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

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.

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.

High St. in the 1970s, not a chain store in sight. (photos from Facebook)

 

 

Awesome!

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? 

 

 

Yeah, that's the Centrum.

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

 

Random historic Columbus aerials found:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Found on FB. The aerial is circa 1970. The proposed tower was to be 700’ tall. Kind of glad it wasn’t built. The Statehouse grounds look barren because construction of the underground parking garage was recently completed. There are several industrial buildings behind the old vets and central high. And the old Hartman Hotel is still standing at State and 3rd.

 

 

Edited June 10, 20196 yr by Pablo

On 6/10/2019 at 8:58 AM, Pablo said:

Found on FB. The aerial is circa 1970. The proposed tower was to be 700’ tall. Kind of glad it wasn’t built. The Statehouse grounds look barren because construction of the underground parking garage was recently completed. There are several industrial buildings behind the old vets and central high. And the old Hartman Hotel is still standing at State and 3rd.

 

 

 

What FB page did you find this on? This is the first I've heard of this tower that was proposed. 

^It's called COCO: Classic Old Columbus Ohio

Downtown Columbus in 1950:

 

Downtown Columbus in 1955:

 

The Deschler Hotel in 1969:

 

I have an odd obsession with finding old pictures of current buildings throughout Columbus while they were under construction. Here are some that I've found through the library's digital photo collection.

 

First, you can't talk about Columbus without mentioning OSU football or the Horshoe (1922):

 

 

Next up, our tallest building, Rhodes Tower, with a guest appearance by the Continental Center (1971-1973):

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Columbus Center under construction as well as the early stages of construction of Riffe Tower (1987):

 

 

AEP building closing in on the finish line (1983):

 

 

Columbia Gas HQ under construction in the distance (1983):

 

 

SERS Building (2000):

 

 

 

Fifth Third Center (1997-98):

 

 

 

Nationwide Building in the foreground with the PNC Building in the background (1977)

 

 

Closer view of PNC Building construction (1976)

 

 

Northbank Tower Condos (2007):

 

What I would do for a decade of highrise construction like that again or a new tallest. Sigh. 

Does anyone have old photos of roadway layouts or under construction? Being newer to the area, I never realized until recently just how different even the roads were connecting Spring and Long (33) to 315. Thanks to the historic aerials website it gives a clearer picture just how much things have changed.

^ This site has a lot of good stuff:

 

http://www.roadfan.com/spr-sand.html

On 7/9/2019 at 3:36 PM, GCrites80s said:

^ This site has a lot of good stuff:

 

http://www.roadfan.com/spr-sand.html

Bwahahahahahahahaha! ??️‍♀️??

Oops, sorry for not crediting you.

23 minutes ago, GCrites80s said:

Oops, sorry for not crediting you.

I'm just perpetually amused when I'm referenced/cited here.

That was perfect thank you!

From Facebook - 315 construction at W North Broadway and Olentangy River Rd circa 1980. Photo by David E Lucas, the City of Columbus photographer at the time.

 

A photo I snapped in 1988 I think driving east on 70. The county tower is under construction as is the 500 S Front building on the right side of the photo. 

 

 

On 9/28/2019 at 4:27 PM, Pablo said:

A photo I snapped in 1988 I think driving east on 70. The county tower is under construction as is the 500 S Front building on the right side of the photo. 

 

 

 

I have been looking all over for a picture of this tower under construction and have never been able to find one. Thanks for posting! 

 

I love pictures of different parts of the city under construction (as you can see in my post further up the thread), so this is pretty cool. 

the number one north high tower proposal find is really interesting -- i never heard of it, but am not surprised either. i suspected there were other state office tower type proposals over the years. being "designed" at the nadir era of american architecture, that one was naturally very unattractive, so good that it wasn't built.

The Short North, 1999.

 

 

 

 

^ Roughly what these views look like today:

 

 

 

Maybe not a true historical photo but I found this LP at half priced books today. I love that the never built Christopher Inn tower and spire is featured on the cover. The Bob Allen Trio was a regular performer at the Inn. 

On 10/2/2019 at 1:21 PM, cbussoccer said:

 

I have been looking all over for a picture of this tower under construction and have never been able to find one. Thanks for posting! 

 

I love pictures of different parts of the city under construction (as you can see in my post further up the thread), so this is pretty cool. 

 

How about this? 1964 construction of the City National Bank Columbus Center (now Chase) at Broad and 3rd. It’s amazing the 25 story building took just over a year to build!

 

Edited October 4, 20195 yr by Pablo

Construction roundup in the Dispatch - January 3, 1965.

 

 

 

Fulton Expressway, interesting.

On 10/3/2019 at 9:38 PM, Pablo said:

Maybe not a true historical photo but I found this LP at half priced books today. I love that the never built Christopher Inn tower and spire is featured on the cover. The Bob Allen Trio was a regular performer at the Inn. 

