Columbus tourist information

Evidence of ancient mound-building societies abounds in the region near the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. Mound Street, located in downtown Columbus, was so named because of its proximity to a large Native American burial mound. Those ancient civilizations had long since faded into history when European explorers began moving into the region south of Lake Erie. Rather than an empty frontier, however, they encountered people of the Miami, Delaware, Wyandot, Shawnee, and Mingo nations. These tribes resisted expansion by the fledgling United States, resulting in years of bitter conflict. A decisive battle at Fallen Timbers resulted in the Treaty of Greenville, 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 River. A great admirer of Benjamin Franklin, Sullivant chose to name his new frontier village "Franklinton."

After achieving statehood in 1803, political infighting among Ohio's more prominent leaders and a series of fires resulted in the state capital moving from Chillicothe to Zanesville and back again. The state legislature eventually decided that a new capital city, located in the center of the state, was a necessary compromise. Several of Ohio's small towns and villages petitioned the legislature for the honor of becoming the state capital, but ultimately a coalition of land speculators, with Sullivant's support, made the most attractive offer to the Ohio General Assembly. Named in honor of Christopher Columbus, the capital city was founded in February, 1812, on the "High Banks opposite Franklinton at the Forks of the Scioto known as Wolf's Ridge."

Columbus earned its nickname "The Arch City" because of the dozens of metal (formerly wooden) arches that spanned High Street at the turn of the twentieth century. The arches illuminated the thoroughfare and eventually became the means by which electric power was provided to the new streetcars. Then, on March 25, 1913, a catastrophic flood devastated the neighborhood of Franklinton, leaving ninety-six people dead and thousands of West Side residents homeless. To prevent future flooding, the Army Corps of Engineers recommended widening the Scioto River through downtown, constructing new bridges, and building a retaining wall along its banks. With the strength of the post-WWI economy, a construction boom occurred in the 1920s, resulting in a new Civic Center, the Ohio Theatre, the American Insurance Union Citadel, and, to the north, a massive new Ohio Stadium.

The effects of the Great Depression were somewhat less severe in Columbus, as the city's diversified economy helped it fare marginally better than its Rust Belt neighbors. World War II brought a tremendous number of new jobs to the city, and with it another population surge. This time, the majority of new arrivals were migrants from the extremely depressed rural parts of Appalachia, who would soon account for more than a third of Columbus' rising 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. Along with the construction of the interstate highway, it signaled the arrival of rapid suburban development in central Ohio. In order to protect the city's tax base from this suburbanization, Columbus adopted a policy of linking sewer and water hookups to annexation to the city. By the early 1990s, Columbus had grown to become Ohio's largest city in both land area and in population, though not in density due to the aforementioned annexation policy.

Efforts to revitalize downtown Columbus have met with mixed results in recent decades. In the 1970's old landmarks such as Union Station and the Neil House Hotel were razed to construct high-rise office and retail spaces, notably Columbus City Center and the Greater Columbus Convention Center. However, newer suburban developments at Tuttle Crossing, Easton, and Polaris have inhibited much of the anticipated downtown growth. Still, with the addition of the Nationwide Arena District as well as hundreds of downtown residential units, significant revitalization efforts are sure to continue in the downtown area.

Columbus is bisected by two major Interstate Highways, Interstate 70 running east-west, and Interstate 71 running north to roughly southwest. The two Interstates combine downtown for about 1.5 miles in an area locally known as "The Split", which is a major traffic congestion point within Columbus, especially during rush hour. U.S. Highway 40, aka National Road, runs east-west through Columbus, comprising Main Street to the east of downtown and Broad Street to the west. It is also widely recognized as the nation's first highway. U.S. Highway 23 runs roughly north-south, while U.S. Highway 33 runs northwest-to-southeast. The Interstate 270 Outerbelt encircles the vast majority of Columbus and its suburbs, while the newly redesigned Innerbelt consists of the Interstate 670 spur on the north side (which continues to the east past Port Columbus International Airport and to the west where it merges with I-70), 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 2-hour drive of Columbus.

The I-270 Outerbelt was the subject of national media attention in late 2003 and early 2004 when a number of sniper shootings were reported along the southern portion of the interstate and other neighboring highways, resulting in the death of one person. Charles McCoy, Jr. is accused of the shootings and stood trial in 2005, however the jury was hung as to McCoy's mental state. McCoy later pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter, attempted murder, assault and discharging a firearm near a school and was sentenced to 29 years in prison.

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The city's street plan originates downtown and in the immediate vicinities, the oldest parts of the city. The plan follows a roughly gridiron model bisected by High Street (running north-south) and Broad Street (running east-west). The city street numbering plan originates at their intersection in mid-downtown, so house numbers increase with distance from downtown. This street grid is not followed as strictly further out from downtown, particularly in the suburbs (mostly old towns with their own street plans still intact) and the newer subdivisions. Besides High Street and Broad Street, major thoroughfares in Columbus include Main Street, Morse Road, Dublin-Granville Road (aka SR-161), Cleveland Avenue/Westerville Road (aka SR-3), Olentangy River Road, Riverside Drive, Sunbury Road, and Livingston Avenue.

Columbus does maintain a widespread municipal bus service called the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA). Columbus used to have a major train station downtown called Union Station, however it was razed in the late 1970s. Columbus is now the second largest city in the U.S. (after Phoenix) without passenger rail service. It is served by Port Columbus International Airport, Rickenbacker International Airport, Don Scott Airport (run by OSU), and Bolton Field Airport.

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