Columbus, Ohio

The winding ride through the sun struck mountains of Pennsylvania brought us to Columbus, Ohio nine long hours later. That day was the beginning of the last large portion of our trip; we had visited 36 states and had only 14 left to see, mostly in the western half of the country. We had grown weary of the relentless winter battering the East Coast and were thrilled to be back on the road. Spring was coming, and the west was calling our name.

The first day in Columbus was brisk, the city still trying to shake off the talons of winter. We woke up early and cooked breakfast before heading downtown to visit the Capitol. After battling fierce traffic and circuitous one-way streets in downtown Columbus, we finally found the entrance to the public parking garage directly below the Capitol. That is a convenience that we definitely appreciated, and this was the only Capitol so far whose underground parking has been available to the public as well as legislators and staff. 

We parked and entered the building, searching for a tour desk and information on the ground floor. We found the map room, which has a mosaic of all the Ohio counties in six types of marble from around the world, and discovered that the tours began on the far side of the room. The guide informed us that a school tour was about to arrive momentarily, so we decided to take a pamphlet with a map and wander around on our own. First we climbed the nearest staircase, looking for the rotunda.

One unique feature of Ohio’s Capitol is that it was originally two buildings. The ‘Statehouse’ and the ‘Senate building’ used to be separate, with an open-air porch occupying the space between them. Before the atrium was built, the space was called “pigeon run” because of the pigeons that were always perched on the roofs of the two buildings. Since it has been enclosed, the atrium, with all of its glass and natural light, is used for any and all large events, groups, or gatherings. This alteration was the perfect solution for a treacherous outdoor corridor that was unpleasant and even dangerous to traverse in the winter months. While we were there, there was some sort of function for the new lawyers in the state, and the entire room was packed with people in their late twenties wearing suits, so we slowly worked our way across the atrium and into the rotunda.

This Capitol rotunda was unlike any other. For one, it was the pinkest rotunda we had seen so far on this trip, and secondly, you could only view it from the main floor. There was no balcony or gallery allowing access on the floors above, so the main floor was the only vantage point. The entire room was a giant cylinder rising up to the dome and stained glass window above, with tall, narrow stone arches adorning the entire circumference. On four sides of the room, the arches led to other hallways with the chambers, governor’s office, and historical exhibits. The floor was a white and black tile in a circular pattern that almost looked like an optical illusion.

When we were finished remarking on the unusual aspects of the rotunda, we moved on the Governor’s Office. Unfortunately, we were unable to enter without a tour guide (it seemed, in fact, as if the room might not be accessible to the public at all). To make up for not allowing access, they kindly placed a photo of the formal reception room on an easel in the hallway so we could still get an idea of what the room looked like.

We went upstairs and visited the Senate Chamber. I was immediately amused by their choice in carpet, which can only be described as vivid. Somehow after seeing all of the pink in the rest of the building, I was still surprised. There were other aspects of the room that were much more tasteful, however. The columns in the rear of the room are Pennsylvania marble with Corinthian capitals. The chandeliers were gorgeous, black and gold metal with a gothic design. I really liked them, but they seemed sort of out of place in this “Greek Revival” chamber. The walls were painted a tan color that complemented the plentiful carved woodwork around the windows and doors. The desks were reproductions of the originals and wired with voting buttons and microphones, but handsome nonetheless. The ceiling had intricate carvings around the tops of the chandeliers and stained glass skylights brightening the spaces in between. There used to be balcony seating for the gallery, but the balcony was removed in the early part of the twentieth century, so the public seating was moved to the edges of the room on either side of the Senator’s desks. It was a beautiful chamber, no doubt, but some of the design choices were certainly a little surprising.

The House Chamber was much larger to accommodate its 99 members, but otherwise it looks very similar. The balcony in this room was still intact, however, and it was actually the only way to gain entry to the chamber. The desks date back to 1909, unlike the reproductions in the Senate Chamber, but they have been wired for modern voting technology. Again, I enjoyed the architecture and design of the ceiling, and the stained glass skylights. Unfortunately, the same carpet and chandelier choices continued into this room.

After visiting the chambers, we decided to check out some of the rooms with historical exhibits. One of the rooms was the George Washington Williams Memorial Room, which honors Ohio’s first African-American legislator. The room is styled in the 1880s, with various portraits of other African-American legislators. There was also the Ladies Gallery, which was a room that pays tribute to first six female legislators. It also had some displays with information on legislators, activists, and other people that have contributed to the women’s rights movement. Although I appreciate exhibits that commemorate members of disadvantaged groups and the people that worked tirelessly to improve their position, it always strikes me as being a gesture that could be described as “too little too late.” It’s all well and good if there is a room in the building commemorating African American legislators, but since they are still grossly underrepresented in Ohio, the room doesn’t really do much to actually promote equality. And furthermore, why did The Ladies’ Gallery have all sorts of displays describing the many trials they faced and their bravery in fighting for equal rights, but the George Washington Williams Memorial room did not? The rooms just seemed like a symbolic gesture to me. Instead of passing legislation or trying to do things that actually promote equality, did the state government just put up a couple of historical exhibits and told themselves that they’ve done enough?

