Description: This circa-1890 view looking north on High Street from the viaduct in Columbus, Ohio, captures arches over High Street. The arches, for which Columbus was well-known, span the street, which is crowded with pedestrians, horse-drawn vehicles and street cars. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL01718
Subjects: Streets--Ohio--Columbus; Ohio Economy--Transportation and Development
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: Flank Marker of the 80th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL02040
Subjects: United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865; Ohio History--Military Ohio; Flags
 

Description: Photo titled: "Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink." The caption reads: "Portsmouth as it looked to J. Otis Garber, deputy administrator of WPA in Ohio, left, and City Manager Frank E. Sheehan, during the 1937 flood. To prevent a recurrence of the water famine WPA workmen have completed a high futy water works which will function at a 90-foot flood stage. The 1937 flood reached a height of 74 feet." Photographed and descriped by the Information Unit WPA in OHIO, Clinton Building, Columbus, Ohio. The photo is from the "Portsmouth, Ohio, flood of 1937", SC 381. This collection contains 37 photographic black and white prints, 21 x 26cm or smaller; and 4 postcards in black in white, 9 x 14 cm. Photographs document the flood damage in Portsmouth, including sandbagging, floodwall construction, and WPA rescue efforts. In 1937, southern Ohio faced one of the worst floods in its history, known today as the "Great Flood of 1937." The Ohio River flood of 1937 took place in late January and February. In Cincinnati, the flood was particularly difficult for the city, where flood levels reached its crest of 79.99 feet on Tuesday, January 26, 1937. Communities along the Ohio River in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois also faced serious problems. Many people lost their homes as a result of the flood. The Ohio River Flood of 1937 caused more than twenty million dollars in damages. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: sc381_10_01
Subjects: Floods--Ohio River; Portsmouth (Ohio)--Flood, 1937
Places: Portsmouth (Ohio); Scioto County (Ohio)
 

Description: Souvenir football program for the Homecoming game played by Central State College and West Virginia State College on October 10, 1959 at McPherson Memorial Stadium on Central State College campus. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: NAM_MSS6_B08F10_01
Subjects: Historical Black Colleges and Universities; Sports; Central State College
 

Description: Excavation of the State Office Building site, Columbus, Ohio, ca. 1929. Groundbreaking for the Ohio State Office Building took place on November 19, 1929. The building, located at 65 South Front Street in downtown Columbus, took over the site of 34 businesses. Construction began on October 31, 1930, and the cornerstone was laid on May 16, 1931. A gas line explosion on April 14, 1932 damaged the unfinished building. It eventually opened on March 27, 1933. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL03500
Subjects: Public buildings--Ohio; Ohio History--State and Local Government; Construction industry
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: This 4.5" x 3.5" (11.43 x 8.86 cm) photograph shows a crowd gathered at a boat ramp on Kelleys Island in Lake Erie. The photograph was taken on August 10, 1940. The ferry docked at the ramp is named The Messenger. Kelleys Island was the center of limestone production in the Great Lakes in the late nineteenth century when 16 limestone kilns produced lime on the island. Limestone quarries have, however, existed on Kelleys Island since 1833. Limestone was a popular building material, and lime was also used for agricultural purposes. The stone quarried at Kelleys Island was brought by rail to the docks, loaded onto ships, and then transported to places like Cleveland and Detroit. Several quarries operated on and off until 1972 when the last remaining operation, Kelleys Island Lime and Transport Company, donated its land to the state, becoming part of Lake Erie Islands State Park. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om3273_6059728_001
Subjects: Transportation; Ships; Automobiles; Kelleys Island (Ohio)--Description and travel
Places: Sandusky (Ohio); Erie County (Ohio); Kelleys Island (Ohio); Ottawa County (Ohio)
 

Description: Dated ca. 1940-1949, this photograph shows the Blue Hole in Castalia, Ohio, a large spring fed by an underground river, about 43-45 feet deep. The Castalia Blue Hole was a major tourist attraction from the 1920s up to its closure, especially due to its close proximity to Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. It maintains a water temperature of 48 degrees year round. The blue hole shown in this photograph closed access to the public in 1990, but a new blue hole is open to the public at the Castalia State Fish Hatchery. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B02F08_001_1
Subjects: Castalia Blue Hole (Ohio); Geography and Natural Resources; Springs; Tourism--Ohio; Geology
Places: Castalia (Ohio); Erie County (Ohio)
 

Description: View of landscaping at Olentangy Park, an amusement park that was located on North High Street in Columbus, Ohio, ca. 1910-1930. A sign reading "Oriental Palmistry" is visible, as well as a shuttered stand selling cigars, cigarettes and tobacco. Palmistry refers to the art of fortune-telling by reading an individual's palms. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL04971
Subjects: Popular culture; Amusement parks
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)
 

Description: The Perry County Courthouse was completed in 1888 by architect Joseph Yost. The Richardsonian Romanesque stone facade has an arched entrance and corner tourelles. The clock was added in 1900, replacing the bell that had been in the 1857 courthouse. This image shows the building's front facade. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AV101_B01F05_382
Subjects: Courthouses; National Register of Historic Places; turrets (towers); Richardsonian Romanesque
Places: New Lexington (Ohio); Perry County (Ohio); 105 North Main St.
 

Description: Unidentified workers prepare to hoist a steel coil at Republic Steel Corporation's Cleveland district cold strip mill. This series of negatives was logged into the Central Alloy District files on June 9, 1942. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: YHC_MSS192_B01F095_01
Subjects: Steel Industry and trade; Republic Steel Corporation--Ohio; Cold strip steel
Places: Cleveland (Ohio); Cuyahoga County (Ohio)
 

Description: This photograph shows the east annex of the Ohio Penitentiary, where death row and the execution chamber were located, displayed photographs of hundreds of prisoners who were condemned to death throughout the state’s history. This portrait of Willard Walters, a 25 year-old porter from Columbus, is one of them. Walters was convicted for the murder of Patrolman Edward Murphy during an apartment building burglary. The caption at the bottom of the photograph reads: “No. 192, Willard Walters of Franklin County, Electrocuted September 27th, 1935, for the Murder of Officer Edward Murphy at Columbus, Ohio.” Altogether there were 315 people who were electrocuted at the Ohio Penitentiary between 1897 and 1963. Walters was the 192nd prisoner to be executed in this manner. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL08246
Subjects: Ohio History--State and Local Government--Law; Ohio History--State and Local Government--Corrections; Capital punishment; Electrocution; Death row; Ohio Penitentiary (Columbus, Ohio)
Places: Franklin County (Ohio); Columbus (Ohio)
 

Description: This color postcard features interior and exterior views of the Seneca Hotel, Columbus, Ohio, ca. 1935. The background image shows the hotel's brick exterior from a distance, with parked cars on the street and a row of leafy trees. Four insets show the hotel lobby, the interior of a typical room, the so-called beverage room (the bar), and the Columbus Room, a dining area. The name of the hotel's vice president and general manager, James H. Michos, appears in the lower right corner of the postcard. Designed by noted Columbus architect Frank Packard (1866-1923), the 10-story Seneca Hotel was built in 1917. It was the first high-rise structure in the city of Columbus, and it ranked among the city's most luxurious hotels. During its history the Seneca was home to the Ohio State Faculty Club and later became office space for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. In 1987 the Ohio EPA moved out, and the Seneca remained closed until it was renovated and reopened in 2008 as a 77-unit apartment building. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL05861
Subjects: Ohio Economy--Architecture and Engineering; Columbus (Ohio)--Buildings, structures, etc.; Hotels--Ohio--Columbus--History;
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)