Welcome to Columbus

Columbus is the capital and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is the county seat of Franklin County, although parts of the city also extend into Delaware and Fairfield counties. Named for explorer Christopher Columbus, the city was founded in 1812 at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, and assumed the functions of state capital in 1816.

The population was 711,470 at the 2000 census. In 2008, Columbus was the 16th largest city in the United States, with 754,885 residents, and was also the 32nd largest metropolitan area, the fourth largest city in the Midwest, and the third most populous capital in the U.S. According to the U.S. Census, the metropolitan area has a population of 1,773,120, and the Combined Statistical Area (which also includes Marion and Chillicothe) has a population of 1,982,252. Columbus is located within 550 miles (890 km) of half of the population of the United States.

The city has a diverse economy based on education, insurance, banking, fashion, defense, aviation, food, logistics, steel, energy, medical research, health care, hospitality, retail, and technology. Acknowledged by Money Magazine as the 8th best large city in the U.S. to inhabit, it is also recognized as an emerging global city. Residents of Columbus are usually referred to as Columbusites'.

Culture & Attractions

Landmarks

Columbus is home to several notable buildings, including the Greek-Revival State Capitol, the art-deco Ohio Judicial Center and the Peter Eisenman-designed Wexner Center and Greater Columbus Convention Center. Other buildings of interest include the Rhodes State Office Tower, LeVeque Tower, and One Nationwide Plaza.

The Ohio Statehouse construction began in 1839 on a 10 acre (40,000-m²) plot of land donated by four prominent Columbus landowners. This plot formed Capitol Square, which was not part of the original layout of the city. Built of Columbus limestone from the Marble Cliff Quarry Co., the Statehouse stands on foundations 18 feet (5 m) deep, laid by prison labor gangs rumored to have been comprised largely of masons jailed for minor infractions. The Statehouse features a central recessed porch with a colonnade of a forthright and primitive Greek Doric mode. A broad and low central pediment supports the windowed astylar drum under an invisibly low saucer dome that lights the interior rotunda. Unlike many U.S. state capitol buildings, the Ohio State Capitol owes little to the architecture of the national Capitol. During the long course of the Statehouse's 22 years of construction, seven architects were employed. Relations between the legislature and the architects were not always cordial: Nathan B. Kelly, who introduced heating and an ingenious system of natural forced ventilation, was dismissed because the commissioners found his designs too lavish for the original intentions of the committee. The Statehouse was opened to the legislature and the public in 1857 and finally completed in 1861. It is located at the intersection of Broad and High Streets in downtown Columbus.

Founded in 1975, The Jefferson Center for Learning and the Arts is a campus of nonprofit organizations and a center for research, publications, and seminars on nonprofit leadership and governance. Located at the eastern edge of downtown Columbus, Ohio, The Jefferson Center has restored eleven turn-of-the-century homes, including the childhood residence of James Thurber. These locations are used for nonprofits in human services, education and the arts. The center recently obtained a twelfth property to renovate.

A to-scale replica of the Santa Maria is found on the Scioto Riverfront. It was installed in 1992 to commemorate the 500-year anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus' namesake.

Within the Driving Park heritage district lies the original home of Eddie Rickenbacker, the famous WWI fighter pilot ace. Current reconstruction of the home is underway.

Established in 1848, Green Lawn Cemetery is one of the largest cemeteries in the Midwestern United States.

Museums

The Columbus Museum of Art opened in 1931, and has a collection focusing on European and American art up to early modernism. The Wexner Center for the Arts, a contemporary art gallery and research facility, is located on the Campus of the Ohio State University. Also on campus is the Ohio State University Athletics Hall of Fame, located in the Jerome Schottenstein Center (home of the OSU basketball and men's ice hockey teams), as well as the Jack Nicklaus museum next door.

Located in Franklin Park, the Franklin Park Conservatory is a botanical garden which opened in 1895, situated on 88 acres just east of Downtown.[118] Renovated in 1992, it was home to the horticultural festival AmeriFlora '92. In 2004, it was loaned a large collection of Dale Chihuly glass sculpture, which was subsequently purchased and is now a permanent collection.

