The Cincinnati Enquirer says Columbus is not a cowtown anymore.   

Copyright 2006 Columbus Best Blog and Maureen McCabe

While I don't agree with everything in the Wikipedia entry on Columbus Ohio 

(I could  quibble with the reference to Clintonville...Levittownlike? I believe that must be a reference to the Beechwold area east of High Street... those homes certainly don't nestle with the older Clintonville homes in separate Clintonville neighborhoods and the Clintonville homes are not all brick or stone... I think most Clintonville homes are frame... but I digress Beechwold and Clintonville are great neighborhoods...) I  do think theWikipedia entry has valuable info about Columbus and how Columbus is different than other Ohio cities and other mid western cities.  And Columbus is certainly different than cities in other regions of the country,  there are cows in town.

"Accordingto the 2000 census, Columbus has a population of 711,470 residents,making it the largest city in Ohio and the 15th largest in the UnitedStates.  The population increased to an estimated 730,008 in 2004.The greater Columbus metropolitan area has a population of 1,612,694,ranking  it third in Ohio  (behind Cleveland and Cincinnati )and 31st in the  United States."

"Unlike many other major US cities in the Midwest, Columbus continues to expand its reach by way of extensions and annexations, making it one of the fastest growing large cities in the nation, in terms of both geography and population, and probably the fastest in the Midwest.  Unlike Cleveland and  Cincinnati, the central cities in Ohio's two  largest metropolitan areas, Columbus is ringed by relatively few suburbs; since the 1950s it has  made  annexation a condition for providing water  and sewer service, to which it holds regional rights throughout a large portion of Central Ohio.  This policy is credited with preserving Columbus' tax base in the face of the U.S.'s suburbanization and has contributed to its booming economy, much like other cities pursuing similar policies such as Charlotte, North Carolina and San Antonio,Texas,  both of  which are similarly lacking in surrounding incorporated suburbs."

Get it?  Columbus is a big city but relatively small metropolitan area.   I don't believe the Wikipedia entry says anything about Columbus being a Cowtown ... 

Copyright 2006 Columbus Best Blog and Maureen McCabe