the east side of the Scioto in the
midst of an extensive plain. High Street, the principal business
thoroughfare, is 100 ft. wide, and Broad Street, on which are many of
the finest residences, is 120 ft. wide, has four rows of trees, a
roadway for heavy vehicles in the middle, and a driveway for carriages
on either side.
The principal building is the state capitol (completed in 1857) in a
square of ten acres at the intersection of High and Broad streets. It is
built in the simple Doric style, of grey limestone taken from a quarry
owned by the state, near the city; is 304 ft. long and 184 ft. wide, and
has a rotunda 158 ft. high, on the walls of which are the original
painting, by William Henry Powell (1823-1879), of O. H. Perry's victory
on Lake Erie, and portraits of most of the governors of Ohio. Other
prominent structures are the U.S. government and the judiciary
buildings, the latter connected with the capitol by a stone terrace, the
city hall, the county court house, the union station, the board of
trade, the soldiers' memorial hall (with a seating capacity of about
4500), and several office buildings. The city is a favourite
meeting-place for conventions. Among the state institutions in Columbus
are the university (see below), the penitentiary, a state hospital for
the insane, the state school for the blind, and the state institutions
for the education of the deaf and dumb and for feeble-minded youth. In
the capitol grounds are monuments to the memory of Ulysses S. Grant,
Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, William T. Sherman, Philip H.
Sheridan, Salmon P. Chase, and Edwin M. Stanton, and a beautiful
memorial arch (with sculpture by H. A. M'Neil) to William McKinley.
The city has several parks, including the Franklin of 90 acres, the
Goodale of 44 acres, and the Schiller of 24 acres, besides the
Olentangy, a well-equipped amusement resort on the banks of the river
from which it is named, the Indianola, another amusement resort, and the
United States military post and recruiting station, which occupies 80
acres laid out like a park. The state fair grounds of 115 acres adjoin
the city, and there is also a beautiful cemetery of 220 acres.
The Ohio State University (non-sectarian and co-educational), opened as
the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1873, and reorganized
under its present name in 1878, is 3 m. north of the capitol. It
includes colleges of arts, philosophy and science, of education (fo
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