 

 

 

Here's one song from this set:

 

 

1 hour ago, GCrites80s said:

Fulton Expressway, interesting.

 

Every freeway had a name

 

 

Edited October 5, 20195 yr by Pablo

6 hours ago, Pablo said:

 

Every freeway had a name

 

 

Cartography wasn't the Dispatch's strong suit, back then.

21 years ago Lamar Hunt broke ground for a new $28.5M stadium. Without the stadium, Columbus would have lost the team. Today, we break ground on a beautiful new $300M downtown stadium. Without this stadium, and the Haslam and Edwards families, we would lose the team.

 

it looks like this mammoth eyesore of a columbus monument that almost came to columbus finally ended up in pr:

 

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/la-estatua-de-colon

 

 

Stumbled across this beaut online the other day and looks like it hasn't been posted here yet. 

 

Nationwide Tower - 1977, Union Station Terminal in the foreground and The Ohio Penn in the background.  

 

^Wow, a view very specific to its exact time.

 

Everybody used to get sh*t on by birds when they walked between the Statehouse buildings when they were separate like that according to PBS.

On 9/10/2020 at 10:36 PM, ColDayMan said:

 

Now that last pic really shows how much the Scioto River banks were very nasty. What a contrast to the greenway we have now. 

Cool to see in old pictures though.

2 hours ago, GCrites80s said:

Cool to see in old pictures though.

It is. I would love to get a better look at the little ring of identical structures right along the river bank in the top right part of the second photo as well as get a look at where the canal used to be over there.  They were probably slums but they look cool and that little area around them looks very European or at least German Villagish. But right on the banks of the river?-would be better along a lake or something but not along a significant river that floods-and this looks like they already widened the river.

On 9/10/2020 at 9:36 PM, ColDayMan said:

 

 

The bottom photo looks to have been taken in the early 1920s.  That's when they were working on the concrete river wall and in the initial stages of the "Civic Center" concept that would bring about most of the riverfront civic buildings between about 1926-1935.  Nice photo, as there don't seem to be many from around this time or earlier.

Edited September 13, 20204 yr by jonoh81

http://allcolumbusdata.com/education-history/

 

I started a new page on my site about the history of education in the city.  It's not exclusively historic photos, but I hope to eventually have historic photos- if available- for every school building ever built in the city, as well as their histories and ultimate fates through the years.  It's very much a work in progress, but I have dozens of schools there now.

 

A comment... but man did architecture start sucking after the 1930s, including the very modern stuff.  The new Linden Elementary... *woof* compared to the 1921 version they tore down in the process.  It looks like a cross between Soviet housing and a minimum-security women's prison.

Edited September 13, 20204 yr by jonoh81

On 9/12/2020 at 4:47 PM, Toddguy said:

It is. I would love to get a better look at the little ring of identical structures right along the river bank in the top right part of the second photo as well as get a look at where the canal used to be over there.  They were probably slums but they look cool and that little area around them looks very European or at least German Villagish. But right on the banks of the river?-would be better along a lake or something but not along a significant river that floods-and this looks like they already widened the river.

Mind you, the clearing of the riverbanks was hasten by the 1913 flood. Not sure if those structures (next to Broad Street and south of Town Street) survived the flood, or were built afterwards (only to be torn down again). 

10 hours ago, Magyar said:

Mind you, the clearing of the riverbanks was hasten by the 1913 flood. Not sure if those structures (next to Broad Street and south of Town Street) survived the flood, or were built afterwards (only to be torn down again). 

Yes when you seen pics of the flood the river channel itself looks really narrow as in about as narrow as the river is now when not in flood. I also don't know if those structures survived and the widening of the river took place mainly on the opposite bank or if they were built right after.

The structures along the riverfront in the 2nd photo were torn down for more reasons than part of the river control project after the 1913 flood.  The photo was probably taken between 1920-1925, as the flood wall on the east side of the river hadn't been extended south of Broad until roughly the late 1920s.  But you can also see it complete north of Broad, which was under construction from the late 1910s through the early 1920s.  The plan to remake the riverfront got its start in about 1914 and would eventually include the "Civic Center" plan, responsible for most of the riverfront's current government buildings.  By the 1940s, the Civic Center concept involved the entire riverfront on both sides, including the current Arena District and both the Scioto and Whittier peninsulas.  Mostly office, government and military buildings were planned for the former 2, but Whittier was going to have a zoo, golf course and a large apartment complex.  With the Depression and WWII, most just didn't get built.

A few photos of the Ohio Pen I took in 1985. It was empty then, all prisoners had been moved out by 1982.

 

Main facade on Spring Street. Note the new concrete block on the white building on the right. This is where Mayor Buck Reinhart started demolishing the building before the State stopped him:

 

 

The Neil Ave wall from Spring St looking north:

 

 

This is at Nationwide and West looking southwest. I'm standing right about where Boston's is now:

 

 

Here's the main facade during the Columbus 500 in 1985:

 

Edited November 22, 20204 yr by Pablo