Columbus (Ohio) - geography. I INTRODUCTION Columbus (Ohio), largest city in Ohio, capital of the state and seat of Franklin County. While most of Ohio's major urban centers were decreasing in population in the 1980s and 1990s, Columbus was posting growth, in part due to its healthy mixed economy. The city is distinguished by its concentration of businesses engaged in information processing, and Columbus is home to The Ohio State University. Columbus is situated near the geographical center of Ohio at the junction of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. The city lies on the rolling Central Lowland of the eastern Midwest at an elevation of 227 m (744 ft). Columbus has four distinct seasons. Winter and spring weather is influenced by cold air masses from Canada, and summer and fall weather by warm air from the south. The average high temperature in January is 1°C (34°F) and the average low is -8°C (19°F); average high in July is 29°C (84°F) and the average low is 17°C (63°F). Annual precipitation averages 967 mm (38.1 in); driest months are January through March. Columbus was named in honor of explorer Christopher Columbus at the time state legislators voted to create the city as the state capital. II COLUMBUS AND ITS METROPOLITAN AREA The city of Columbus spreads over a land area of 494.4 sq km (190.9 sq mi). Its large size relative to many American cities is mostly a result of a long-standing and aggressive policy of annexing surrounding vacant or agricultural land. The city then extends water and sewage lines into the new area so that the land can be developed, thereby encouraging urban growth. The region's relatively flat topography aids the expansion. Columbus is at the core of a six-county metropolitan region, encompassing Franklin, Licking, Fairfield, Delaware, Pickaway, and Madison counties and covering a land area of 8,138 sq km (3,142 sq mi). Important suburban communities include Upper Arlington, Worthington, Delaware, Westerville, Gahanna, and Whitehall. A network of interstate highways encircles the city and radiates from its center, encouraging movement between Columbus and its suburban communities. The downtown area, where both state government and commercial activities vie for primacy, lies in the southern part of the city. The center of the downtown is the intersection of Broad and High streets; in a park at the intersection stands the Doric-columned statehouse. Immediately to the south lies German Village, a privately funded historic restoration district. This area of several blocks is organized around Shiller Park and has small, red brick houses that date mostly from the 1840s. At one time in a deteriorated condition, German Village today is a revitalized neighborhood of gentrified residences, German restaurants and bakeries, and a few boutiques. Its proximity to downtown allows many of its primarily young-to-middle-aged residents to walk to work. North of downtown about 5 km (about 3 mi) is the campus of The Ohio State University, whose more than 45,000 students make it the largest educational institution in Ohio. Along High Street between downtown and the Ohio State campus is Short North, a trendy neighborhood of shops, galleries, restaurants, and markets. III POPULATION Columbus was the only major Ohio city to increase in population in the 1990s and 2000s. The explanation is that Columbus, unlike other long-established Ohio cities, has generous city boundaries with large tracts of open land that are still being developed. Its population rose from 565,032 in 1980 to 632,910 in 1990, an increase of over 12 percent. By 2000 it had reached 711,470. In 2006, the population was estimated at 733,203. The metropolitan area centered on Columbus was also growing, increasing from 1,214,000 in 1980 to 1,725,600 in 2006. According to the 2000 census, whites were 67.9 percent of the population, blacks 24.5 percent, Asians 3.4 percent, Native Americans 0.3 percent, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders 0.1 percent, and people of mixed heritage or not reporting race 3.8 percent. Hispanics, who may be of any race, were 2.5 percent of the people. The ethnic composition of the city is complicated by the ever-shifting population associated with The Ohio State University, a major institution with international connections. IV EDUCATIONAL AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS The Ohio State University exerts a significant influence on Columbus. Founded as a land-grant college in 1870, today it is a major research and teaching institution with one of the largest single-campus enrollments in the county. Columbus is a center for education with numerous other colleges and universities. In the city are Franklin University (1902), Capital University (1830), Ohio Dominican University (1911), the Columbus College of Art and Design (1879), and Pontifical College Josephinum (1888). Nearby institutions are Denison University (1831), in Granville; Otterbein College (1847), in Westerville; and Ohio Wesleyan University (1842), in Delaware. The DeVry Institute of Technology was founded in 1952 to provide technical training. The Ohio Academy of Science maintains its offices in Columbus, as does the Ohio Historical Society. The Ohio State School for the Blind and Deaf, founded in 1832, was one of the first such facilities in this country. Prominent among the cultural institutions in Columbus is the Ohio Historical Center, housing a museum devoted to both Ohio and American history before European contact, and including a nearby open-air museum depicting an Ohio village of the mid-1800s. The Wexner Center for the Arts of The Ohio State University is noted for its daring architecture that is a setting for contemporary visual and performing arts, while the Columbus Museum of Art houses one of the nation's best collections of mid-19th to mid-20th century American paintings. The Center of Science and Industry features hundreds of interactive exhibits on science, industry, and history. Places of particular interest are the Greek Revival Statehouse, completed in 1861 and one of the most distinctive state capitols; Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery; and the Santa Maria, a full-scale replica of the flagship of Christopher Columbus, built to commemorate the 500th anniversary of his voyage. The city also supports a