‘Could, should’ Columbus, Ohio, change its name?

Columbusites in Ohio are pondering the idea of changing the name of their city from Columbus to “something else,” according to Dr. David Staley, a history professor at Ohio State University in Columbus.

 

The “movement” began with the peaceful dismantling of the statues of Christopher Columbus around the city, Dr. Staley said. The statues are now tucked away at the Ohio History Center, where they have been “historically re-contextualized.”

 

Dr. Staley says he’s leaning toward “Scioto” as the replacement name for Columbus. It makes sense, as the Scioto River flows through the middle of the City of Columbus.

 

There’s also the Olentangy River that passes by the university campus and dumps into the Scioto. Sadly, “Olentangy” is not an option. Another town has already claimed it. Still, these words are fun to say. 

Locals pronounce the words as “sigh-OH-toe” and “OH-len-tan-jee.” 

Both words originated from the Wyandot indigenous people who were the original inhabitants of the Scioto Valley. 

The first settlement at this location in Ohio was Franklinton, created by a surveyor named Lucas Sullivant. He led a 20-man survey team to explore land along the Scioto River for the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1795. The crew was looking for a place to establish a retirement village to house Virginia’s Revolutionary War veterans. Sullivant’s payment included a 600-acre land grant.

 

The military retirees never came, but Sullivant planned a small village with 220 lots that he began to sell off. He chose to name the settlement Franklinton in 1797, as a tribute to the man he admired most – the late Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s most revered “founding fathers.”

 

When Ohio became the 17th state in the union in 1803, it needed a capital city. Things didn’t work out in Chilicothe, so the new state legislature opted to find a place near the center of the state to build a capital city. 

Four Franklinton investors (all associates of Lucas Sullivant) pledged to donate 20 acres of ground on the opposite side of the Scioto River from Franklinton. That land was all wilderness at the time. 

When Ohio legislators were considering the name for their new capital city, “Ohio City” emerged as the odds-on favorite. It seemed like a slam-dunk…until Franklinton tavern owner and river ferry operator Joseph Foos got wind of the idea.

 

Ed Lentz, a columnist at The Columbus Dispatch, said Foos also was an Ohio state senator. “Foos was appalled,” Lentz wrote. “A great admirer of Christopher Columbus, Foos believed the town should be named for the explorer.” 

“After using the tried-and-true method of persuasion accompanied by liberal amounts of strong drink…entertaining his colleagues at his own saloon…Foos convinced a majority of the assembly to name the town ‘Columbus,’ instead of ‘Ohio City,’” Lentz said. 

Could Ohio City emerge as possible “retro name” for Columbus? Nope. Ohio City was claimed by a small village in Van Wert County in the northwestern part of the state. 

There are other possible alternatives as replacement names for Columbus floating about. One is simply “Cbus,” a contraction of sorts. Another is “Flavortown,” a tribute to the popular chef Guy Fieri, a television food show mega-star, who was born in Columbus.

 

He used the term Flavortown to describe a “mythical place, a state of mind, where fun and food meet in perfect harmony.” Appearing in shows aired on The Food Network, Fieri was the self-proclaimed “Mayor of Flavortown.” 

How about renaming Columbus as “Buckeye,” since Ohio is the “Buckeye State?” Drat. That won’t work, either. There’s already a Buckeye as well as a Buckeye Lake in Ohio.

 

Maybe it’s best to just let things lie.