Near East Side, Columbus, Ohio

The Near East Side is a neighborhood located near downtown Columbus, Ohio, made up of several neighborhoods: Beatty Park, King-Lincoln Bronzeville, Eastgate, Franklin Park, Mt. Vernon Avenue District, Nelson Park, Olde Towne East, and Woodland Park.

Following the Civil War, the city of Columbus began to grow at unprecedented rates. The development of the street car transit system changed the footprint of the city, as more residents were able to live further away from their place of employment. Areas along major arterial routes grew even more, and the edge of the city was pushed out to Alum Creek (due to annexation). At this time the Near East was a prestigious and wealthy community, containing many large and luxurious homes, successful businesses, and a thriving artist community.

By the 1920s the Near East area had developed its own identity and a collection of unique neighborhoods. Hamilton Park and Long Street became a wealthy African American neighborhood filled with stores, theatres, offices, restaurants, and numerous clubs and lounges featuring jazz music.

The area had five movie houses located close to one another: Dunbar Theater at Mount Vernon and Champion avenues; The Cameo, on Mount Vernon Ave near 20th, which prohibited African Americans from entering; The Pythian Theater, on Mount Vernon near Monroe and Garfield, which is now the Martin Luther King Center; and Lincoln Theater and Empress Theater on Long Street near Hamilton Park.

By the early 1940s, Poindexter Village, one of the nation's first public housing projects, was opened in the Near East. It was named after Reverend James Preston Poindexter, the first African American City Council Member of Columbus.

The increased interest in and ownership of the automobile continued to change the Near East Side, as sprawl, regional shopping centers, and suburbs altered the character of cities. Two of the most dramatic events in the Near East were the construction of the interstate highways in the 1960s; Interstate 71 North and South, and Interstate 70 East and West. The new construction served as a hard barrier to the area, which further separated Broad Street from the rest of downtown. However, highway exits directly into the area further spurred development and simultaneously ended the use of Broad St as the main East-West travel road.

The Near East is bounded by I-670 to the North, I-70 to the South, Alum Creek to the East, and I-71 to the West. The area is approximately 2.5 square miles and occupies the space directly east of the original city laid out in 1812.

U.S. Route 40 is an east-west U.S. Highway, which once traversed the entire country and passes through Columbus along Main St. It was built on top of existing freeways, such as the Historic National Road, which connected Zanesville to Columbus in 1833, and Columbus to Springfield in 1838.

...
Wikipedia