Columbus covers 225 square miles and is home to nearly one million people who get fanatical about OSU games and the city zoo — ranked in the top 10 in the country. But anyone who’s from the city knows there’s so much more to the city than those “surface” facts. In fact, here are 35 other Columbus facts that every resident of the city knows to be true (or at least should!).
You know the city well if you know these facts about Columbus
1. Columbus wasn’t Ohio’s first state capital. In fact, the city wasn’t even built yet when Ohio became a state. A small city on the Scioto River, Chillicothe, was the original capital.
2. If you’re looking for apartments in Columbus, you’ll live within 600 miles of 48 percent of all Americans! Several major cities are within a day’s drive, including Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Atlanta.
3. Jerrie Mock, the first woman to fly around the world, started and landed her flight in Columbus at the John Glenn Columbus International Airport (then known as Port Columbus). You can see a beautiful bronze statue of her at the airport today.
4. Tons of fast-food joints got their start in Columbus. Wendy’s opened its first location on East Broad Street in 1969. Buffalo Wild Wings started in Columbus, as did Donato’s Pizza and Charley’s Grilled Subs. Max and Erma’s is based out of the city, today, as is White Castle, among others.
5. In 1810, Ohio gained its new capital, thanks to a committee meeting and deciding that the capital had to be within 40 miles of the state’s geographic center. Four businessmen from Franklinton gave 20 acres of land for free for the establishment of the capital city, which is now Columbus.
6. Columbus has been home to a lot of famous people over the years, including J.K. Simmons, Andrew Levitt (Nina West), Simone Biles, Jack Hanna and Rascal Flatts.
7. Columbus is a candy-making city. Seriously. The Anthony Thomas Candy Company produces over 50,000 pounds of chocolate every single day.
8. Columbus was once the headquarters for the NFL. From 1927 to 1939, the NFL heads worked out of one of the first skyscrapers built in the city (the Hayden Building). At the time, the city had the Columbus Panhandles, their own NFL team, the first team to play against another NFL team.
9. A male fraternity inducted Judy Garland in 1938 in Columbus, one year before her most famous movie, “The Wizard of Oz,” came out. She was in town playing the Ohio Theatre, and LIFE Magazine recorded it all.
10. Abraham Lincoln wasn’t from Ohio, but he was here in Columbus when he officially found out that he would become the next president of the United States. He was visiting the Ohio Statehouse while the electoral college was meeting to certify the results of the election. Apparently, he did a jig to celebrate the news.
11. One of the world’s most famous magicians is buried in Greenlawn Abbey in Columbus. Howard Thurston, known for his incredible card tricks, was born and raised in Columbus, and this is where he’s buried. You can find the beautiful mausoleum in Greenlawn Cemetery.
12. Probably the most famous celebrity arrest in Columbus was that of Woody Harrelson. In 1982, police arrested him for “dancing in the street” and attempting to flee officers. He wound up paying $400 in fines and court costs.
13. Every July 4th, Columbus residents gather to celebrate and promote satire, liberty and lunacy during the Doo Dah Parade. This unique spectacle shows oddities like drummers in unique getups, cosplayers from cult classics and the distinctly popular Marching Fidels, a group of Fidel Castro impersonators who banter with the crowds as they “recruit” for the Cuban army.
14. Columbus was almost named Ohio City. In light of more sensitive perspectives of history, many folks would have preferred that dull name over picking Christopher Columbus as the namesake.
15. In the Columbus suburb of Dublin, you can find 109 concrete ears of corn throughout the city. Why? Artist Michael Cochran created them to honor Ohio’s agricultural heritage. Each statue is 6 feet, 3 inches tall and stands in a row in a field. Unofficially, the site is known as Cornhenge, but the official name is “Field of Corn (with Osage Oranges).”
16. The Ohio Stadium, where the OSU Buckeyes play, can seat nearly 105,000 fans. The stadium is the nation’s fourth-largest on-campus football stadium.
17. Columbus has a thriving LBGTQIA+ community, with an estimated 4.5 percent of residents in the greater metro area identifying within the community.
18. Because of that great community, the Columbus Pride Parade has been around since 1981 and ranks now among the largest in the Midwest, drawing in more than half a million folks each year.
19. Columbus celebrates the remarkable works of neo-impressionist Georges Seurat’s pointillism in Topiary Park with shrubberies trimmed into the shape of the figures of “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.”
