I've been coming to Columbus since I was a kid and have always loved the city. The five year old me, coming from small town Appalachia in Kentucky, was always in awe passing under the skybridge of the Justice Center and stopping in at the now-defunct downtown mall and Lazarus, and equally impressed passing by the vibrancy of the university and the grit and decay of Short North - many years before it became the hip destination it is today.

 

Downtown just isn't the same anymore, though. The mall is gone, as is the entire Lazarus chain and I know my mom is still pretty sour about that (as were many when Marshall Field was folded into Macy's). But in its place is a much more vibrant city, not to say a completely different environment. I also appreciate the much greener Scioto River parklands, especially now that the low dams are gone.

 

I wanted to capture some of that awe of my childhood this morning. I woke up from my car camping spot near downtown to take advantage of the morning sun.

 

 

 

The National Veterans Memorial and Museum is such an improvement over the previous iteration. It also makes for an amazing foreground subject.

 

 

 

This is still one of my favorite bridges in the state, despite it being over engineered.

 

 

 

 

 

Someone at Historic Bridges bemoaned about the loss of this old span. But it's replacement is just as graceful as the previous iteration - if not better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remembered when the prison stood on this site.

 

 

 

Have a good night y'all.

 

 

Edited September 8, 20213 yr by seicer

Great shots.

 

Columbus has certainly changed, but there are still downtown holes to fill.

 

My biggest complaint about the Town Street bridge is that it no longer runs parallel to Broad Street. This serves the roadway network better but creates a bigger river block for pedestrians, and also destroys the symmetry of the Civic Center area.  

Great shots thank you!

Great shots.

Wonderful pics! I can only wonder why we waited so long to do something about the river downtown. The Scioto Greenway is an example of the city doing something and doing it right-getting it just right.  We sometimes complain about the city not doing this or that-not doing something or not going far enough and sometimes rightly so(public transit is an example) but the city does get some things right and this is a good example of that. 

 

It is hard to think back about how nasty and forbidding the riverfront was before this. It at times was just a sluggish sewage sedimentation pond. 

 

Again, beautiful pics!  And you managed to hide the patent ugliness of the Rhodes Tower in every shot! 🙂

Miranova has never looked better than in the seventh pic.

 

*I really want a world class cultural institution of some kind on that triangle south of COSI in the last shot, as well as a building fronting Bicentennial Park.   

Edited September 9, 20213 yr by Toddguy

I never thought of it being that nasty, but the low dams were certainly a relic of the past. Part of the reason it took so long to remove the dams is that it is expensive and that there can be opposition. Many preferred the still ponds that the low dams created (and were vocal about the removals of the dams), but their functionality had long ceased. They were also a hinderance and a danger toward kayakers and recreational boaters - they can create boils and backwash that can be almost difficult if not impossible to swim or paddle out of.

 

I remembered reading some comments not long after the dams were removed by critics who hated the muddy environment that was left behind. But you can't see any remnants of the past today. It's more green than ever - but that's also because of the expanded parkland along the river's borders - and the waters are equally as still, as long as the water levels don't dip too low.

16 hours ago, seicer said:

I never thought of it being that nasty, but the low dams were certainly a relic of the past. Part of the reason it took so long to remove the dams is that it is expensive and that there can be opposition. Many preferred the still ponds that the low dams created (and were vocal about the removals of the dams), but their functionality had long ceased. They were also a hinderance and a danger toward kayakers and recreational boaters - they can create boils and backwash that can be almost difficult if not impossible to swim or paddle out of.

 

I remembered reading some comments not long after the dams were removed by critics who hated the muddy environment that was left behind. But you can't see any remnants of the past today. It's more green than ever - but that's also because of the expanded parkland along the river's borders - and the waters are equally as still, as long as the water levels don't dip too low.

I remember actually seeing floating feces in the river downtown with toilet paper attached. And in the summer it could really smell. Still, brown, not very clean water with forbidding concrete barriers lining it. 

 

I will admit I was mostly around it in the summer which would make conditions generally worse I would think. And I think some of the sewage problems upriver that had not been addressed at that time have now been addressed.

 

The pics you posted were absolutely wonderful in showing the improvement-congrats on that! 

 

*and yes, lowhead dams = drowning machines. I don't get why it is not mandated that all of them have the boulders and riprap right below them that break up the drowning machine problems?

Edited September 10, 20213 yr by Toddguy