symphony orchestra and opera and ballet companies. A leading attraction is the Columbus Zoo. Noted for its success in breeding rare animals, the zoo has extensive exhibits with natural-like habitat, including a huge coral reef aquarium. The Franklin Park Conservatory, built in 1895, contains in its large, glass-enclosed space duplicates of many of the world's ecosystems. V RECREATION Columbus fans enthusiastically support teams of The Ohio State University, particularly the Buckeyes football team, which plays games at Ohio Stadium during the fall. The Columbus Crew, a Major League Soccer team, plays at Columbus Crew Stadium, and the Columbus Blue Jackets, a National Hockey League team, plays at the Nationwide Arena. A minor league baseball team offers professional play in summer. Numerous golf courses are scattered about the metropolitan region and are well patronized during much of the year. Beulah Park and Scioto Downs racetracks operate regular seasons. The largest and best-known recreational activity in Columbus is the Ohio State Fair, operating annually for two weeks in midsummer. More than a million visitors attend each year. VI ECONOMY A balance among manufacturing, technology, research, and financial activities has helped Columbus's economy to continue to boom. Much of the city's expansion results from its function as a sophisticated service center. By 1990 manufacturing occupied only 12 percent of the area's labor force. That contrasted with services, including government, finance, and transportation and utilities, which accounted for almost 60 percent of all employment. The two largest employers in Columbus are state government and The Ohio State University, with well over 20,000 employees each. Other important employers are Honda of America, Nationwide Insurance, AT&T, and Anheuser-Busch. Smaller in size are companies with national headquarters in the city such as American Electric Power (electricity generation), The Limited (retail clothing), and Wendy's International (fast-food outlets). Battelle Memorial Institute, which conducts research for private industry and government, has its world headquarters in Columbus. Leading information providers making their home in Columbus are the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), a pioneer bibliographic and information network; Chemical Abstracts Service, a division of the American Chemical Society, producing the world's largest databases of chemical information; and CompuServe, offering a spectrum of online and network services for businesses and individuals. Columbus lies along Interstate 70, a major east-west route following the route blazed by the National Road. Interstate 71 connects Columbus with both Cleveland and Cincinnati. The Port Columbus International Airport, located to the northeast of the city, was established in the 1920s as one of the major stops for early transcontinental flights. Today the busy airport serves airlines flying to both domestic and international destinations. Rickenbacker Airport, to the south of the city, is an important facility for air cargo operations. It was named for Eddie Rickenbacker, famed World War I pilot and business executive who was born in Columbus. VII GOVERNMENT The municipal government of Columbus consists of a mayor and seven city council members elected citywide to four-year terms. The administrative branch is led by the mayor. The city council is the legislative authority for the city. VIII HISTORY In 1812 the Ohio State Legislature, after searching for a central location for the state capital, chose the present site of Columbus on the Scioto River opposite Franklinton, a thriving trade center since 1797. The legislators voted to name the community in honor of Christopher Columbus, and government offices were moved there in 1816 from Chillicothe, Ohio's first state capital. With its population peacefully coexisting with the region's Wyandot and Shawnee peoples, Columbus grew rapidly; in 1824 it absorbed Franklinton and became the seat of Franklin County. The site of Columbus was not only centrally positioned, but it also offered an easy crossing point of the Scioto River. The high east bank also provided a site safe from all but the highest floods. (The limits of that safety were reached in 1913 when record-breaking rains brought a devastating flood, considered the city's worst disaster.) Stimulated by advantageous access to transportation, Columbus grew steadily throughout the 19th century. The Ohio and Erie Canal passed close to the city and a short feeder canal opened in 1831, connecting Columbus to both Lake Erie and the Ohio River. In 1833 the National Road, a primary route used by settlers traveling west, reached the city. Railroads began to arrive in 1850, bearing the famous railway names of Baltimore and Ohio, Norfolk and Western, New York Central, Chesapeake and Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The city, incorporated in 1834, reached a population of almost 20,000 by 1860. The American Civil War (1861-1865) resulted in considerable military activity in Columbus. Army camps and other installations were set up, the best known of which was Camp Chase, the largest military prison for Confederate soldiers. The foundations of manufacturing were laid in the second half of the 19th century. Wagon and carriage manufacture flourished, partly because of the strategic location of Columbus along major routes and partly due to the prosperity of Ohio agriculture and a corresponding need for farm wagons. Food processing and the manufacture of shoes, mining machinery, castings, communications equipment, and fire engines formed the basis of early industrialization. The city is also important in labor history; the American Federation of Labor was founded in Columbus in 1886 during a period when workers were agitating for an eight-hour work day. Columbus prospered in the second half of the 20th century, even as much of the rest of Ohio began to suffer industrial decline. The city's good fortune was largely because of the growth of state government, higher education, finance and insurance, and light industry. This prosperity has given to Columbus an above average standard of living, a relatively crime free environment, and a general sense of well being. Contributed By: Allen Noble Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
