Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Columbus (1.)

COLUMBUS, a city of the United States of America, capital of the State of Ohio, in Franklin county, is situated on the Scioto, a tributary of the Ohio, about 100 miles north-east of Cincinnati. It is well laid out on a level site in the midst of an extensive plain, and possesses very broad and handsome streets pleasantly shaded with elm-trees. High Street is its principal thoroughfare, and Capitol Square one of the most spacious of its open areas; while Broad Street, 120 feet wide, is laid out for a stretch of two miles. As the capital of the State it contains the usual public buildings, which are of a higher character than are to be found in other cities of the Union. The Capitol is an imposing edifice built of grey limestone, with a rotunda 150 feet high. It covers an area of 55,936 square feet, and its internal accommodation is most complete. There are also in and around the city the penitentiary, extending over more than 10 acres of ground, and accommodating upwards of 1000 prisoners; the new lunatic asylum, capable of containing 600 patients; the blind asylum, the idiot asylum, the deaf and dumb asylum, the United States arsenal, various hospitals and charitable institutions, a city hall, a county court-house, a county infirmary, the Starling medical college, the Lutheran university, an agricultural and mechanical college, the odd-fellows hall, and the opera-house. The city possesses a fine park of about 40 acres, named in honour of its donor, Dr Lincoln Goodale, and another of equal extent called the City Park. The grounds of the Franklin County Agricultural Society occupy 83 acres, and the gardens of the Columbus Horticultural Society 10. The manufactures of the city are rather miscellaneous, and none of them have as yet developed to any great proportions; flour-mills, engineering works, and factories for agricultural implements, brushes, carriages, harness, files, and furniture are among the chief establishments. Railways radiate from Columbus in all directions; and it has water-communication by means of a branch of the Ohio Canal. The first settlement of Columbus dates from 1812; its borough charter was bestowed in 1816, when it also became the seat of the State Government; it was made the capital of the county in 1824, and ten years after was raised to the rank of a city. The population in 1830 was 2437; in 1850, 17,882; and in 1870, 31,274.