13 Facts About Columbus You Never Knew Were True
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Sonya Afanasyeva
Author
So you know your way around Columbus, you know all the good places to eat, all the important dates in history, and all the best sights to see. But there’s always something new to learn. Every city has its set of peculiar little known facts, and we’re no exception. Read on to discover 13 neat and funky facts about Columbus. You’ll be the star of the party when you share these with your friends!
Columbus is one of the top ten youngest cities in the country. For almost 10 years, the average age of Columbus residents has stayed around 30-33 years old.
In an effort to fight typhoid fever outbreaks, Clarence and Charles Hoover designed the world's first water filtration facility, right here in Columbus. The same facility design and treatment protocols are still used all over the world. The Hoover Dam near Westerville is named after the two brothers.
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The biggest fashion design cities in the country are places New York, Los Angeles... and Columbus! This is partly due to the fact that large fashion companies like Victoria's Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, and DSW have their headquarters here in the city.
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Until 1914, Columbus used wooden arches that spanned streets to provide streetlights and power streetcars. This gave the city its nickname - "Arch City." In 2002, metal arches were installed in the Short North to pay homage to the historic arches.
©Sonya Afanasyeva
You know we have lots of fantastic local breweries in town, but did you know Columbus ranks in the top five US cities for craft beer production? Cheers to that!
In 2013 the Intelligent Community Forum named Columbus the most intelligent city in the country. We have also ranked in the top 20 most educated and most literate cities.
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The Indianola Junior High School was the very first junior high in the country. It opened in 1909 and still operates today as the Graham Expeditionary School. The building is on the National Register of Historic Buildings.
From 1850 to 1977 the Union Station served railroad passengers in Columbus. Three different buildings served as the station. At its peak, the station handled 112 passenger trains per day. The only remnant of the stations is one arch, part of the third station, that stands today on Nationwide Boulevard across from Nationwide Arena.
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Columbus is the 15th largest city in the U.S. by population. Also check this out: half of the residents of the United States live within 500 miles of Columbus.
You will be surprised to learn that in Columbus it is illegal to fish for whales on Sunday. So if you are lucky enough to spot a whale in Columbus, just make sure it's not Sunday.
Another weird old role is that women in Columbus are not allowed to wear patent leather shoes in public. The law is certainly not enforced, but it was apparently put in place for women's protection: it was believed that it was easy for men to see the reflection of women's underwear in shiny leather shoes.
The world's first cargo flight landed in Columbus. It carried two packages of silk from Dayton in a Wright Model B airplane and was flown to Pilot Philip Parmalee.
Sitting next to Ohio Judicial Center in the middle of a beautiful reflecting pool in downtown Columbus is the world's largest gavel. It was created by Andrew Scott in 2008.
Pretty neat, huh? Do you know any other fun facts about Columbus? Let us know in the comments!
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