TWA, provided commercial service, following Charles Lindbergh's promotion of Columbus to the nation for such a hub. Following the failure of a bond levy in 1927 to build the airport, Lindbergh campaigned in the city in 1928, and the next bond levy passed that year. On July 8, 1929, the airport opened for business with the inaugural TAT westbound flight from Columbus to Waynoka, Oklahoma. Among the 19 passengers on that flight was Amelia Earhart, with Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone attending the opening ceremonies. In 1964, Ohio native Jerrie Mock, Geraldine Fredritz Mock became the first woman to fly solo around the world, leaving from Columbus and piloting the ''Spirit of Columbus''. Her flight lasted nearly a month and set a record for speed for planes under .


Public transit

Columbus maintains a widespread municipal bus service called the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA). The service operates List of COTA bus routes, 41 routes with a fleet of 440 buses, serving approximately 19 million passengers per year. COTA operates 23 regular fixed-service routes, 14 express services, a bus rapid transit route, a free downtown circulator, night service, an airport connector and other services. LinkUS, an initiative between COTA, the city, and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, is planning to add more rapid transit to Columbus, with three proposed corridors operating by 2030, and potentially a total of five by 2050. Intercity bus service is provided at the Columbus Bus Station by Greyhound Lines, Greyhound, Barons Bus Lines, Miller Transportation, GoBus (Ohio), GoBus and other carriers. Columbus does not have passenger rail service. The city's major train station, Union Station (Columbus), Union Station, was a stop along Amtrak's National Limited train service until 1977 and was razed in 1979, and the Greater Columbus Convention Center now stands in its place. Until Amtrak's founding in 1971, the Penn Central ran the ''Cincinnati Limited'' to Cincinnati to the southwest (in prior years the train continued to New York City to the east); the ''Ohio State Limited'' between Cincinnati and Cleveland, with Union Station serving as a major intermediate stop (the train going unnamed between 1967 and 1971); and the ''Spirit of St. Louis (train), Spirit of St. Louis,'' which ran between St. Louis and New York City until 1971. The station was also a stop along the Pennsylvania Railroad, the New York Central Railroad, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the Norfolk and Western Railway, the
Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad The Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad (CC&C) was a railroad that ran from Cleveland to Columbus in the U.S. state of Ohio in the United States. Chartered in 1836, it was moribund for the first 10 years of its existence. Its charter wa ...
, and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad. As the city lacks local, commuter or intercity trains, Columbus is now the largest city and metropolitan area in the U.S. without any passenger rail service. Numerous proposals to return rail service have been introduced; currently Amtrak plans to restore service to Columbus by 2035.


Cycling network

Cycling as transportation is steadily increasing in Columbus with its relatively flat terrain, intact urban neighborhoods, large student population and off-road bike paths. The city has put forth the 2012 Bicentennial Bikeways Plan, as well as a move toward a Complete Streets policy. Grassroots efforts such as Bike to Work Week, Consider Biking, Yay Bikes, Third Hand Bicycle Co-op, Franklinton Cycleworks and ''Cranksters'', a local radio program focused on urban cycling, have contributed to cycling as transportation. Columbus also hosts Utility cycling, urban cycling "off-shots" with messenger-style "alleycat" races, as well as unorganized group rides, a monthly Critical Mass (cycling), Critical Mass ride, Cycle polo, bicycle polo, art showings, movie nights and a variety of bicycle-friendly businesses and events throughout the year. All this activity occurs despite Columbus's frequently inclement weather. The Main Street Bridge (Columbus, Ohio), Main Street Bridge, opened in 2010, features a dedicated bike and pedestrian lane separated from traffic. The city has its own Bicycle-sharing system, public bicycle system. CoGo Bike Share has a network of about 600 bicycles and 80 docking stations. PBSC Urban Solutions, a company based in Canada, supplies technology and equipment. Bird (transportation company), Bird electric scooters have also been introduced.


Modal share

The city of Columbus has a higher-than-average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, 9.8% of Columbus households lacked a car, a number that fell slightly to 9.4% in 2016. The national average was 8.7% in 2016. Columbus averaged 1.55 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8.


Notable people


Sister cities

Columbus has 10 sister cities as designated by Sister Cities International. Columbus established its first sister city relationship in 1955 with
Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
, Italy. To commemorate this relationship, Columbus received as a gift from the people of Genoa, a bronze sculpture, bronze statue of
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...
. Statue of Christopher Columbus (Columbus City Hall), The statue overlooked Broad Street in front of Columbus City Hall from 1955 to 2020; it was removed during the George Floyd protests. List of sister cities:


See also

* Architecture of Columbus, Ohio *Columbus Register of Historic Properties *National Register of Historic Places listings in Columbus, Ohio


Notes


References


Bibliography

* *


Further reading

* * *


External links

* * A program that features the history of and literary life in Columbus. {{Authority control Columbus, Ohio, 1812 establishments in Ohio Cities in Delaware County, Ohio Cities in Fairfield County, Ohio Cities in Franklin County, Ohio Cities in Ohio County seats in Ohio National Road Planned cities in the United States Populated places established in 1812 Populated places on the Underground Railroad