COSI, (Center of Science and Industry), is a large science museum. The present building, the former Central High School, was completed in November 1999, opposite downtown on the west bank of the Scioto River.

The Ohio Historical Society is headquartered in Columbus, with its flagship museum, the 250,000-square-foot (23,000-m²) Ohio Historical Center, located 4 miles (6 km) north of downtown. Along with the museum is Ohio Village, a replica of a village around the time of the American Civil War.

The Kelton House Museum and Garden is a museum devoted to Victorian life. Built in 1852, it was home to three generations of the Kelton Family and was a documented station on the Underground Railroad. In 1989, Columbus hosted the "Son of Heaven: Imperial Arts of China," a cultural exchange display from China featuring the artifacts of the ancient Chinese emperors.

Parks and outdoor attractions

The Columbus and Franklin County Metropolitan Park District includes Inniswood Metro Gardens, a collection of public gardens; Highbanks Metro Park; Battelle-Darby Creek Metro Park; as well as many others. The Big Darby Creek in the southwestern part of town is considered to be especially significant for its beauty and ecological diversity. Clintonville is home to Whetstone Park, which includes the Park of Roses, a beautiful 13-acre (53,000 m2) rose garden. The Chadwick Arboretum is located on the OSU campus, and features a large and varied collection of plants. Downtown, the famous painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte is represented in topiary at Columbus's Old Deaf School Park. Also near downtown, a new Metro Park on the Whittier Peninsula is scheduled to open in 2008. The park will include a large Audubon nature center focused on the excellent bird watching that the area is known for.

The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium is world renowned for its collections that include lowland gorillas, manatees, Siberian tigers, cheetahs, and kangaroos. Its director emeritus, Jack Hanna, frequently appears on national television, including on The Tonight Show and The Late Show with David Letterman. Also in the zoo complex is the Zoombezi Bay water park and amusement park.

Named a "Great Garden City" by Organic Gardening magazine (June/July 2006 issue), there are over 60 community gardens, as well as many farmers markets featuring local foods.

Performing Arts

Columbus is the home of many renowned performing arts institutions, including Opera Columbus, BalletMet Columbus, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the ProMusica Chamber Osrchestra, the Contemporary American Theatre Company (CATCO), Columbus Children's Theatre, Shadowbox Cabaret and the Columbus Jazz Orchestra. Throughout the summer, the Actors' Theatre offers free performances of Shakespearean plays in an open-air amphitheatre located in German Village.

The Columbus Youth Ballet Academy was founded in the 1980s by internationally celebrated ballerina and artistic director Shir Lee Wu, a discovery of Martha Graham. Wu is now the artistic director of the Columbus City Ballet School, while her instruction remains in strong demand globally. Her students of the last couple decades have furthered their education at institutions such as The Juilliard School, School of American Ballet, Houston Ballet Academy, and Pacific Northwest Ballet Ballet School, while some have gone on to perform with companies including the New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Martha Graham Contemporary Dance Company, and BalletMet Columbus. Her students have won gold medals at the Youth American Grand Prix competition in New York, while others have been finalists in competitions such as the Concord De Dance de Paris.

There are many large concert venues in Columbus, including arenas such as Nationwide Arena and Jerome Schottenstein Center, and large outdoor settings such as the Germain Amphitheatre. The Lifestyle Communities Pavilion (the LC for short) (formerly the PromoWest Pavilion), Veterans Memorial auditorium, and the Newport Music Hall round out the city's music performance spaces.

