Columbo 358 Report post Posted January 15, 2015 Thanks for these vintage postcards and the links, Eridony. I really do like these idealized snapshots of the past. And when I say "idealized", that first postcard of "Birds Eye View West" really shows it. This is a 1909 view from approximately where the LeVeque Tower is now (it wasn't built until 1927). But it looks toward the Broad Street Bridge, the Scioto River and the Scioto Peninsula in Franklinton. Looks ideal with all the quaint brick buildings lining the river, doesn't it? Well, those quaint brick buildings were industrial buildings. What kind of industry? Think tanneries and rendering factories. Think sewage and industrial waste draining directly into the Scioto River. Then think what that area must've looked like only 4 years later, after the Great Flood of 1913 roared though there!! I also liked the handwritten note on the "Ohio State Capitol" postcard. Couldn't make out all the writing, but I think it said "this is a beautiful place, but the (something) look (something) to me". An early 20th century version of a messageboard post! Huzzah!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eridony 3 Report post Posted January 15, 2015 Thanks for these vintage postcards and the links, Eridony. I really do like these idealized snapshots of the past. And when I say "idealized", that first postcard of "Birds Eye View West" really shows it. This is a 1909 view from approximately where the LeVeque Tower is now (it wasn't built until 1927). But it looks toward the Broad Street Bridge, the Scioto River and the Scioto Peninsula in Franklinton. Looks ideal with all the quaint brick buildings lining the river, doesn't it? Well, those quaint brick buildings were industrial buildings. What kind of industry? Think tanneries and rendering factories. Think sewage and industrial waste draining directly into the Scioto River. Then think what that area must've looked like only 4 years later, after the Great Flood of 1913 roared though there!! I also liked the handwritten note on the "Ohio State Capitol" postcard. Couldn't make out all the writing, but I think it said "this is a beautiful place, but the (something) look (something) to me". An early 20th century version of a messageboard post! Huzzah!!! Yes that first one is definitely Broad Street with industrial buildings where COSI and Vets Memorial are today. In fact if you look all the way on the right you see a railroad bridge that is still there today. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ColDayMan 584 Report post Posted January 16, 2015 Great stuff! Quote "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrnyc 414 Report post Posted January 16, 2015 yeah these are fantastic! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UrbanSurfin 2 Report post Posted January 16, 2015 And it's fun to try to guess the years. The one looking south on High, with the Statehouse to the right would be from about 1903 or 1904 because only one of the narrow Frank Packard towers is standing on Broad at High. I believe the second one was built about 1905. And the shot of the Post Office/Customs House is from before the addition and change in style, which I believe was done in the 1890s. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ColDayMan 584 Report post Posted January 11, 2017 Quite an impressive photo of central Columbus in 1955. http://www.racked.com/2017/1/10/14214976/columbus-ohio-mall-shopping-limited-abercrombie Quote "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UrbanSurfin 2 Report post Posted January 12, 2017 The Beacon Building is not there yet. Are you sure it's 1955? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GCrites80s 389 Report post Posted January 12, 2017 Almost... no... gaps... anywhere... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ColDayMan 584 Report post Posted January 12, 2017 The Beacon Building is not there yet. Are you sure it's 1955? That's what it was quoted as being but I also was skeptical of that date. Quote "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ColDayMan 584 Report post Posted January 12, 2017 Skyline shot! https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/ *Ding ding* http://columbusneighborhoods.org/ The ORIGINAL cap (without Stack City Burgers)... http://www.shorpy.com/ What goes up...will come down :( https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/ Quote "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GCrites80s 389 Report post Posted January 12, 2017 Oh, St. John's isn't being torn down after all. http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/08/31/St.-John-to-stay.html# Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ColDayMan 584 Report post Posted January 12, 2017 Even that article can't hide at least, "- not in the forseeable future,". I give it 10 years (though I HOPE I'm wrong). Quote "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UrbanSurfin 2 Report post Posted January 12, 2017 Skyline shot must be from the Southern Hotel Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GCrites80s 389 Report post Posted January 12, 2017 I barely recognize anything in that shot. If it wasn't for the Statehouse I'd be totally lost. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BigDipper 80 180 Report post Posted January 12, 2017 I don't think I've ever seen any photos of Union Station other than Burnham's colonnade along High... was the actual station building anything special? Quote “To an Ohio resident - wherever he lives - some other part of his state seems unreal.” Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
itanimulli 0 Report post Posted January 15, 2017 I'm pretty sure that is the Ohio Bell building. My sister was working there back then, when it was brand new. We thought it was the cat's a$$. I still like that building. Just look at the area around Nationwide.....nothing! The old train station was still standing and it was a total mess. No matter what anyone says, the area between Chestnut and Goodale was a wreck. The bridge over High Street was in such disrepair that you could see the rails through the cracks and missing cement int he sidewalk and railings, the once glorious face of the train station was crumbling and completely neglected by everyone, especially the city. Inside the train station was worse--the plaster was falling everywhere and there were plastic sheets stretched over holes in the ceiling etc. But the floors had the highest gloss I've ever seen! Go figure. The saving grace of the whole area was the Moneypenny Hammond building on the west side of the viaduct, which was torn down when they rebuilt High Street. C'est la vie. The are south of Broad Street had not a single high rise. SoMa (my version of South of Main) was a disaster as well. The area around the once unbelievable courthouse had become something of an urban blight on the way to an ever improving German Village. The Southern Hotel was a fleabag, and really run