Columbus Business and Industry

Columbus Business and Industry

Several industries brought economic growth to Columbus during the nineteenth century. The construction of a branch canal to the Ohio Canal, which linked the Ohio river at Portsmouth with Lake Erie at Cleveland, allowed merchants and manufacturers to ship goods inexpensively. Columbus still has a "Canal Street" and the book included a photograph of a canal warehouse .
The city also had a prosperous brewing industry . "Columbus is fast becoming one of the great brewing cities of the country. On the right of the illustration is shown the Schlee Brewery, on the left that of the Born Company, and in the distance the Hoster Brewery. Taken on the street level the picture gives but a small portion of these immense plants; each of which consists of a number of buildings. Their combined annual product amounts to millions of dollars. (page 73)
In the middle of the century a sizable German-speaking population migrated to Columbus, and settled in the near-south side, in an area of the city now know as German Village; here is an old scene of South Third Street (picture no longer available). The description reads: "A view is herewith given of a section of Columbus seldom seen by visitors, and not often coming within the observation of those who live in other parts of those who live in other parts of the city itself, it being out of the beaten routes of travel. South Third street, like a number of other streets on the South Side, is populated almost exclusively by thrifty Germans. The houses shown in the picture are of European type, plain but home-like, and the door yards are scrupulously clean and inviting. It is said that nearly all such houses are owned by their occupants; none are ever marked for sale, and a mortgage is almost unknown." (page 56)
The city also developed a prosperous buggy manufacturing industry in the nineteenth century. The description reads: "The Columbus Buggy Co., claiming to be the largest concern of its kind in the world, had its starting point here, being then known as the Iron Buggy Company. A concern which now has a capacity of one vehicle every eight minutes, was then confined to a space of 25 x 40 feet, producing 150 buggies a year. This old building was located at the corner of High street and Hickory alley. . . ." (page 15)
"Interior of the Wolf Bros. Shoe Factory " (Page 80; the Wolf's became one of the city's most prominent and wealthiest families, owning, among other interests, the Columbus Dispatch, WBNS radio stations, Channel 10 Television Station, the Ohio Company, and Bank Ohio.)