History · Columbus

Columbus has 181 places on the National Register, 3 of them National Historic Landmarks

More historic than 87% of U.S. towns · #197 of 993 in Ohio. What drives it

Dated to 1812 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history), with 12% of its homes built before 1940 and 29 historic districts holding 6,013 contributing buildings. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, the census since 1820, and every listing on the Register.

1812founded

181on the National Register

12%homes built before 1940

10old photos & papers

26famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Columbus’ archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Columbus began, and where its name came from

When was Columbus founded?

1812

Columbus dates its founding to 1812 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1820.

First census: 1,450 in 18202020 census: 905,748214 years

How did Columbus get its name?

The city of Columbus was named after 15th-century Italian explorer Christopher Columbus.

More on the name

It may be the largest city in the world named for the explorer (as the name of the Sri Lankan city of Colombo is of Sinhala origin), who sailed to and settled parts of the Americas on behalf of Isabella I of Castile and Spain. Although no reliable history exists as to why Columbus, who had no connection to the city or state of Ohio before the city's founding, was chosen as the name for the city, the book Columbus: The Story of a City indicates that a state lawmaker and local resident admired the explorer …

How historic is Columbus?

More historic than 87% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1805. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Columbus’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Columbus is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #197 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Columbus’ overall grade.

Founding era1812, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 194012.0% of homes (±0.4) · typical OH town 14.5% · U.S. 8.4%B⁻National Register181 listings, 6,013 historic buildings, 65.7 per 10,000 residents · typical OH town 2.9 · U.S. 2.4A⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 87%

NewerOlder

Ohio towns of 2,500+ (993)Ahead of 80%

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Columbus ranks #89 on History.

Ohio towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Ohio town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Columbus’ 65.7 sits above most of its state (91% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 6,013 historic buildings outnumber those of 100% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. The pre-1940 share (±0.4 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1812.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Columbus’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A National Historic Landmark181 places on the National Register, 3 of them National Historic Landmarks.A historic districtThe Columbus Near East Side District takes in 1,900 historic buildings.Lost villages22 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Columbus, and 107 old place names are still on the map.Mapped building by building10 fire insurance maps, 1887 to 1922, drew every building in Columbus.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

181 listings protect 6,013 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 3 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed

181

National Historic Landmarks

Ohio Theatre

historic buildings protected

6,013

each building in a district counts

first listed

1970

Fort Hayes

BuildingsDistrictsSitesStructures★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Unknown18

Italianate12

Tudor Revival9

Classical Revival7

Romanesque Revival6

Neo-Classical Revival6

★ Landmark

Ohio TheatreBuilt 1928

★ Landmark

Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker HouseBuilding

Franklin Park Medical CenterBuilt 1962

Fort HayesTuscan Revival

University, Hayes and Orton HallsHigh Victorian

Campbell MoundStructure

Wyandotte BuildingChicago School · Built 1898

Old Governor's MansionNeo-Georgian Eclectic

All 181 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Columbus’s post office has been open since 1813. 22 other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Franklinton

1805–1834

Columbus

1813–today

Parks Mills

1851–1900

Blacklick

1853–today

Taylors Station

1865–1882

Flint

1868–1912

West Hayden

1871–1894

Camp Chase

1873–1935

Galloway

1873–today

Elmwood

1877–1910

18001910today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Abbie TrailsAlbany ParkAlkire LakesAlkire PlaceAlkire RunAlkire VillageAlkire WoodsBannonBedford PlaceBrice MeadowsBrittany OaksBrookbendCedar RunChelsea GlenClifton ChaseClivdonClivdon MewsCobblestone At The PreserveCobbleton GroveCopperwoodCountryview VillageCoventryCrawford FarmsCreekstone

Gone or out of use

Alton StationlocaleBarrett Middle SchoolschoolBeck Street Elementary SchoolschoolBethel Holy Temple Church of GodchurchBethlehem Lutheran ChurchchurchBrentnell Alternative Elementary SchoolschoolBriggsdale Post Officepost officeBright and Morning Star ChurchchurchBurnside Mennonite ChurchchurchCamp ChasemilitaryChrist Memorial Baptist ChurchchurchChristian Home Ministry ChurchchurchClintonville Baptist ChurchchurchColumbus Community HospitalhospitalColumbus Correctional FacilitybuildingColumbus Limestone QuarrymineCrestview Middle SchoolschoolDoctors Hospital Northhospital

24cemeteries and burying grounds inside Columbus

Beth JacobCamp Chase ConfederateCarlisleClimeDell RuseEastlawnEvergreen Burial ParkFeeblemindedForest Lawn Memorial GardensFranklintonHockmanKemptonMennonite ChurchNew Agudas AchimOld Insane and PenalPostlePowellRiversideSaint James LutheranSaint JosephsState of Ohio Asylum For the InsaneTifereth IsraelUnionUnion

See all 24

Beth Jacob Cemetery · Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery · Carlisle Cemetery · Clime Cemetery · Dell Ruse Cemetery · Eastlawn Cemetery · Evergreen Burial Park · Feebleminded Cemetery · Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens · Franklinton Cemetery · Hockman Cemetery · Kempton Cemetery · Mennonite Church Cemetery · New Agudas Achim Cemetery · Old Insane and Penal Cemetery · Postle Cemetery · Powell Cemetery · Riverside Cemetery · Saint James Lutheran Cemetery · Saint Josephs Cemetery · State of Ohio Asylum For the Insane Cemetery · Tifereth Israel Cemetery · Union Cemetery · Union Cemetery

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Columbus came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Columbus.

