The City of Columbus Plans for Quincentenary by Randall Edwards
Columbus, Ol}io, a growing state capital in the heart of the heartland, is working to create a maritime mood as part of its quincentennial celebration of Christopher Columbus's first transatlantic voyage. Citizens and businesses are contributing millions to fund a series of events and attractions between the Columbus Days of 1991 and 1992. Included are a replica of the Santa Maria and a $93 million international horticultural exhibition. Residents of America's coastal states often puzzle over these plans. The city of Columbus is, after all, a good day'sdrive from the nearest seacoast and a thousand miles from the northernmost land ever reached in the Columbian voyages . Its only port is Port Columbus, the municipal airport. But, it is also the largest city in the world named for the Italian mariner, and local leaders are not about to let the quincentennial pass them by on its way to Seville, Genoa or even New York. It 's not clear why Columbus, built at the confluence of the mostly non-navigable Scioto and Olentangy Rivers, was named after the sea-going explorer who
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never set foot on North American soil. Perhaps the Honorable Joseph Foos, a member of the Ohio General Assembly in 1812, when the state's capital was carved out of the forest admired the Admiral's ingenuity and perseverance. Or, perhaps, Mr. Foos had the state's maritime hi story in mind when he suggested the city be named Columbus. Beginning with the launching of the St. Clair in Marietta in 1800, square rigged ship building was a healthy but short-lived industry, with 31 vessels bu ilt at yards along the Ohio River, most of them within a few years of the St. Clair. John Riley, manager or the Ohio River Museum in Marietta tell s us: "They would send them down the river, and fit them out and step the masts at New Orleans. Then they would load them with cargo and ship them out." President Jefferson 's Embargo Act of 1807 quickly took the wind out of Ohio ship builders ' sails, but within a decade the Ohio River was busy again, as shipyards turned to building sternand side-wheelers for the river trade. The confluence of the Olentangy and Scioto rivers , at the heart of Columbus, has its own nautical story. Fur trading American Indians used the two rivers as important supply routes. The French, who were in Ohio by the second quarter of the 17th century, used the north/south river corridors to travel and maintain their contacts with the indigenous populations. Columbus was also on one of the feeder lines of the Ohio Canal. The canal, though, was never very successful and was soon made obsolete by the railroads. Still, there was life on Ohio 's interior rivers, as packets and barges were probably seen in Ohio until 1913, when a series of deadly and devastating floods swept the state, putting an end to navigable rivers in Ohio. Dams were built to stem the destructive tendencies of the streams, and water-borne commerce was relegated to the Ohio River and Lake Erie. Now the Scioto and Olentangy are used solely for recreation and water impoundment. But Columbus is proud of its historic connection-however tenuous-to America 's maritime past.
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Columbus, which is now the largest central city in Ohio, has spent the last five years planning the 1992 celebration and will have some stiff competition: the 1992 Olympics will be in France in the
winter and Spain in the summer; also in Spain, Seville will host Expo' 92; Madrid has been named the "cultural capital" of the European Community; there will also be celebrations in Italy, the Bahamas, Miami , and New York, as well. But Columbus believes it can compete in this international arena, and the planned events have already drawn a bouquet of convention business. According to Marjory M. Pizzuti , executive director of the Christopher Columbus Quincentennial Jubilee Commission, this interest in the city's namesake is by no means a new one. "We've had a 35-year sister city relationship with Genoa," she noted . The Italian seaport donated one of Columbus' three prominently displayed statues of the Admiral. The two and a half ton bronze sculpture was erected in front of the city hall in 1955 and was recently refurbished . Representations of Columbus' flagship, the Santa Maria , adorn the entrance to city hall and the walls of city council chambers. "That boat has been part of our history since day one," said Eugene D' Angelo, a local television executive who oversees efforts to float a Santa Maria replica on the Scioto by Columbus Day of this year. D' Angelo admits he thought the idea a bit far-fetched when it was first proposed, but so far he has raised about $800,000 of private money for the ship, which is under construction at Scarano Boatbuilding Inc. in Albany, New York. When the ship's hull is complete it will be unbolted into port and starboard halves for trucking to Columbus. If all goes as planned, the pieces of the Santa Maria will be assembled on the banks of the Scioto this summer. City leaders hope the Santa Maria will lure to the downtown area some of the large number of visitors expected in Columbus next year. Among the city's attractions will be Ameriflora '92 (a major horticultural exhibition), the Men 's Olympic Marathon trials, to select the team for the Summer Games in Barcelona; the U S Amateur Golf Tournament; the visit of two giant pandas on loan from the Chinese government; and, at Ohio State University, a series of seminars and workshops on the opening of the New World. D
Mr. Edwards is a reporter for the daily Columbus Di spatch and takes a lively interest in the Columbus Quincentenary. SEA HISTORY 58, SUMMER 1991