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A Brief History of Columbus, Ohio
Franklin County Ohio, Genealogy and History
Submitted by Ruth Ficarra
Email: [email protected]
Date: February 10, 2000
Taken from Columbus City Directory 1852
Part III
The interior buildings are built in a substantial manner, two and three stories high. The police of the prison is very complete, probably not suppassed by any prison in the United States........
There were in the prison on 30th of Nov. 1849, 332 convicts. During the prevalance of the cholera in the summer of 1849, 116 died of cholera and 6 by other diseases. On the 30th of Nov. 1848, the number of convicts was 425. There is a library belonging to the prison of about 8000 volumes mostly collected by the Rev. J.B. Finley, late moral instructor to the prison. There is a Sabbath school in a prosperous condition in which a large number of the men and boys who come to the prison , unable to read or write are taught both. the Institution is managed by three directors, appointed by the governor, confirmed by the Senate, for the term of two years. Number of convicts June '52 males 481, females 5. Convicts employed on The New State House 103.........
The State House was erected in 1814, and the State Offices in 1815, on the south-west corner of the public square,( appropriated bt the proprietors of the town for the purposes of public buildings) under the superintendence of Wm. Ludlow, an Agent appointed by the State. In the fall of 1816 the State Offices were removed from Chillicoyhe to Columbus and on the first monday of December, the same year, the Legislature commenced its first session in Columbus.......
On Jan 31, 1852, during the session of the Legislature this building(the Old State House) was destroyed by fire.....( This date appears to be wrong but is as printed in book)......
January 26, 1838 the Legislature passed a act providing for the erection of a new State House, on the public square in Columbus, and in pursuance of said act Joseph Ridgway Jr,, of Columbus, William A. Adams of Zanesville, and Wm. B. Vanhook of Butler county were by joint resolution appointed Commissioners for carrying the law into effect. They were required to give notice in certain newspapers and offer premiun of five hundred dollars for the best plan to be approved by the Legislature upon which said State House should be erected. A number of plans were furnished by various competitors for the premium and Henry Walters of Cincinnati, received the premium, though his plan was not adopted; but from various plans furnished, the commissioners formed and adopted one somewhat different from any of the plans presented.........
In the spring of 1839, the Commissioners appointed, Wm. Vanhook, one of their own body superintendent of the work. The high board fence, at present standing around the square, was put up , and the good workshop erected on the square, and other preparations made for working the convicts within the enclosure, in the cutting of stone&c. Stone was obtained at Sullivans lime-stone quarry and a vast quantity soon delivered in the enclosure. On the 4th of July, 1839 amidst a suitable celebration, the cornerstone was laid and the walls were subsequently raised to the level with the earth, when the inclementcy of winter stopped the work............
The whole cost , as far as the preparations of the work had progressed up to this time, appears to have been $41,585.22. During the session of the Legistature of 1839-40, charges were brought against W.B. Lloyd, a member from Cuyahoga county, which a majority of the Legislature decided as being sustained. A friend of Mr. Lloyd drew up a statement that the charge had not been sustained by the testimony relating to the matter, and expressing an undiminished confidence in the integrity of Mr Lloyd, which was signed by sixty-three citizens of Columbus. The article with the signers names appeared in the Ohio Stat Journal on the 17th of February. The publication gave offence to some members who had voted to censure Lloyd, and by them was asserted to be an unjustifiable intermedding with the acts of Legislature. On the 18th of February, Mr Flood member from Licking County introduced a bill in the lower House to repeal the act for erection of the New State House, which bill passed both branches of, and became a law on the 10th of March 1840. From the time of the repeal of the law for the erection of a new State house, the subject of a removal of the seat of Government from Columbus was agitated. During the session of 1843 a resolution passed the Senate inviting propositions for permanently fixing the seat of Government, but the resolution was rejected by the House. In 1846, the Legislature passed a law permanently fixing the seat of Government at Columbus, and proided for the continuance of the building of the New State House..........
On the 10th of February, 1816 the town was incorporated as "The Borough of Columbus"; and on the first Monday in May following, Messrs Henry Brown, Michael Patton, Jarvis Pke, Robert Armstrong, John Cutler, Calab Houston, John Kerr, Jeremiah Armstrong, and Robert McCoy were elected the first Board of Councilmen; the last named gentleman has been continued by re-elections a member of Council, ever since, and is now President of the Board............
March 3, 1834 a city charter was granted by the Legislature which divided the town into three wards and granted four members from each ward, and giving the Council power to increase the number of wards; and on the second mOnday in April following, the following gentlemen were elected the first board under the new charter. Joseph Ridgway; Sen, Robert W. McCoy, Otis Crosby, Henry Brown, John Patterson, Wm. Minor, Jonathan Neereamer, Francis Stewert, Noah h. Swayne, William Long, Christain Heyl, and W.T. Martin. By the following ordinance passed by City Council Feb. 18, 1846 the city was divided into five wards which are the present boundaries of the different wards..........
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