Columbus Neighborhoods: South Side

Once an industrial powerhouse, the South Side’s “Steel and Glass” heritage is still honored by the people who live there today. In a neighborhood created by everyone from Appalachian migrants to Hungarian immigrants, it remains a place of strength, diversity and resolve.

[@jordansharp4809]

I’m a 23 year old that recently moved to the Columbus area. I love history and KZbin at that. These videos and a few beers is how I end my evening recently. I love learning about the history and seeing places I work.

[@nickleary1982]

A few beers and watching CBUS neighborhoods is awesome. I did the same thing when I moved from Dayton to Downtown Cbus. Phenomenal presentation

[@NoNameToYou]

Columbus really is special.

[@davidspiess9753]

I grew up in what use to be the last neighborhood on Parsons Ave. Southern Pines. Always said I was from the southend.

[@airtow6766]

These WOSU Neighborhood Series are the best , most interesting thing that WOSU has ever produced. great!

[@jeannestoll9104]

I agree that it was a great series and I watched them all. However, I was very disappointed in the one on the Southend. They talked about all those up from southern Ohio to work in our factories. Very little was mentioned about the ethnic neighborhoods: Hungarian, German, Italian, etc. that made the Southend a melting pot of great people.

[@airtow6766]

@@jeannestoll9104 The early European immigrants to Columbus started many of those factories. My first job out of high school was at Jaeger Machine Company, started by Gebhard Jaeger around the turn of the century.

[@TrueREDSfan1]

I love these videos. As a Columbus native i am hooked. Thank you to everyone who made these videos possible

[@andreabeth2352]

This was really great! My family has lived in the South end for many years. We are from the Southwood and Parsons area. I've lived in several homes there and surrounding streets. My grandpa worked for Federal Glass and both of my parents went to South High School. It's amazing seeing how things were and how they have evolved. Businesses have come and gone but many of the buildings are still there. It has been strange these last few years with Buckeye Steel being torn down. It just feels so empty driving by.

[@kristypreece1]

Very interesting as I live a mile from Buckeye Steel and my grandparents retired from Federal Glass & Buckeye Steel. Great memories. Thank you

[@oppiewelch6741]

i grown up in the south end its my home allot of good memories there

[@williamburdon6993]

I remember my mom shopping at Schottensteins for our school clothes. They looked wonderful in the package , but when we got them home and put them on , the designs never matched from one side to the other, or the sleeves were wopperjawed. lol I got a full time job and bought my own clothes when I turned 14. I graduated school , but I have no idea how, I wasn't there more than half the time. I was from the bottoms and west side , most of those guys could never go drink in the south end without fighting , I only had one guy test me out of 100s of nights of hard drinking. On the west side , you fought about once a week lol.

[@Scott-ly2nk]

I remember those chickenshit schottestien school shit it was cheap as hell dad had one if there credit cards the only one besides woolco i think woolco's shit was a hell of alot better

[@GranPuba]

They keep bringing up Buckeye Steel, and do mention high turn over. But fail to mention all the deaths that place had. My dad worked there decades ago and told crazy stories of death's that acured there constantly.

[@suckstosuck2697]

That gal said Hinman, Moral, and Markison. All my friends lived on those streets-right up against Parsons Avenue.

[@tiffyb7309]

I lived in Hinman in the 90's!

[@peachmelba9333]

Good good memories!

[@LJTHEGEEK]

This is a great trip through the past of a city I have lived in and found my love in for the past 18 years and I live on the south side Sad to say buckeye steel is now gone and parsons is getting a facelift. Thanks for the trip through the past was a fun watch

[@tonyb65]

Buckeye Steel was a HUGE eye sore on the south side, and a BIG pollution problem to air quality. A really nasty hole. Hopefully something nice will be built, would be great for a park, with a great view of the city.

[@elizabethfarrell9650]

Really enjoyed the video.

