Gentrification in the Short North: from Run Down to Downtown

Hansan 1 Gentrification in the Short North: From Run Down to Downtown A Senior Honors Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for graduation with distinction in History in the undergraduate colleges of The Ohio State University by John Kent Hansan The Ohio State University June 2005 Project Advisor: Professor Steven Conn, Department of History Hansan 2 I. The Short North: Then and Now On the first Saturday of every month, people from all over central Ohio flock to the Short North for Gallery Hop. This short stretch of High Street, located just north of the central downtown center of Columbus, is packed with restaurants, specialty shops, and art galleries. Music, talk, and laughter fill the air as people wander from site to site, enjoying the vibrancy and life of the area. People slip into the High Street businesses, examine the art and other knick- knacks, and maybe make a purchase or two. On beautiful spring days, downtown employees eat at the restaurants and walk up and down the High Street strip. In the summer, a group of resident oddballs have a parade of insanity through the neighborhood. In the residential neighborhoods of Victorian Village and Italian Village, located on opposite sides of High Street, there are dozens of construction projects, some recently completed, some major renovations in process, and others on the drawing board. The residents are some of the most educated and most tolerant in all of Columbus. Driving around the neighborhood, one can see all sorts of symbols of diversity: rainbow flags, American flags, Ohio State flags, and flags of the University of Michigan. All types of people are welcome in the neighborhood. For all these positives, there are still a number of reminders of the former identity and character of the neighborhood. There are panhandlers on the street, and scantily clad women sit in a storefront window, replacing the scantily clad men, who replaced the scantily clad women. Graffiti and vandalism disfigure some buildings, but these image problems pale in comparison with the issues that afflicted the area just a few decades ago. People who remember what the area was like in the 1970s and early 1980s find it difficult to believe they are looking at the same place. Those who were on High Street on a Saturday Hansan 3 night in 1970 walked along treeless sidewalks past boarded up storefronts and bars. They shared the sidewalks with drunks, prostitutes, and drug dealers. If there were suburban visitors in the area, they were probably there to patronize a lady of the night. Working class people from the residential neighborhoods imbibed in the seedy bars, and violence was a common part of life. Many of the buildings that now house galleries and fine restaurants were home to run- down bars and other seedy establishments. The upper floors of these buildings were unutilized and property owners had no incentive to fix them up. The area did not have a name, and people without a pressing need would not go there, although it was a destination for those looking for drugs or prostitutes. Those businesses that thrived catered to the people of limited economic means in the neighborhood. There were car dealerships, used television stores, pawnshops, barbershops, and bars. The residential neighborhoods were filled with working class families living in multi- family properties. Many of these housing units had once been single-family homes, but in the years after WWII, enterprising property owners had converted the structures into multi-unit facilities in order to increase rental income. Buildings on High Street and in the residential communities had tenants other than families and legitimate businesses. Some of these structures, especially those that were run-down or abandoned, saw illegal activities such as prostitution and drug dealing occur within their walls. The neighborhood seemed to be one without hope or much of a future, but that has changed dramatically. The previously dangerous neighborhood is now one of the most respected and vibrant of the city. It was not a short process and it resulted in huge changes in almost every aspect of life in the area. Hansan 4 When one looks at the before and after snapshots of a neighborhood, it is easy to see the differences between the past and the present. However, the differences alone do not tell the story of how the neighborhood changed. This thesis examines some of the statistical evidence of gentrification in the Short North commercial strip and the surrounding residential neighborhoods. This evidence is interwoven into the story of the neighborhood as a whole. Statistics give tangible evidence that the neighborhood has changed, and stories and interviews flesh out how those changes came about. The statistics used come from the U.S. Census reports from 1960 to 2000. Further evidence comes from personal interviews conducted by the author and from newspaper articles from neighborhood and citywide periodicals. This thesis will give a more complete picture of the Short North, its change from a rough, dangerous part of Columbus to one of the most popular and well respected, and how that change came about. II. Important Geography For those not familiar with Columbus, Ohio, the term “Short North” does not mean much at all. For those who know the city, there are many different ideas as to what exactly Short North refers. Police and street thugs used the term to describe an unruly stretch of High Street, but now the term refers to the principal arts and cultural district of the city (Allen interview). The Short North is officially defined as the strip of High Street running from I-670 on the south to just above 5th Avenue on the north. This section of High Street is about a mile north of the intersection of Broad Street and High Street. However, this term has come to represent not just the High Street commercial strip, but Italian Village and Victorian Village as well. All of these areas are part of the Near Northside of Columbus. The official boundaries of the Victorian Hansan 5 Village are High Street to the east, Harrison Avenue and Neil Avenue on the west, Fifth Avenue on the North and Goodale Avenue to the south. Italian Village mirrors Victorian Village on the east side of High Street, covering the land from High Street to N. 4th St. on the east up to 5th Avenue on the north. For the purpose of this paper, the term Short North will be used generally to refer to the Short North commercial strip, Victorian Village, and Italian Village. These three parts make up the Short North and are geographically similar, but there were major differences between them. Therefore, it is important to examine them individually and as a unified area. Hansan 6 To get a clear picture of many of the numerical statistics for this area, one must examine the census data. Unfortunately, the census tracts do not coincide exactly with the neighborhood definitions set out in this thesis. In order to create a standard area for examination, the author chose to look at the data for census tracts 20, 21, and 22 in Columbus, OH. These tracts cover most of the High Street commercial strip and parts of Victorian Village and Italian Village. Although not perfect, they are a good proxy for the neighborhoods at large. Furthermore, these tracts retained the same boundaries from the census of 1960 through the 2000 census. It is important to look at the statistics for the tracts in comparison with the city at large. Otherwise, changes affecting the entire city could falsely be attributed to factors at the tract level, Hansan 7 i.e. gentrification could get credit for changes that simply reflect changes that affect the entire city such as improvements in education or shifts in the city economy. This area merits special consideration and is important to study due to its historical significance to Columbus. High Street has historically been the main North-South axis for the city. The intersection of High Street and Broad Street, the city’s major East-West axis, is the literal and symbolic center of the city. Located at the southeast corner of Broad and High is the Ohio Statehouse. High Street connects the downtown with The Ohio State University to the north. The first suburbs of the city were along the High Street corridor. At the beginning of the 20th century, when downtown still had a substantial residential population, High Street was filled with stores and hotels. The Lazarus department store on South High Street was a Columbus institution. High Street was the place to be for the people of Columbus. At this time, the area that would one day be known as the Short North was little more than a suburb of Columbus. The neighborhood to the west of High Street was one of the more affluent in the city. Members of the upper and middle classes inhabited the large Victorian houses. These homes were mainly built of bricks and comprised a very solid housing stock. Some of these stately edifices sat on the border of Goodale Park. Goodale Park was the first city park, given to the city in 1846. The park added to the community feel of the neighborhood, and new construction in the park played on the Victorian theme of the surrounding homes. When the residents of the area were looking to give the neighborhood a name in the 1970s, they drew inspiration from the unique architecture, and called the place Victorian Village. Some of the people who worked in those houses and in the industrial facilities on the near northside, such as Jeffery Manufacturing on 4th Street lived to the east of High Street.

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