Steven Soderberg's Academy Award winning "Traffic" filmed portions of the movie in ColumbusIn May 2009, the Lincoln Theatre, which was formerly a center for Black culture in Columbus, was reopened to the public after extensive restoration. Not far from the Lincoln Theatre is the King Arts Complex, which hosts various cultural events. The city also has a number of theatres downtown, including the historic Palace Theatre, the Ohio Theatre, the Southern Theatre, and the Riffe Center which houses The Capitol Theatre as well as two studio theatres. Additionally, there is the large Arena Grand movie theatre adjacent to Nationwide Arena. Much of the growth in entertainment capacity in Columbus has been recent. The construction of the Crew Stadium, Nationwide Arena, Schottenstein Center, the Greater Columbus Convention Center, and the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion are all projects completed since 1990.

Columbus' Somali diaspora population has also become home to a growing film industry, earning the city the nickname "Somaliwood".

Sports

Columbus is home to The Ohio State Buckeyes college football team. The team is a member of the NCAA's Big Ten Conference, and plays home games at Ohio Stadium. The OSU-Michigan football game is the final game of the regular season and is played in November each year, alternating between Columbus and Ann Arbor, Michigan. ESPN has recognized the OSU-Michigan rivalry as the greatest rivalry in all of sports in the USA. Moreover, "Buckeye fever" permeates Columbus culture year-round and forms a major part of Columbus's cultural identity. Businessman and New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, an Ohio native who studied at Ohio State at one point and who coached in Columbus, is a big Ohio State football fan and donor to the university, having contributed for the construction of the band facility at the renovated Ohio Stadium, which bears his family's name.

During the winter months, the Buckeyes basketball team is also a major sporting attraction.

Columbus has professional sports teams in hockey, association football (soccer), arena football, and minor league baseball. The Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League and Columbus Destroyers of the Arena Football League both play at Nationwide Arena. The Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer play at their own stadium, Columbus Crew Stadium, which was the first Soccer-specific stadium built in the United States, and has played host to many events, including world cup qualifiers and the US national team. The Crew were one of the original members of the MLS, and have recently won their first MLS Cup in 2008. The Columbus Clippers, Triple A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians (formerly a long-time affiliate of the New York Yankees through 2006, and the Washington Nationals through 2008), previously hosting their games at Cooper Stadium but now play in a new ballpark in the Arena District named Huntington Park, which opened in April, 2009. From 1985 to 1988, Columbus hosted major league auto racing, with the IMSA Columbus Ford Dealers 500.

Columbus hosts the annual Arnold Classic fitness expo and competition in late February. Hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger, the event has grown to eight Olympic sports and 12,000 athletes competing in 20 world-class events. Schwarzenegger has been visiting Columbus for almost 40 years, and has substantial commercial investments in the metropolitian area.

Rahal Letterman Racing, a business venture between Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal and television personality David Letterman, is based in the Columbus metropolitan area. Columbus has a long history in motor sports, hosting the first and amazing 24 hour car race at the Columbus Driving Park in 1905. The Columbus Motor Speedway was built in 1945 and held their first motorcycle race in 1946. The track is still a big draw.

D1 Sports, an athletic training center, is being brought to the Columbus area by NFL and NHL athletes with local ties to Columbus, including A.J. Hawk, Bobby Carpenter, Mike Vrabel, and Jody Shelley. Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George operates a restaurant on High St. in the University District. Brian Olinger is an athlete who resides in Columbus, Ohio. He is known for his competition USATF nationals in 2007 and 2009 and his competion at the olympic trials in 2008.

The annual All American Quarter Horse Congress, the largest single breed horse show in the world, is held at the Ohio Expo Center each October.

Columbus was ranked as the 7th most manliest city in the country in 2009, according Sterling's Best Places, due in part because of the athletic scene.

Fairs and festivals

Annual festivities in Columbus include the Ohio State Fair—one of the largest state fairs in the country— as well as the Columbus Arts Festival and the Jazz and Ribs Festival, both of which occur on the downtown riverfront.