After we finished touring the main parts of the building, we returned to the ground floor and explored the gift shop and Capitol museum. We bought a state postcard and key chain, as well as some locally produced tomato sauce for dinner that night. After making our purchases, we went to the museum, which we discovered was mostly about the legislative process. There was also a café that served the employees, but instead we decided to try a sandwich place across the street that had promising reviews on Yelp.

We braved the bitter wind and crossed the street to Market 65, which was a soup/salad/sandwich place. Immediately I noticed that this must be a popular restaurant, because it was just after the lunch rush, and the employees seemed as though they had just won a tremendous battle. The assembly line for the food was a little, eh, chaotic, but the food itself was pretty good. After eating our meals, we went back over to the Capitol to take some pictures of the outside before climbing back in our Subaru and driving to the museum.

The Ohio History Center is a few miles from downtown Columbus by the police-training academy. It’s a large, modern building, housing a number of offices as well as the museum on the main floor. Admission was $10 per person, which is pretty steep for a museum, but luckily the exhibits did not disappoint us.

The first area was dedicated to the natural history and geology of Ohio, and included various semi-precious stones like quartz that are native to the Ohio area. Then there was a room of battle flags, mostly from the Civil War. As we exited the flag room and rounded the corner, we came upon an exhibit about the 1950s, which was extremely interesting.

The first wall showed an info-graphic with various statistics comparing everyday life from the 1950s to present. For instance, the median age in America was 30.2 years in 1950 and 37.1 years in 2013; the percentage of women in the workforce was 28.8% in 1950 compared with 58.6% in 2010; and the average household debt was less than $2,000 in 1950 and a whopping $22,615 in 2012. Some other facts that the display illustrated included the US population, median household income, and the minimum wage. I was disappointed that the graphic did not include some other important facts, like the cost of higher education, percentage of households with only a single parent, and the average percentage of income spent on consumer products versus living expenses. On the other hand, it did provide some interesting tidbits, such as the number of drive-in movie theaters, television sales, and the number of polio cases in the US. I’m not sure if the display was merely an objective look at the differences, or if there was some ulterior politic motive, but it occurred to me that many of the facts presented fall in line with comparisons that the Republican Party makes from the 1950s to now. Considering Ohio’s political demographics, it wouldn’t surprise me if there were some correlation.

The next portion of the 1950s exhibit was extremely cool. Somehow, they managed to accommodate an entire 1950s two-bedroom house. It was stocked with every appliance, product, and trinket from the time period, down to the vacuum cleaner in the hall closet. I had to wonder how they found all of this stuff, because there was literally everything a family would need over the course of their daily life. The sheer scope of the collection was impressive, and I have to say that it was definitely one of the most unique exhibits that we have encountered so far.

The rest of the museum focused primarily on Ohio industry. Like much of the northeast and northern Midwest, Ohio was a manufacturing hub from the formation of the railroads up until about the 1960s, when new innovations and outsourced jobs reduced the industrial operations to a shadow of their former selves. To emphasize the importance of the railroads in the Ohio economy, the exhibit included one antique train car inside, and a number of others just outside the huge windows along the exterior walls. The railroads and canals greatly expedited transportation in the late 1800s and led to the manufacturing boom known today as the Industrial Revolution. As the western parts of our country were in their infancy, life in the east transitioned from widespread subsistence to the middle-class merchant life of factory work and small business. Suddenly, the have-nots were presented with real opportunity for social mobility, and the wealth gap slowly began to close. In our history, 1870 to 1970 was the century of greatest innovation and improvement in the lives of the majority of Americans, and much of it had to do with the Industrial Revolution.

In Ohio, manufacturing mostly consisted of furniture, porcelain china, and textiles. One of the more interesting and unusual companies represented was the Harris & Bros Carriage Makers, whose height of popularity was undoubtedly in the last few decades of the 19th century. The small display showed a number of their tools, and described their history and manufacturing process. Among the items in the rest of the room, there was an antique fire truck, Edison bulbs, and an area describing the importance of water and steam power.

The last two rooms were dedicated to textiles and fine china. In the first, vivid quilts hung from the ceiling all around the walls of the room, a railing separating the fabrics from the greasy hands of the museum’s visitors. The second room was more like a hallway leading to the museum’s lobby, with glass cases in the walls on either side. The china tea sets in these cases were beautifully painted, and they were so colorful and ornate that it looked like the kind of thing you would see in a movie about the American elite.  Each one was certainly more fancy than anything I have ever drunk tea from.

After several hours of exploration and research, we were definitely ready to relax. It was wonderful to see a Capitol building that had its own personal style compared to others we have visited, and the museum was one of the most interesting ones that we had seen on the trip. Learning more about the 1950s and Ohio’s robust manufacturing history, provided greater insight into the struggles of today’s world and economy, as well as the drastic degree of the improvement of everyday life.

The next day, we set off for St. Louis and Springfield, Illinois, which was the final capital city left for us to visit east of the Mississippi River. The call from the west was intensifying with each and every day.