Apr. 3, 2006 - Columbus Neighborhood Geography

Was the Italian Village area known as Flytown? 

Great photos of Columbus'  Short North murals   on New Hampshire blogger Dr. Lorianne DiSabato's  blog,  Hoarded Ordinaries.  A former Columbus resident,  DiSabato an  English instructor at Keene State College in New Hampshire and literature courses through Southern New Hampshire University wrote: 

"When my Dad grew up in Columbus, OH in the neighborhood around High and Goodale Streets, they didn't call it Italian Village.  Back then, when this neighborhood was an ethnically-mixed, working-class ghetto you wanted to get out of, the poor folks who lived there called it Flytown." 

DiSabato's link to Flytown links to a Shortnorth.com article:

 " Flytown, the area of mostly blacks and immigrants that once existed between Spruce Street and Buttles Avenue west of Goodale Park and that was razed in the mid-1950s as part of a Columbus urban renewal project." 

Isn't Victorian Village east of High Street?   I always thought Flytown was west of High Street, west of Goodale Park.  The historical marker on the south end of Goodale Park says Flytown was south of Goodale Blvd.   

The Godman Guild's History gives this colorful history of  how that settlement house got it's start helping the residents of Columbus Flytown neighborhood:

"The first neighborhood guild association began when Ms. Anna B. Keagle, both a high school and Sunday School teacher in the Flytown neighborhood, discovered all of her 8-10 year old charges were in jail one Sunday. "

Also from the Godman Guild Website

"1955 - Flytown was demolished for urban renewal and for freeway construction (I-670) in the late 1950's. Many residents moved north and continued to utilize the services of the Guild "

I've  read that the area known as Italian Village was an area of immigrant housing, not necessarily Italians.  I have to believe the homes in the Italian Village historic district were better than the Flytown  homes taken by eminent domain in the 1950's.  

The Italian Village Society website (which DiSabato links to in her blog too) says of Victorian Village geography:  

"Italian Village is an historic district located in the near north side of Columbus adjacent to the central business district. The area is bounded by Interstate Route 670 on the south, Fifth Avenue on the north, North High Street on the west, and the Conrail railroad tracks to the east. The Italian Village area was one of Columbus' first suburbs, annexed to the city of Columbus in 1862.  In the early 1970s, residents of Italian Village took action against the deteriorating physical condition of the area and the threat of having more and more historic buildings demolished. Residents and property owners, who felt a sense of community and had visions of an improved neighborhood, formed the Italian Village Society in 1972. One year later, the Italian Village Commission was established by Columbus City Council.

In 1986, the entire Short North Area (Italian Village, Victorian Village, and the High Street Commercial District) was awarded an "All American City" designation, for its public-private partnership, in revitalization of the area. Several sections of Italian Village were recently listed on the National Register of Historic Places and another section is currently being considered for listing."

Enough Columbus geography and history lesson!   

DiSabato's Short North mural photos are gorgeous  !!  Depending on the era maybe her father lived in Flytown rather than the immigrant neighborhood east of High Street which has come to be known as Columbus' Italian Village.

Columbus Historic Neighborhoods

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