down. The courthouse itself had so many modifications and "modernizations" that it was barely recognizable from earlier photographs. The tower had been removed decades before and the mansard roofs had been modified, with stucco boxes on top. Inside the courthouse was amazing though. Totally untouched! Plus, where the current courthouse now is, was a row of wooden, completely dilapidated, rotting, battleship gray painted buildings which were largely abandoned throughout the 60s and early 70s. Other than that the downtown was faboo. Actually, downtown was terrific. Nothing much in the skyscraper department, but street level was really pretty busy. There were lots of great stores, lots of great restaurants (especially if you like greasy spoons, like I do), and surprisingly good architecture, much of which has been torn down in the name of progress--aka City Center. Back to sorting old pictures and I'll see what I can come up with. You really piqued my interest with the mention of the Moneypenny Hammond Building. I found a page with some pictures of the west side of High Street from that era including the Monypeny Hammond Co. Building on Columbus Railroads (can't post link due to low post count, but as a long time lurker I'm going to work on that). What a great building. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Magyar 5 Report post Posted March 4, 2017 South Campus, circa 2003, and the infancy of UrbanOhio. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ColDayMan 584 Report post Posted March 4, 2017 My old barbershop gone :(. Quote "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GCrites80s 389 Report post Posted March 4, 2017 It was very surreal passing through there at that time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
David 0 Report post Posted March 4, 2017 Yikes. I remember it looking like that but I guess I hadn't thought about it, lately. So much has changed in just a decade. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrnyc 414 Report post Posted March 8, 2017 dee dee ramone rockin snoop Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JosephElectrician 0 Report post Posted June 12, 2017 Yesterday I was driving thru some of those parts of town and saw new developments going on, interesting. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ColDayMan 584 Report post Posted August 8, 2017 Quote "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ColDayMan 584 Report post Posted April 24, 2018 A LeVeque tribute: And, yeah... Quote "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pablo 323 Report post Posted April 27, 2018 A post card my dad purchased when he moved to Columbus in 1959. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cbussoccer 649 Report post Posted April 27, 2018 I've done a lot of searching for pictures of some of the towers that were constructed during the late 80s and early 90s but I have had a surprisingly difficult time finding anything. Even pictures of Miranova Tower have been hard to find (I've only found one). I think I've seen one early-construction picture of Huntington Center going up. I haven't been able to find anything of Riffe Tower, the Franklin County Courthouse tower, Three Nationwide Plaza, or the William Green building. Does anyone have any of these type of pictures, or know where I could easily find them? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ColDayMan 584 Report post Posted June 22, 2018 A McTreasure Map! Quote "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jdm00 3 Report post Posted June 22, 2018 Man, Eastland Mall, Northland Mall, Westland Mall, and City Center all on that map. I guess in the 1990s we were a lot more mall focused! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GCrites80s 389 Report post Posted June 22, 2018 Even then, Groveport was represented by a semi! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mu2010 146 Report post Posted June 22, 2018 Man, Eastland Mall, Northland Mall, Westland Mall, and City Center all on that map. I guess in the 1990s we were a lot more mall focused! It seems that a given metro area can only support maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the malls it could support 20 or 30 years ago, but that the malls that still survive are doing fine. That is why there are so many dead malls everywhere. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GCrites80s 389 Report post Posted June 22, 2018 Man, Eastland Mall, Northland Mall, Westland Mall, and City Center all on that map. I guess in the 1990s we were a lot more mall focused! The Uncool Crescent hadn't fully kicked in to crush the economy of the Sides Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Magyar 5 Report post Posted June 28, 2018 Man, Eastland Mall, Northland Mall, Westland Mall, and City Center all on that map. I guess in the 1990s we were a lot more mall focused! I'll date this as 1990. No Tuttle Mall, Continent was still relevant, and City Center & I-670 (east) had just opened. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GCrites80s 389 Report post Posted June 30, 2018 Oh and next to the Groveport semi is a dirt bike that represents the popular illegal riding area of the time next to 270 where Three Creeks Park is located today. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pablo 323 Report post Posted August 6, 2018 High St. in the 1970s, not a chain store in sight. (photos from Facebook) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ColDayMan 584 Report post Posted August 7, 2018 Awesome! Quote "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Toddguy 288 Report post Posted October 24, 2018 We are so lucky that here in Columbus we escaped the large scale urban renewal clearance that other cities had to deal with! /sarcasm. Interesting before and after views at the link, http://gatehousenews.com/cbusnext/interactive-graphics/ *is that one little place by High the Centrum skating rink? Was it still there at that time? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GCrites80s 389 Report post Posted October 24, 2018 Yeah, that's the Centrum. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eastvillagedon 98 Report post Posted October 24, 2018 On 8/6/2018 at 5:43 PM, Pablo said: High St. in the 1970s, not a chain store in sight. (photos from Facebook) I love these pictures. The first time I went to Columbus (197--something) I'll never forget this was the #1 song on the radio there. (I don't think it was even being played in Cleveland at that point) lol Quote http://www.mainstreetpainesville.org/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ColDayMan 584 Report post Posted June 5 Random historic Columbus aerials found: 2 1 Quote "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aderwent 393 Report post Posted June 5 The Chase Bank tower has aged well. I didn't realize it was older than some of those under construction there in the last photo. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