ComFest (short for "Community Festival") is an immense three-day music festival, the largest un-commercial festival in the US, in Goodale Park (just north of downtown Columbus and adjacent to the Short North) with art vendors and live musicians on multiple stages, hundreds of local social and political organizations, body painting and beer. Often coinciding with the weekend of ComFest (though not directly connected to it) is the large Gay Pride Parade, (the largest Pride Celebration in the Midwest) reflective of the sizeable gay population in Columbus. Another notable festival is the JuneteenthOhio Festival, held each year at Franklin Park, Father's Day weekend. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865 when General Gordon Granger arrived and read Order Number 3 in Galveston, Texas, the last state in the Union, to be notified that all African and Black Native Americans were free. JuneteenthOhio is one of the largest African American festivals in the United States, started 19 years ago by Mustafaa Shabazz. The festival is three full days of music, food, dance, entertainment by local and national recording artist. The festival holds a Father's Day celebration, honoring fathers in the area. Hot Times festival, held annually in Columbus's historic Olde Towne East neighborhood – a celebration of music, arts, food, and diversity.

In late January the largest winter anime convention in North America, Ohayocon, plays host to thousands of fans of Japanese culture each year from the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

Around the Fourth of July, Columbus hosts Red, White, and Boom, the largest fireworks display in the Midwest on the Scioto riverfront downtown to crowds of over 500,000 people, as well as the popular Doo Dah Parade, a nonsensical satire of ordinary parades.

During Memorial Day Weekend, Columbus holds the popular Asian Festival in Franklin Park. Hundreds of restaurants, vendors, and companies open up booths, traditional music and martial arts are performed, and cultural exhibits are set up. In recent years, attendees have numbered over 100,000. Marcon, one of the oldest and largest Science Fiction conventions in the country, is held over the Memorial Day weekend downtown.

During the first weekend in June, the bars of Columbus's trendy North Market District play host to Park Street Festival. The event attracts thousands of visitors from the surrounding neighborhoods and beyond, creating a massive party both inside the bars and on the street.

Also in June, the Park of Roses in Clintonville holds its annual "Rose Festival" featuring 13 acres (53,000 m2) of blooming roses. Festival Latino is held in June and celebrates Latino culture with music, food and activities. This free event is held downtown and draws over 300,000. Also in June is the historic Juneteenth Celebration in Franklin Park. It commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas. The holiday originated in Galveston, Texas; for more than a century, the state of Texas was the primary home of Juneteenth celebrations. The weekend celebration draws out many community activists, organizations and families in the Franklin Park area.

The Jazz and Rib Fest is a free downtown event held each July featuring jazz artists and rib vendors from around the country.

The Origins Game Fair is held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in late June/early July, featuring board games, card games, miniatures games and role-playing games from all over the world.

The Short North is host to the monthly "Gallery Hop", which attracts hundreds to the neighborhood's art galleries (which all open their doors to the public until late at night) and street musicians. The Hilltop Bean Dinner is an annual event held on Columbus' West Side that celebrates the city's Civil War heritage near the historic Camp Chase Cemetery. At the end of September, German Village throws an annual Oktoberfest celebration that features authentic German food, beer, music, and crafts.

Columbus also hosts many conventions in the Greater Columbus Convention Center, a pastel-colored deconstructivist building on the north edge of downtown that resembles jumbled blocks, or a train yard from overhead. The convention center was designed by famed architect Peter Eisenman, who also designed the aforementioned Wexner Center. Completed in 1993, the convention center now is 1,700,000 square feet (158,000 m2).[135]

All of this fun must contribute to Columbus being ranked as the #2 most sexually satisfied city in the country in 2008, according to Men's Health Magazine, behind Indianapolis. Columbus was also ranked as the #7 most lustful in the country in 2007, based on contraceptive sales, according to Forbes Magazine. Columbus was ranked recently as the 18th best place in the country to find a date for females by Marie Claire magazine, in which it was said about Columbus men: "Where corn-fed frat boys go to spawn. With biceps as firm as their Midwestern values, these gosh-darn-it good guys spend Saturday nights bouncing from bar to bar, plastic cups foaming with Bud, scouting for a low-key beauty with whom to make little Buckeyes fans."