When was columbus ohio founded

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Camp Chase, located in Columbus, served as a training encampment for Northern soldiers before they embarked for the South. Camp Chase also included a prison camp for captured Confederate soldiers also operated at Camp Chase. This population increase lasted for only the duration of the conflict. In the census, the city's population was 51, During the twentieth century, Columbus continued to grow and prosper. Due to lighted arches that spanned over the city's major north-south thoroughfare, High Street, Columbus earned the reputation of being the most "brilliantly illuminated city in the country.

The Ohio State University, which had approximately one thousand students in , was the second largest institution of higher education in the United States in , boasting an enrollment of 47, students.

The city's suburbs also boast several other institutions of higher education. Thought of at one time to be an important industrial center, Columbus has changed through the s as the United States economy changed.

As of , Nationwide Insurance, Chase Bank, The Limited, and numerous other prominent businesses employed the city's residents. The city has the largest population in Ohio, numbering , people in The city also experienced tremendous territorial growth as it annexed surrounding land and communities beginning in the s.

In , Columbus consisted of just less than forty square miles of land. In , the city's borders encompassed more than two hundred square miles of land.

The area was designated as part of the Refugee Tract which was land set aside for residents of Nova Scotia that supported the American Revolution. However, when the Revolutionary War came to an end, they found themselves on the short end of the stick when the new American government gave up any claim to Nova Scotia and left it for the British. In an effort to make things right, the federal government gave these families land in the Ohio Territory. However, most of them decided not to make the treacherous move to the Ohio frontier and opted instead to sell their land rights to land speculators.

That is the reason Lucas Sullivant established Franklinton on the west side of the Scioto, as this land was available for purchase, even though it was clear the Scioto frequently flooded the area with devastating results.

The frequent flooding of the area also created superior top soil for growing corn. Unlike many towns in Ohio, Columbus did not begin as a settlement of early pioneers that clustered together for support. Columbus grew from speculation by a few men then living in Franklinton. Ohio's capitol was originally in Chillicothe. However, many complaints came from legislators in northern Ohio that had to travel to Chillicothe.

The capitol was then moved to Zanesville in an attempt to appease more people. This proved unsatisfactory as there were not enough buildings to house all the members of the assembly, so the capitol was temporarily moved back to Chillicothe where a committee was formed to find a new location that would make almost everyone happy.

A law was passed that said the new capitol had to be within 40 miles of the center of the state Zanesville and Chillicothe were both outside this limit. The committee looked at suggestions made by a number of small communities that had sprung up over the past decade. The one very big plus that gave the edge to the Columbus site was the land and buildings donated by 4 men living in Franklinton.

Lyne Starling, John Kerr, Alex McLaughlin, and James Johnson all associates of Lucas Sullivant pledged 20 acres of ground to the state, plus construction of the necessary buildings to house the state government. Ten acres were designated for the Capitol, and 10 acres were designated for a new state penitentiary. That was the clincher. And the name of this new center of state government: Ohio City! The new city to be, was first laid out in by surveyors that picked their way around the scrub brush and trees that filled the high side of the Scioto River.

The new city wouldn't be incorporated until When Ohio legislators were considering the name for their new capitol city: Ohio City was the odds on favorite, proposed by Abraham Edwards of Montgomery county. However, that was before a little discussion held at a local tavern in Franklinton among some of those legislators and Joseph Foos.

Foos was a popular tavern owner in Franklinton and not without a strong point of view on many subjects. He owned the first ferry that he and his friend Lucas Sullivant set up to cross the Scioto River. He was also a strong militia leader in central Ohio.

The other thing about Joseph Foos was that he was an admirer of Christopher Columbus. Joseph Foos, as were many of his fellow residents of Franklinton, were primarily adventurers and explorers.

They understood what it meant to leave familiar surroundings, putting their lives on the line by going into uncharted waters, just as Chris Columbus did over years before. When Lucas Sullivant named his new settlement Franklinton , he did it to honor Ben Franklin who had died just a few years before. Joseph Foos also wanted to pay homage to someone he admired. At first, the situation was quite relaxed and Confederate officers, after giving their word of honor, were allowed to wander through the city.

As the war continued, conditions changed, generally for the worse. By the time the Confederacy surrendered in , about 10, men were confined at Fort Chase. More than 2, died while there.