Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Brynne had an all-day seminar to attend tomorrow, so we decided to make s small trip out of it.
Headed down I-71, and the first stop was the diner in an old train, the Buckeye Express Diner at 810 State Route 97 in Bellville, OH. We were too early for lunch, so missed all the OSU (Ohio State University) memorabilia!
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| Buckeye Express Diner |
Farther down the highway, we exited onto US-36, then took Africa Road/CR-21 to Cheshire Road for the Giant Cottonwood Tree. It is in the woods across from an ice cream place at 5140 Cheshire Road in Galena, OH. It had claimed to be the largest cottonwood tree east of the Mississippi, but once its width (10') was measured, it apparently lost that status. But it is huge!
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| Tamiko at the cottonwood tree (PBB) |
We got stuck in traffic back on US-36, due to an accident, but stopped in at the McDonald's at 7806 E State Route 37 in Sunbury, OH, before getting back on I-71. Saw the "giant, strange Ronald McDonald." Not sure why it is considered strange to see Ronald bursting out of the ground with his product characters.
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| Ronald McDonald |
We continued down I-71 to Westerville, OH for our next series of stops. First the Hanby House at 160 W Main Street.
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| The Hanby House |
The Hanby House was built in 1846, and occupied by William and Ann Hanby from 1853-1870. It has been moved one block west from its original location. William Hanby was a bishop of the United Brethren of Christ Church, co-founder of Otterbein University, an abolitionist who opened his property as a station on the Underground Railroad, and was a member of the Anti-Saloon League. His son, Benjamin Russel Hanby was United Brethren preacher, teacher, abolitionist, and composer. He is known for composing "Darling Nelly Gray," an anti-slavery song, as well as the Christmas favorite, "Up on the Housetop." The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
On the grounds was a boulder that was not indigenous to the area and assumed to have been brought from Canada by the Wisconsin Glacier during the last Ice Age.
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| Canadian boulder |
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| Otterbein University Cardinals stadium |
A few blocks away was the Temperance Row Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. Westerville became the headquarters of the Anti-Saloon League of America (ASLA) in 1909, when land was purchased by the general superintendent of the ASLA. The ASLA started as a state society in Oberlin, OH in 1893, becoming a national organization in 1895, leading the efforts to legislate prohibition. Most of the homes were built in Craftsman-style.
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| 115 University Street (1915) |
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| 181 W Walnut Street (1914) |
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116 S Grove Street,
bought in 1925 by Clarence Bargdill,
the Temperance Row handyman |
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| 109 S Grove Street (1912) |
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101 S Grove Street (1910),
home of Milo Kelser who worked in
the ASLA lecture department for 15 years |
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79 S Grove Street (1910),
now an Otterbein University Greek house! |
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58 (1916) and 68 S Grove Street,
one of the oldest houses in the district |
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| 67 S Grove Street (c 1923) |
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131 W Park Street (1910), home of the general superintendent,
Purley Baker and his wife Lillie,
became the ASLA library in 1924 |
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141 W Park Street (1940), the Cellar House,
apparently donated to Otterbein University in 1954 |
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| The Flats, 37-47 University Street (1917) |
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| Old garage at 60 University Street |
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21 Elmwood Place (1912),
home of Robert W Moran, ASLA field agent |
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87 University Street (1922),
home of Jeptha Caris, accountant for
ASLA's American Issue Publishing Company |
As I was taking photos, a man came out of one house to ask if I needed any help. When I said I was here for the historic district, he said, "Oh, yes, prohibition, this is it."
Our next stop in Westerville was the Inniswood Metro Gardens at 940 S Hempstead Road. Well-maintained gardens situated in a 123-acre nature preserve, it was once the 37-acre estate of the sisters Grace and Mary Innis, who donated their home and property to the Franklin County Metro Parks in 1972. Admission is free!
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| Inniswood Metro Gardens entrance |
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| Rose Garden |
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| Boardwalk Trail through a beech and maple forest |
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| Herb Garden |
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| Woodland Rock Garden |
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| Innis House |
Time for lunch at Yannis Greek Grill on Cleveland Avenue. Just a bit farther at 6040 Cleveland Avenue in Columbus, OH was the spinal column carved from a dead silver maple tree, appropriately located in front of the Columbus Chiropractic Center! Dr. David Ryan, a Columbus chiropractor, commissioned Jack Cantley to carve the spinal column with a chainsaw, and it is often decorated for the holidays. It also has a flashing red disc herniation!
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| Spinal Column carving |
Now that we were in Columbus, OH, we went to the Ohio History Center at 800 E 17th Avenue, housed in a Brutalist architectural-style building of 1970, located at the state fairgrounds.
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| Ohio History Center |
The exhibits on the ground floor were very nicely done, and renovations appear to be continuing. We saw the two-headed calf, born on a farm near Tipp City, who died shortly thereafter, and was preserved by a local taxidermist. It was kept by the Funderburg family until the 1970s, when it was donated to the museum.
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| Two-headed calf |
We did not see the mummy, and it turns out the mummy will make its return on 9/11/2015, after having a comprehensive CT scan at Ohio State University.
An exhibit on the 1950s featured a prefabricated enameled steel Lustron home, developed during the housing shortage with the return of GIs from World War II, constructed at a plant in Columbus.
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| Thor Automagic clothes washer and dishwasher combo |
A visit to the Ohio History Center includes the Ohio Village, a re-created 19th century village. We crossed a bowstring bridge made by the King Iron Bridge and Manufacturing Company of Cleveland in 1870. It was located over Sycamore Creek in Crawford County until 1986, then donated to the Ohio Village.
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| Ohio History Center and the King Bowstring Bridge |
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| Street scene in Ohio Village |
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| Village School House and outhouses |
Back in the museum, we were to find out what was the tasty subject of the exhibit on the second floor.
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| White Castle exhibit |
Although White Castle was founded, in 1921, in Wichita, KS, once the chain spread to New York, it was decided to centrally locate the headquarters in Columbus, OH, in 1934 or 1936. It is interesting that White Castle used the enameled steel technology to prefabricate their stores.
Next door at the Ohio State Fairgrounds is the big Northern Cardinal, state bird of Ohio.
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| Cardinal statue (1986, replacing the 1957 statue) |
We made our way to the Ohio State University area to check into the Varsity Inn for the night.
Next: Roadside America Columbus, OH II.
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