Old Ohio Penitentiary: Demographics: Then and Now

Introduction

The Old Ohio Penitentiary, also known as the Ohio State Penitentiary or less formally referred to as the Ohio Pen or State Pen, was a prison operated from 1834 to 1983 in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio Penitentiary covered 22 acres of land on West Spring Street between West Street and Neil Avenue before it was demolished. During its lifetime, several historical events took place including the worst prison fire ever in U.S history, two large riots, a tornado, and some interesting escapes. The Ohio Pen was sold in 1995 and demolished in 1998 to make room for Nationwide Arena in the present-day Arena District. Today, the site of Ohio Pen is used for arena parking lots, condos, businesses, work-out facility, movie theater, restaurants, bars, and a park. Our research comes from a variety of sources, including internet databases, several books, personal interview, and personal experience from the site.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Demographics: Then and Now

The city of Columbus has drastically changed since its’ time of construction of the Ohio Penitentiary. When the penitentiary was completed in 1834, Columbus was the 70th largest city in America, with a touch over 6,000 residents. By the destruction of the penitentiary in 1998, Columbus was the 15th largest city in America with a population over 700,000. Helping to facilitate this population growth has been the city’s land area expansion. Annexation has allowed the city to grow from 39.9 square miles in 1950 to 225.9 square miles today. Throughout this growth of the city, it became evident that this wasn’t a good location for the Ohio Penitentiary.

Reference
"1950 Boundary (Central City) Population Profile/1990 Boundary Population Profile." City of Columbus. Web. 12 May 2010. .