Feb. 10, 2008 - Chase Road, Columbus Ohio 43214

I posted a ghost story about Mary Chase who is buried in the graveyard at the St. John's Episcopal in Worthington recently.

Mary, wife of Philander Chase an Episcopal priest moved to Worthington in 1817 and died in 1818. The first settlers moved to Worthington in 1803.

Is Chase Rd. in Columbus just south of Worthington named for Philander and Mary Chase or their descendents? 

A real estate agent told me a story about why Chase, Lincoln and Stanton are named Chase, Lincoln and Stanton and it had to do with President Abraham Lincoln... that Lincoln and his cabinet stayed there on one of his visits to Columbus.  Chase and Stanton were names of men in Abraham Lincoln's cabinet? Why would President Lincoln visit Columbus and stay way out in Worthington (or almost Worthington) way back when...

St. Johns Episcopal Church is at 700 High Street Worthington Ohio, right on the Worthington Green.  It is about a mile and a third from the church to Chase Rd, the first street south of Worthington. 

A Worthington Ghost - Mary Chase

A Worthington Ghost Story - Dr. Thomas Morrow

Comments are welcome.  All comments are moderated so you will not see your comment immediately. Thanks.

Copyright 2008 Discover Columbus and Maureen McCabe

Dec. 18, 2007 - Columbus Best Neighborhoods!

I have a poll about the best suburb of Columbus on Discover Columbus. Two of the replies are not suburbs, they are neighborhoods, Clintonville and Westgate.

The suburb poll: Columbus Best Suburbs- It's still open if you live in a suburb and think your's is the best... or don't live in a suburb but think one is the best...

The two replies that are neighborhoods on the suburb poll say:

"not a suburb but the best neighborhood CLINTONVILLE"
"westgate"

Thanks! I was getting there....

So here's a poll about the best neighborhoods in the City of Columbus Schools. Columbus schools because if I did not limit it this could be a list a mile long... still there are only a fraction of the Columbus neighborhoods listed. I tried to make it BIG neighborhoods, like Clintonville, Forest Park and Westgate, but feel free to use other to vote for your favorite Columbus neighborhood large or small.

EDIT I'm trying to fix the poll... bear with me... Here's a link email it to anyone you think might want to vote about Columbus Best Neighborhood and the poll here is not working...

Dec. 8, 2007 - Walk Columbus?

Columbus is not walkable according to a study just published by the Brookings Institution. As one of the Top 30 US Metropolitan areas Columbus was ranked 19th according to an article in Columbus Business First. "Columbus near bottom of walkability survey" which says the Short North is the only walkable neighborhood in Columbus.

Columbus did better than Cincinnati and Cleveland which are 28th and 29th on the list of US cities.

Here's a link to the info on the Brookings Institution site:

Footloose and Fancy Free: A Field Survey of Walkable Urban Places in the Top 30 U.S. Metropolitan Areas

Christopher B. Leinberger the author of the study is also the author of a just published book on the subject:

The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream, the publishers write up says:

"Americans are voting with their feet to abandon strip malls and suburban sprawl, embracing instead a new type of community where they can live, work, shop, and play within easy walking distance. In The Option of Urbanism visionary developer and strategist Christopher B. Leinberger explains why government policies have tilted the playing field toward one form of development over the last sixty years: the drivable suburb. Rooted in the driving forces of the economy-car manufacturing and the oil industry-this type of growth has fostered the decline of community, contributed to urban decay, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and contributed to the rise in obesity and asthma."

Copyright 2007 Discover Columbus and Maureen McCabe

Oct. 22, 2007 - Annehurst Village

The 1968 Parade of Homes was in Annehurst Village according to the BIA site. On the left side of the page is a history link, I don't see that I can take you directly to that page... but the history page says these were the 1960's Parades.

"1960's

1969 Northeast area, Forest Park East
1968 Annehurst Village, Westerville
1967 Northern Upper Arlington Area
1966 Worthington Hills
1965 Walnut Hill Park
1964 Ravenwood
1963 Northwest area, Forest Park West
1962 Gahanna area
1961 Laurel Canyon"

I was looking for what neighborhood was the Parade of Homes last year... 2006 starts with an Sh, it's in Genoa Township. I want to call it Sherman Lakes but that is further north... in Delaware County. Anyway I was trying to find a house in the neighborhood that was the BIA Parade of Homes in 2006 and I went to the list on the BIA site. I was looking for last year but got sucked into ancient history, 1968.

Do you remember 1968? Were you even born? Recently at Sharon Woods Metro Park we were reading something about the park's development and saw a map of when Annehurst was a new development.

In 1968...According to Wikipedia:

"Popular Music

Johnny Cash performs his famous concert at Folsom Prison in California.

The Beatles launched Apple Records.

The rock musical Hair opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre.

On TV

On January 22 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In debuted.

On February 19 Mister Rogers' Neighborhood started airing.

In Film

Top grossing films North America
The Graduate
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Gone with the Wind re-release
Bonnie and Clyde
Valley of the Dolls
The Odd Couple
Planet of the Apes
Rosemary's Baby
The Jungle Book
Yours, Mine and Ours

In Sports

World Series: Detroit Tigers won 4 games to 3 over the St. Louis Cardinals.

NBA Finals: Boston Celtics won 4 games to 2 over the Los Angeles Lakers

January 14 Super Bowl II: Green Bay Packers won 33-14 over the Oakland Raiders

World Skating Ladies' champion: Peggy Fleming"

I wonder about the pricing of homes in 1968 in Annehurst. The dots on the map above are homes that have sold in Annehurst in 2007, average sale price is $197,390 for a three bedroom 2 bath home of just over 2000 square feet. The range of sales prices is $159,900 to $247,900 in 2007. The map is from the Columbus Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service.

I would love to find a site about what colors were hot in a particular year, what home decor was like. Know about any websites that have that info? Occasionally you find a home that is stuck in time. I think 1968 may have been earth tones and swag lamps...

I looked to see if either of the two homes sold in 2007 that were built in 1968 according to the listings said they were Parade of Homes houses... neither did. That's a long time for people to remember and pass on that the house was "a Parade Home." What really, really confused me is a house in the MLS this years that was built in 1965 (according to the listing agent and the auditor) which says:

"FORMER ANNEHURST PARADE OF HOMES W/MANY UPDATES PICTURE PERFECT...."

It's a mystery..