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May 5, 2011
Commentary & opinion
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As it were
The city itself is the single monument to Joel Wright He is one of the more elusive men in the story of Columbus. Joel Wright is also one of the more important ones. Because of Wright, the whole downtown of Columbus is where it is, is named as it is and is laid out on lines that are still followed today. Yet there is no picture, no portrait, no sketch of this remarkable man. Wright was a member of the Society of Friends, called Quakers, and most of these people shunned pictures as a waste of time and effort. Because of the memories of his friends and acquaintances, we know a little bit about him. He was tall and strong and generally quite fit. He wore the long plain coat of the Quakers, with its large pockets with flaps folded over. He sported knee-length stockings and plain leather shoes. Both the buckles at his knees and on his shoes were made of silver and were a modest display of the success he had made of himself in Ohio. Born in 1750, Wright had missed most of the American Revolution and became known as a man who provided his own passage. Wright was a surveyor and by definition one of the few literate and well-read men in an often illiterate frontier society. In the years after the American Revolution, he spent most of his time surveying the upper reaches of the Scioto, Muskingum and Miami rivers. He also was a town planner and helped lay out Dayton, Ohio, and Louisville, Ky., among other places. After the death of his wife, Wright decided to follow his grown children into the Ohio country and eventually came to call the area around Waynesville his home. In spring 1812, he was called from southwest Ohio to do once more what he did best, only this time with even more attention to detail. Ohio in 1812 was a state in search of itself. Established in
1803, Ohio was the first state carved out of the Northwest Territory that had become a section of British ED America in 1763 and part LENTZ of the newly established United States in 1783. A nation mired in debt and with little income used this vast expanse of land to pay its soldiers’ pastdue wages. It sold the remaining land to anyone who wanted to buy. Ohio became the site of immense land grants to people from north and south, as well as people burned out by the British and even a colony of expatriate French settlers. The land immediately across the Scioto from frontier Franklinton was called the “High Banks opposite Franklinton at the Forks of the Scioto known as Wolf’s Ridge.” Most of the land, from Fifth Avenue on the north to Refugee Road on the south, was set aside for residents of Nova Scotia who had lost property because they had favored the American cause. Desperate for support, many of these people sold their land warrants to speculators and never came to Ohio. Some of the few who did settled near Broad Street and named their home after the place they left: Truro Township in Nova Scotia. By 1812, much of the land on that ridge opposite Franklinton still was empty. As such it became a place to examine as Ohio began looking for a new state capital. The first capital was at Chillicothe, a town along the Scioto River. Unlike the river towns of Marietta and Cincinnati, Chillicothe was a small frontier village and representative of the common people who were settling the new land.
Responding to requests for a more northern location, the capital city had been located briefly in Zanesville before being moved back to Chillicothe. In February 1812, after looking at many sites, the Ohio General Assembly chose the High Banks opposite Franklinton as its new home. Joel Wright came from southwest Ohio to carve that new capital city from the wilderness. Working with local surveyor Joseph Vance, Wright laid out the town of Columbus in April 1812. He picked the site of Statehouse Square and a 10-acre site for a penitentiary, as well, where the Cultural Arts Center is today. He later filed a report with the general assembly, listing all of his expenses, including the $2.43 for his journey to central Ohio. All of his expenses, including his trip home, came to $17.62. It is probably fair to say in retrospect that Ohio got its money’s worth. By June 1812, the first sale of lots occurred. James Kilbourne of Worthington paid $1,000 for a corner lot at Broad and High, and other nearby lots went for several hundred dollars each. Sales slowed when it was later learned that America had gone to war with Britain on the same day, June 18, that the sale had been held. Wright returned to Columbus in 1813 to oversee the construction of the penitentiary. When it was under way, he resigned his position as “director of Columbus.” He went home and lived in the Quaker community of Springboro until his death in 1829. There is no statue of Joel Wright in Columbus, and Wright would have been appalled if one had been erected. The capital city was his monument and a source of pride to him.
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Letter
Goodwill agencies to celebrate anniversary To the editor: Goodwill Columbus this week is among more than 165 independent Goodwill agencies across the United States and Canada observing the 60th anniversary of Goodwill Industries Week. Locally, this commemoration also allows us to thank you — our shoppers and donors, and business and government partners — for the important role you play in Goodwill’s day-to-day operations. By donating gently used clothing, furniture and household items to Goodwill, you help others. Each year, Goodwill Columbus provides 1.2 million hours of service to 3,325 participants with disabilities and other barriers through day habilitation programs, community-based supported living services, employment training and job placement services. Additionally, your donations to Goodwill divert usable goods from landfills. In 2010, Goodwill Columbus received revenues of $4.4 million from the resale of donated goods. Your dollars helped to fund more than 15 programs and services for individuals with disabilities and other barriers. Donated items we are unable to sell in our retail stores are spared
from landfills as well. In 2011, Goodwill Columbus expects to recycle more than 1 million pounds of unwanted materials — metal, plastics, and wood, wicker and miscellaneous wares. During Goodwill Industries Week, I just wanted to say “thank you” to the people of Franklin County this year for helping Goodwill continue to “break bar-
riers and build futures” for so many local individuals with disabilities. For more information on the impact of your donations to Goodwill Columbus, please visit www.goodwillcolumbus.org and www.donate.goodwill.org.
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