[@donaldblankenship8057]

Hank Jr played a pizza bar with four tables in 1975 at Northern Lights shopping center in the north side of Cols. My mother expected him to play his father's songs Your Cheatin Heart. He didn't. My mother said he wasn't good. No accountin for taste.

[@jennh3598]

my mother worked at the CJ when Hank Jr played I have tons of memories she shared with me, or that I have and the people I met etc those where the good old days

[@ColsUnderground]

The South Side is a great improving area!

[@aqueenthreekingsconsulting9790]

there is gentrification going on but I think it is the best for our future. Grants and non-profits are fixing up vacant houses and giving them to families of churches in the South Side. I just moved back here from Cincinnati and I felt that way too, but since I am working with people to develop the South Side, I feel good about my hometown.

[@johnmarshall4534]

really really enjoyed watching this and seeing many of my life long friends, and might add, myself three times. Not knowing I was even in the picture.

[@chucktay32cs]

Same here they need to fix my home side of Columbus hilltop I miss columbus

[@mikecarmean6446]

Both Are Correct... ✅ South Side - South End Lived In Columbus Since 1957 ❤️

[@sammyyohio]

Exactly, both are the ways to say it, South Side, or South End. You grew up here, you knew where every thing and every body lived, and it was a giant melting pot of all kinds of people.

[@mikecarmean6446]

Right... As Well Do You Remember " Fly Town " ✅

[@kathyd5394]

This is a wonderful video. I love the Southend.

[@madmike8325]

That was both one of the best and worse places to grow up but I wouldn't trade it for millions. I no longer live in Barthman ave but Barthman ave will always live in me

[@audradotson5841]

1987 I was only 8yrs old ended up scolded by hot water...as a result stayed at children's hospital 8 mths.there were bad days and good but they took care of this southender

[@halrice3815]

We built this city.

[@jgrysiak6566]

On Rock & Roll!

[@NoNameToYou]

There was/is an old animal by products factory in that area and that is a big part of why it stunk so much on a hot day on the south end in the 90s.

[@mr.stealthrt6366]

I grew up in hilltop columbus ohio, i moved the the east coast but i plan on moving back to hilltop, a house y fsnily built in the 1920's is still standig and a house i miss livin in. I hear their tryinbto fix up hilltop, franklinton, and the southside, from what i see not much has chanhed, but i hear its getting better.

[@1ojakki]

They could do a program on Southfield which is further south.

[@tinamariethomas4919]

My Grandfather and uncles worked for federal glass, we called it the south end.

[@hillorisartin6129]

My mom grew up on the south end. Yes she says end. She went to south high school and worked at schottensteins on Parsons Ave. My parents lived on s 22nd when I was born.

[@davidadams3741]

I remember that doctor my mom took me there when i was little. Yes i remeber the highlights magazine.

[@pamtheado5325]

Very interesting.

[@rebeccachambers419]

We have all lost our neighborhoods. We have all lost our towns.We are now a strangers living in houses. That’s so sad to me.

[@tiffyb7309]

My family lived on Hinman in the 90's. My husband is also from the South end. It's always been the South End to us. We now live an hour south of there. Definitely not a place we want to raise our children now. I did love it when I was a kid and had a blast growing up there. My Great Great Grandpa worked at and retired from Buckeye Steel. That was where he lost half of his finger! My Great Great Grandma retired from Kroger Bakery.

[@Private-sl5sx]

I agree. The Southend went to shit. I grew up there from 1967 to 1989. When I grew there everyone worked. There was many factories/businesses now all the jobs are gone and everyone around there is on some kinda government assistance.

[@nikproebstl1887]

The south side near children's hospital is a great place to invest in housing. paid $35K for my house. needed light renovation and 8months later it's already up $30K in value. they're projecting $150K for the houses on my street once all cleaned up. don't scoff at the south side. you may miss out on a good investment

[@peachmelba9333]

If you can keep from being run over or shot, there are pretty nice houses there, hopefully going forward towards Better Days!!!

