History of Near East Side

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“Bronzeville” was coined by James Gentry, a theater reviewer for the Chicago Bee. He promoted Bronzeville to describe the color of the residents in a Chicago community and the name resonated with others across the country. Columbus Blacks in the 1900s adopted the name for a very unique and prosperous community formed on Columbus’ near east side.

Bronzeville today is the area from Broad Street to the south, 20 th Street to the east, Atcheson Street to the north, and I-71 to the west. The original Bronzeville neighborhood was bound by Woodland St. to the east, Cleveland Ave. to the west, the Pennsylvania Railroad (now 1-670) to the north and Broad St.to the south.


Bronzeville was settled in the early 1900’s by African Americans moving from the south and those who lived in Columbus and moved from the West Side. By 1900, the Black population in Columbus had grown to over 22,000, up from the 5,547 in 1890, with most of the Black population living in Bronzeville. With The Ohio State University being a draw for Blacks from the south and others seeking educational opportunities the Bronzeville community had a group of “college-bred” Blacks greater in proportion to the size of the population than is to be found in other northern urban centers. The community flourished and development escalated. In 1922, African Americans in east Columbus owned such banks as the Adelphi Loan and Savings Company and a mortgage granting company called Credential. They also established a Black insurance firm entitled Columbus Supreme life and Casualty Company in 1919. The heart of Bronzeville was along a stretch of Long Street which was a residential corridor with commercial pockets, while Mt. Vernon St. to the north was the strong center of commerce

The first African American church in Columbus was the St. Paul A.M.E erected in 1823. The 2 nd Baptist church located on 17 th St. was established in 1836. The 2 nd Baptist Church was also the 2 nd Black church erected in Columbus and was a stop on the Underground Railroad. By the 1920’s, in the Jefferson-Garfield blocks on E. Long St., there were 10 Black physicians, 6 dentists, 10 churches, 2 drug stores, 2 undertakers, and over 100 African American-owned homes. Long St. and 17 th was the location of the first Black hospital known as the Alpha Hospital.

In the 1920’s, jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, and Cab Calloway played the Jazz Clubs, which lined the area. Bronzeville had four important theaters: the Lincoln and the Empress Theaters, located on Long St., and the Cameo and the Pythian both on Mt. Vernon St. The Pythian has been renovated and is now a part of the King-Arts Complex. The “Loving School” was established in 1871 educating 20% of Black children in Columbus. The school to close in 1882. In 1909 the Champion Ave. Junior High school was erected in Bronzeville. From 1910 to 1950 children in Bronzeville attended Felton or Garfield Elementary, Champion or Mt. Vernon Junior High, and East or Central High School.

During the 1930’s Bronzeville had experienced a golden age and maintained this momentum until after the Second World War. The first cause of any decrease in the population and economy of Bronzeville occurred just after desegregation, when Blacks were taking their business elsewhere. The second destabilization of the neighborhood came in the late 1950’s with the construction of Interstate 71, which demolished many important residences and structures in Bronzeville. The final and most destructive blow to this once flourishing community came in 1963 with the “Urban Renewal” initiative enacted by Eisenhower. Columbus received many funds from the federal government to rehabilitate residential areas deemed in need. This resulted in the demolition of over 100 acres of residences in north Bronzeville. These were slowly replaced with a strip mall and cul-de-sac subdivisions. Bronzeville, a neighborhood where 68,000 people thrived in the 1940’s, declined over the decades to a place where the average income has left families in poverty, where only 25% owned homes and where the residential population has withered to only 16,000 people.


(History of Bronzeville information from The Soul of a City Bronzeville: An Early African American Neighborhood in Columbus, OH, Fall 2009, Beth Jax and Professor Beverly M. Gordon, Ph.D.)


Near East Side Quick Facts 

  • It is approximately one square mile

  • It is a mix and predominately African American Neighborhood

  • It has a variety of housing styles and building materials dominated by brick

  • It has many brick and wooden century and older homes

  • It is approximately one mile from the center of Columbus

  • It has two functioning theaters (The Lincoln and The Pythian)

  • It has functioning African American Lodges

  • It has the headquarters for the Columbus Urban League

  • It houses The Ohio State University, African American and African Studies Community

  • Extension Center

  • It houses The Ohio State University East Hospital

  • It houses The Ohio State University Care Point East Clinic

  • It houses The King Arts Complex

  • It houses the Historic Poindexter Village / Museum

  • It houses several functioning African American and non-African American Churches that are a century or older

  • It still has a complete and functioning public school system

  • It has access to two major inter-state highways ( I – 71 & I – 670 )

  • It has direct arteries to / from downtown (Broad Street, Long Street and Mt. Vernon Avenue)

  • It has access to public transportation (COTA)

  • It has several original brick alleys and streets

  • It houses the oldest public swimming pool in Columbus (Maryland pool)

  • It is home to the Cultural Wall on the Long Street Cap (Long Street bridge over I – 71)



Resources 

Link to Columbus Library 

 

The Soul of a City- Beth Jax

The King-Lincoln Bronzeville District: Past, Present & Future


King-Loncoln-Columbus Neighborhoods


Rediscovering the Lost City of Bronzeville


Curriculum Development Project: An Introduction to Historically African-American Neighborhoods of Columbus, Ohio


JAMES PRESTON POINDEXTER, BLACK LEADER

Levstik, F. R. (1978). JAMES PRESTON POINDEXTER, BLACK LEADER. Negro History Bulletin, 41(4), 867. Retrieved from http://proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1296756626?accountid=9783