Introduction

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.