[@sbaas23]

35k is crazy for a house. I know 5 years ago but wow

[@teemmm538]

That you still have the house? how much is it worth now?

[@mikeduncan2353]

It will always be my home

[@Scott-ly2nk]

I remember coming up to visit my grandparents and we would come up rt 23 north and this was in the early 60's and right before you would get to columbus there was hartman fruit farm and they had a big barn on the side of the road and it was called the fruit sales room we would always stop get free fruit drinks down the road there was a bunch of houses were the employees lived then there was the one room school house i think that is pretty much the only thing left

[@nota7660]

My grandmother worked at the glass factory

[@tonybright7174]

The only coin-op photo booth I've ever used was at Schottensteins on Rt 3

[@aethulwulfvonstopphen8013]

Back when Columbus was a true American city

[@kareemahakbar4890]

One of my friends told me it was some type of explosion that put a really bad chemical gas in the air on the south side. This was sometime around the 80s or 90s. He also mentioned that ever since, the people in that area were never the same!

[@adrianslaughter8377]

Okay I stay in Columbus so Ohio I live on Livingston and Miller right across the street where that little home is at it's still there to this day it's like some apartments management building behind it though but everything is still there you can still come up and read it but it's boarded up it's still a good

[@johndickerson6946]

Im pretty sure that bluegrass band was showed playing inside of Babberts across from buckeye steel

[@suckstosuck2697]

I knew a few hillbillies that lived under the bridge by Buckeye Steele.

[@suckstosuck2697]

I grew up on Gates south of Parsons. Really close to Terrier Steele. It was okay, not too good a neighborhood. It's a real craphole now. I was surprised when they tore down Lincoln Park Elementary and the projects.

[@bryanmuncy3900]

They didn't tear down the projects, just slightly updated and over charge for them lol.

[@johnsmith-lc4rp]

Gentrification going on now in the southside of Columbus making it unaffordable for the low/lower middle class. As a result, people are being pushed further east/southeast into the areas of Whitehall, Reynoldsburg, Canal Winchester, etc.

[@lifeiszain]

Live on the far north side lived in columbus for 7 years only went on the south side one time was not impressed but nice to know the history

[@msconstruded]

does anyone know what will they put where Columbus Steele used to be? that big empty space is creepy. They need to fill it.

[@theodorerelic2718]

It's just sad to see the old Buckeye Steel right there at the beginning. Now that it'll likely be sold piecemeal by its new owners and 800 jobs lost to the area, where are the voices in the city government telling us of the "1500 jobs" Columbus Steel was going to have? Where are they now?

[@nimrod275]

That historic area has been bulldozed

[@dvanhoose01]

No more buckeye steel

[@theodorerelic2718]

@@dvanhoose01 Sadly. I just went by there earlier today, and the land is just a barren as it was when the buildings were torn down and hauled away. The Reich Bros promised so much, yet delivered absolutely nothing.

[@donaldblankenship-ph1un]

I remember the south end in the early sixties. Worst place I've ever been. That was occupied.

[@billgreen3138]

im from lancaster ohio but i live now in portsmouth virginia

[@francespallos4143]

I grew up on Morrill Avenue between bruck and 6th Street carried the dispatch when kids could be paper boys what to Southwood Elementary Barrett Junior High and Columbus South High grandparents owned the Bow Wow Grill which was a family bar kids could actually go in there and not listen to bull crap as you would in other bars we had stores on most corners that's sold Penny Candy one place was called snedeker's Betty Ann's at Morrell and brick kids played at the YMCA on Southwood and 6th Street we play baseball and basketball in South Woods Big Field you could sleep at night with your doors unlocked never had to worry about anybody coming in those were the good old days and loved shopping at Schottenstein on Parsons Avenue and having Johnny's Pizza on Friday nights that was our treat back then

[@Fresh-tw7ev]

A Columbus south ender named Curtis LeMay was instrumental in turning the tide of the air war in WWII. LeMay developed a new approach to bombing runs inside Nazi Germany because so many bombers were being shot down. LeMay's approach was adopted and eventually led to Army Air Force air superiority. LeMay later launched the Strategic Air Command of the USAF. Later in life General LeMay turned to politics and affiliated himself with George Wallace (a longtime Democrat who turned Independent for the 1968 election) which made him a villain with the media. LeMay grew up in a home east of Parsons Avenue and graduated from South High School.

