Columbus, Ohio is the capital of the state and the fourteenth largest city in the United States. It is a vibrant city with a rich history, boasting many German immigrants who settled in the area and its original capital status being moved to Zanesville in 1810. It has had many aliases, including Cowtown and Cbus, and Arch City, which comes from the construction of arches on the city's main streets. The North Market was established in 1876 and is now home to more than 30 vendors selling Midwestern and international ready meals, fresh produce, meat, cheese and beer. The Columbus Blue Jackets were chosen as the city's NHL franchise in 1997, with their name coming from the fact that Columbus manufactured thousands of blue uniforms for Union troops during the Civil War.
Geraldine “Jerrie” Mock was an OSU graduate and Columbus resident who became the first woman to fly solo around the world in 1964. Her vehicle of choice was a single-engine Cessna called Spirit of Columbus. Rose Park is a must-see for visitors during warmer months, with its 13-acre garden containing more than 11,000 shrubs representing 350 types of roses. A bronze statue of Arnold Schwarzenegger stands in the center of the city to celebrate his relationship with Columbus. He won a weightlifting competition in 1970 and went on to create Mr.
Olympia Competition (1975-1980) and launch the Arnold Sports Festival in 1989. The Dublin suburb is home to 109 ears of concrete corn, built by artist Michael Cochran in 1994 to honor Ohio's agricultural roots. The OSU Buckeyes play at Ohio Stadium, which has a capacity of 104,944 fans dressed in scarlet. It is the fourth largest college football stadium in the United States and has never fallen below fourth place in average attendance since 1949. Topiary Park pays homage to Georges Seurat's masterpiece Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte with shrubs cut to shape all the people in the painting. Christopher Columbus Park is the smallest park in the city, originally created in 1976 and rededicated in 2004 after modernizing flower beds, bricks, benches and much more. The Yukon building used to be crowned by a 135-foot tall dome that had four giant clock faces and 1000 lamps at the base. Judy Garland was included in Ohio State's Sigma Chi male fraternity in 1938, just a year before The Wizard of Oz was released. Howard Thurston was born and raised here in Columbus and was known around the world for his incredible card tricks.
Hugh Heffner built the Playboy Club in East Columbus in 1982. Thanks to its large community, Columbus Pride Parade has existed since 1981 and is now among the largest in the Midwest, attracting more than half a million people each year. These are just some of the fascinating facts about this amazing city.
