Browse Exhibits (5 total)
Transportation in Columbus
People have always been on the move. The Hopewell Culture built what is often called the “Great Hopewell Road” to connect earthworks near present-day Chillicothe and Newark. French and British explorers entered the Ohio Country as early as the 1500s. Central Ohio was already a crossroads for indigenous people when other populations entered the region in the 1700s. New modes of transportation, from canals to railroads to highways, shaped the city of Columbus over the years. This exhibit explores the ways in which transportation has changed and stayed the same over time.
"Ashes to Ashes…Dust to Dust” Green Lawn Cemetery 1849-1950
Potential text to include here
Brief history of Greenlawn Cemetery
How what we see at Greenlawn reflects African American history in Columbus
Info about the project/grant
Credit the funder and partner organizations
**Any of these could also be their own pages, listed in the navigation pane on the right
The Underground Railroad in Central Ohio
The Underground Railroad was a system of routes and safe houses created to help freedom-seeking enslaved people escape the South and eventually settle into Northern “free” states, Canada or Mexico. Railroad terms were used because people seemed to disappear – no railroads or underground tunnels were actually used. Conductors were usually waiting with either a horse or wagon, hiding the freedom seekers under straw or bags of grain, to move them to the next station. Some conductors would take freedom seekers into their homes, hiding them in crawl spaces, barns, cisterns and even under floor boards.
Columbus Parks
Parks, or open spaces reserved for recreational use, began in ancient Greece with the creation of public gardens. Romans continued the tradition. During the Middle Ages, wealthy men set aside grounds for hunting. One of the earliest parks for public use was the Alameda de Hércules in Seville, Spain, built in 1574. The idea of public green spaces existed in Europe and was brought to America by white settlers. In 1682, William Penn’s plan for Philadelphia included five acres of reserved green space and James Oglethorpe’s 1733 plan for Savannah established a ward system, with each neighborhood organized around a public square. Boston Common was set aside as a pasture for cattle.
Unidentified Images of the King Arts Complex Photograph Collection
A selection of unidentified images from the King Arts Complex photograph collection donated from the archives of the Call and Post newspaper. The Call and Post photgraph collection consists of images of the African American community from 1962-1995 around Central Ohio.
Please email us at history@columbuslibrary.org if you are able to identify any of the people or places in the photos!