[@MVBuckeye]

Dr. Brief was our family doctor. I grew up on Lockbourne Rd. He even made house calls!

[@lindathomas534]

Lol I was born and raised there called it south side and south end lol

[@billgreen3138]

be safe always in Christ God Bless

[@thahomiecousinbang9371]

We call it south pain 😎

[@jimbowlby8900]

when i hired out on the railroad i worked with john barriga

[@tonyb65]

The truth is the City TOTALLY ignored the South end. Because of our great City leaders over the decades, they made sure all tax dollars went to the North, NE, NW. They allowed the South end to deteriorate and become an eyesore and embarrassing hell hole. I live in the South end for 20 years now, and in that 20 years, the street has been paved 1 time. There are still NO sidewalks and people walk in the street for exercise, all with the traffic. I was always hopeful that in my lifetime our tax dollars would go Into badly needed neighborhoods, but our honest and trustworthy City officials made sure it went up north to their neighborhoods. How many more buildings can be squeezed into Victorian Village?

[@pelicanphuucker4life]

I think it's sickening that a HOSPITAL has *$5-7 Million* to invest over the next yada, yada years....how does a Hospital have those kinds of funds? Sickening.

[@MrRusty145]

Sickening? exactly...😔

[@PrincessCierra]

What happened to the healthy homes they built?

[@observer7418]

When did "cow town" become derogatory? also, they should have picked Mad Cows instead of Blue Jackets, inho

[@dvanhoose01]

So the buckeye steel owner was related 2 presidents

[@veronicaronilake2691]

We called it the Southside 😅

[@nota7660]

South end from a East Sider

[@ruthowens2640]

Old School......South End ! No South side ......

[@danielcontee7851]

[@rebeccachambers419]

Actually a healthy community has things in common vs diversity.

[@donaldblankenship-ph1un]

I worked there in 2016 as a laborer. I was white. Need I say more?

[@donaldblankenship8057]

Parsons Ave was the worst of the worst. Still is. South Side. Horrible. If you want to see alot alot worse go to to Dayton. Cols was never that bad.

[@donaldblankenship8057]

You are so on. Columbus never had anything as bad as Dayton. Not close. But the rich sides of Dayton and Springfiled were beyond the imaginations of most Ohio and around 1890.

[@donaldblankenship8057]

You know about the really bad side of Dayton. It's actually not that easy to find without your own armored car.

[@donaldblankenship8057]

You hit the nail. I lived in both and Dayton was far far far better than Cols in 1890 but is far worse now. You can't find the horrible sites of the long-neglected west side of Dayton. I am white but know that whites would never hire a black before MLK and forever before that. But I earned my degrees in aero engineering in Cols and worked for the USAF in Dayton. My Jr hi was 2000 blacks and me and one other guy from 1969 to 1971 in which I received a black scholarship to a rich NE prep school for three years. The blacks gave it to me. We had 2 mixed, one black, and me who had free scholarships, but I'm the only one who went to NE. Honestly, the blacks had it too good in Cols. I only asked if the prep school would feed me. They laughed. They paid airlines, boarding with the filthiest rich kids in the world, everything for three years. Then I wasted it by becoming a rocket scientist.

[@kyledavis1333]

When they shut down the projects on the south end and west side it destroyed everything. thanks section 8. projects kept the trash closed in

[@jillbrown5175]

diversity is not a strength. video related

[@donaldblankenship8057]

I was raised in Cols. This program is absolute crap. A waste of video and time.