Read it all →

Between 1000 B.C. and 1700 A.D., the Columbus metropolitan area was a center to indigenous cultures known as the Mound Builders, including the Adena, Hopewell and Fort Ancient peoples. Remaining physical evidence of the cultures are their burial mounds and what they contained. Most of Central Ohio's remaining mounds are located outside of Columbus city boundaries, though the Shrum Mound is maintained, now as part of a public park and historic site. The city's Mound Street derives its name from a mound that existed by the intersection of Mound and High Streets. The mound's clay was used in bricks for most of the city's initial brick buildings; many were subsequently used in the Ohio Statehouse. The city's Ohio History Center maintains a collection of artifacts from these cultures.

ChaptersAncient and early history 18th century 19th century 20th century 21st century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Columbus, 1873–1892

Passages that mention Columbus, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Franklin, were represented but no definite action was reported. On June 12, 1889, the Atlantic & Lake Erie Railroad Company was incorporated for the purpose of constructing a railway from Toledo to the Hocking coal field, and on August 22, 1871, the Columbus, Ferrara & Mineral Railroad was incorpor… — **History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio**1892Read the page →
Read the text
Franklin, were represented but no definite action was reported. On June 12, 1889, the Atlantic & Lake Erie Railroad Company was incorporated for the purpose of constructing a railway from Toledo to the Hocking coal field, and on August 22, 1871, the Columbus, Ferrara & Mineral Railroad was incorporated with authority to build a road from Columbus to Ferrara. A meeting in behalf of this ft terprise was held at Columbus November 10, 1871. A contract for construction of this road was reported and referred in the Columbus City Council November 23, 1872, and on December 16 the following resolution was adopted :
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Rev. Philander Chase, afterward Bishop of the Diocese of Ohio, about 1817, resigned the position of rector of a parish in Connecticut, and came to Ohio for the purpose of forming churches here, fixing his residence on a larm between Columbus and Worthington. He preached in the Buckeye House, on Bro… — **Columbus, Ohio, its history, resources, and progress**1873 · page 175Read the page →
Read the text
Rev. Philander Chase, afterward Bishop of the Diocese of Ohio, about 1817, resigned the position of rector of a parish in Connecticut, and came to Ohio for the purpose of forming churches here, fixing his residence on a larm between Columbus and Worthington. He preached in the Buckeye House, on Broad street, in the then borough or town of Columbus, on the 3d of May, 1817, and performed divine service according to the liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Columbus, 1805 to 1974

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1805Post officeThe Franklinton post office opens
1812
FoundingColumbus is established
1813Post officeThe Columbus post office opens
1822BuiltLucas Sullivant Building is built
1834Post officeThe Franklinton post office closes
1851Post officeThe Parks Mills post office opens
1854In the archiveState Street school
1860In the archiveState Capitol
1872In the archive1872 Bird's Eye View of Columbus Map
1881In the archive1881 Columbus Savings Bank check
1889Born hereWarner Baxter is born here
1898BuiltWyandotte Building is built
20th century
1900Post officeThe Parks Mills post office closes
1928BuiltOhio Theatre is built
1943Born hereR. L. Stine is born here
1947On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1962BuiltFranklin Park Medical Center is built
1974Born hereJosh Radnor is born here

By decade

Columbus, decade by decade

4 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1880s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1850s–1860s7 items

1854State Street school

1860State Capitol

1865Columbus-Lincoln-funeral-4-29-1865

View of the state institution for the deaf and dumb in Columbus

c. 1865View of the state institution for the deaf and dumb i…

1870s–1880s3 items

18721872 Bird's Eye View of Columbus MapMap

18721872 Birds Eye View of Columbus Ohio - alternate

18811881 Columbus Savings Bank check

1890s–1990snothing yet

Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Add from your album

On the map

Columbus on the map, 1947 to 1961

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Columbus. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1947Columbus sheet · 1:250,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Columbus.

Every building

Columbus, building by building, 1887–1922

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Columbus fire insurance map, 1887, sheet 1

1887Sheet 1 of 49

Edition

Sheets

+48 more at the Library of Congress

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewState Street school, 1854

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Columbus’ page.

Retake this view · +15

People over time

Columbus, census by census

Grew from 1,450 people in 1820 to 905,748 in 2020, more than tenfold.

21 censuses, 1820–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Columbus’ Wikipedia page.

Famous people

26 famous people were born in Columbus

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

Simone BilesAmerican artistic gymnast · b. 1997

Josh RadnorAmerican actor, director, producer, and screenw… · b. 1974

R. L. StineAmerican novelist · b. 1943

Warner BaxterAmerican actor · b. 1889

Lois McMaster BujoldAmerican novelist · b. 1949

Jack NicklausAmerican golfer · b. 1940

Help out

Finish Columbus’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewState Street school: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Hamilton Township2 historic placesB Norwich Township7 historic placesC⁺Jackson Township3 historic placesC⁺Mifflin Township3 historic placesB⁻Madison Township35 historic placesA⁻Plain Township1 historic placeC Washington Township58 historic placesB⁻Blendon Township1 historic placeB⁻Prairie TownshipIts storyC⁻Hilliard5 historic placesC

Questions about Columbus’ history

What year was Columbus founded?

In 1812, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Columbus’ post office opened in 1805, and the census of 1820 counted 1,450 people here.

How does Columbus rank for history?

Columbus is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #197 of 993 in Ohio. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Columbus?

181 listings, 3 of them National Historic Landmarks: 150 buildings, among them the Ohio Theatre (a National Historic Landmark since 1977), 29 historic districts with 5,828 contributing buildings, 1 site, and 1 structure. 6,013 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Columbus?

12% of Columbus’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1980.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (9), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (8), the National Register of Historic Places (181), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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