RUCTION

Governor Cox and the State Relief Commission on Tuesday left on a tour
of the state to visit cities and districts that were hit hardest by the
flood to determine what relief was necessary in each case. Before their
departure, however, conditions in Columbus were fast approaching normal,
and the residents with a cheerful, courageous spirit had commenced the
repair of their devastated city.

CHAPTER VIII

COLUMBUS: THE BEAUTIFUL CAPITAL OF OHIO

CAPITAL OF OHIO SINCE 1810--EARLY HISTORY--CITY OF BEAUTIFUL
STREETS AND RESIDENCES--SPLENDID PUBLIC COMMODITIES--TRADE AND
INDUSTRIES--CHARACTERISTICS OF ITS RESIDENTS.

Columbus, Ohio, the capital of the state and the county seat of Franklin
County, is located at the center of the state at the junction of the
Scioto and Olentangy Rivers, on a slightly elevated alluvial plain, and
is nearly equidistant from Cincinnati, southwest; Cleveland, northeast;
Toledo, northwest; and Marietta, southeast, the average distance from
these points being one hundred and fifteen miles. It has a population of
some 180,000.

Columbus was made the capital by the legislature in 1810, and became the
permanent capital in 1816, the original territorial and state capital
having been Chillicothe. The first state buildings were of brick, and
cost $85,000. The present massive buildings and additions are of dressed
native gray limestone, in the Doric style of architecture. They cover
nearly three acres of ground, and their total cost has been $2,500,000.

CITY OF BEAUTIFUL STREETS AND RESIDENCES

As early as 1812 Columbus was surveyed in rectangular squares; it was
incorporated as a village in 1816, and chartered as a city in 1834. In
general outline the city resembles a Maltese cross. It extends eight
miles north and south, and seven miles east and west on its arms of
expansion. Its longest streets, High and Broad, bisect the city north
and south, and east and west respectively. The uniform width of the
former is one hundred feet, and the breadth of the latter is one hundred
and twenty feet. Broad Street is planted with four rows of shade-trees
for its entire length east of Capitol Square, where it penetrates the
fashionable residence district. High Street is the leading business
thoroughfare. Capitol Square, a miniature park of ten acres, is situated
at the intersection of these streets, two squares east of the Scioto
River. The residence portions of the city contain many