20. Columbus has had many nicknames throughout its history, including Cowtown, Cbus and Arch City, which was the city’s nickname in the 1890s, thanks to the many arches over key streets in the city at the time.
21. Horse lovers know this: Every year, Columbus hosts the largest single-breed horse show in the world. The show is each October, celebrating the American Quarter Horse (known as the All American Quarter Horse Congress). More than half a million folks come to the show each year.
22. Columbus has been a forerunner city in the fight against poor water quality for nearly a century. Clarence and Charles Hoover created the first water filtration facility in the world, right here in Columbus. The brothers created the system in an effort to fight against typhoid fever outbreaks. The facility design and treatment protocols are still used all over the world, keeping the water clean and safe for folks to bathe in and drink. Now, there’s a Hoover Dam built in Westerville, named for the brothers.
23. You might not be aware of it if you’re not from the city, but Columbus is actually the third leading fashion design city in the country, after New York and Los Angeles. Companies like DSW, Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch have their headquarters in the city.
24. Jerrie Mock isn’t the only pilot to make first-flight history in Columbus. Pilot Philip Parmalee flew the world’s first cargo flight into Columbus, carrying two packages of silk from Dayton. He made the flight in the Wright Model B airplane.
25. Another Columbus fact is that the city is home to the world’s largest gavel. The giant public art piece was created by Andrew Scott in 2008. It sits in the middle of the reflecting pool in downtown Columbus, next to the Ohio Judicial Center.
26. The National Hockey League awarded Columbus a franchise in 1997. In response to this win, the city held a “name the team” contest, which received more than 14,000 entries. The winning name was, of course, the Columbus Blue Jackets. During the Civil War, Columbus manufactured thousands of blue uniforms for the Union Troops. The state, overall, also provided more Union soldiers than any other state during the conflict.
27. Football has always been a huge part of the Columbus community at OSU and with it homecoming activities of huge proportions. So much so that in 1926, the homecoming queen election was actually found to have voter fraud! Only 10,000 people were eligible to vote, yet Rosalind Morrison had 12,000 votes cast. In light of the fraud, the crown was passed to the runner-up: a cow named Ms. Maudine Ormsby, nominated by the College of Agriculture. The lovely cow was a part of the homecoming parade.
28. Columbus is home to the stunning Park of Roses, a 13-acre garden within Whetstone Park. The garden is home to more than 11,000 bushes and 350 different types of roses, some varieties dating back to the early 20th Century.
29. You can find a bronze statue of Arnold Schwarzenegger downtown. The statue celebrates the former California governor’s positive relationship with the Ohio capital. In 1970, Schwarzenegger won a weight-lifting contest in Columbus, beating out several well-known athletes. At the time, he told the event organizer that “When I retire from bodybuilding, I’ll be back, and you and I will put together a major bodybuilding competition right here, every year.” He did return from 1975 to 1980 to create and run the Mr. Olympia contest. Then, in 1989, Schwarzenegger launched the Arnold Sports Festival, one of the world’s largest fitness expos, which still takes place annually in Columbus.
30. Sporting events draw large crowds to Columbus every year. If every single seat in the stadiums and other sports venues were filled at once, they would hold more than 172,000 people at one time.
31. In 2013, Columbus was named the most intelligent city in the United States by the Intelligent Community Forum. The city ranked in the top 20 most literate and educated cities. A large number of colleges and universities in the area certainly doesn’t hurt!
32. The average age of Columbusites is between 30 and 33. This average age has remained the same for about 10 years, making the city one of the 10 youngest cities in the country. That means Columbus apartments are often centrally located in great walking neighborhoods and areas perfect for raising families.
33. Roller Derby is a hugely popular experience here, with the Ohio Roller Girls, a professional flat track team, ranking in the top 10 out of more than 300 teams currently playing. One of Columbus’s own, “The Smacktivist” was even named to the 2015 All-Star team.
34. This Columbus fact was it was home to the very first Junior High in the country. The Indianola Junior High opened in 1909 and remains a charter school today, under the name Graham Expeditionary School.
35. Columbus is the perfect place for craft beer lovers: The city ranks in the top five craft brew production locations in the country.
Know any more fun Columbus facts?
Whatever your hobbies and favorite pastimes, Columbus is a city filled with historical sites, stadiums and event venues you’re going to love. So, learn these Columbus facts and find your perfect neighborhood for the community you’ll blend in perfectly with.
And if we missed some other cool Columbus facts, let us know in the comments below.
