By the 1950s, the area had become a slum and the city decided to demolish one-third of the neighborhood. In World War II, the streetcar tracks and wrought-iron fences were confiscated for the war effort. After the war, the south end was zoned for manufacturing, leading to the erosion of the area's residential feel. Despite the hatred, the Columbus German American community would produce one of America's finest heroes from the war, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, for whom Rickenbacker International Airport in southern Columbus is named.įurther decline occurred later due to the closing of the local breweries during Prohibition. German canine breeds were taken from their owners and slaughtered, including German Shepherds and Dachshunds. The anti-German sentiment fueled by the media was so bad that in 1918, German books were burned on Broad Street and at the foot of the Schiller statue.

German street names were changed, such as Germania Street becoming the present-day Stewart Avenue, and Schiller Park was temporarily renamed Washington Park. During that time, the teaching of German in public schools was banned and German textbooks were burned. The area was in serious decline throughout the first half of the 20th century, partly due to anti-German sentiment during World War I. Eddie Rickenbacker, a World War I hero from the Columbus German-American community The local schools the German immigrants constructed and managed were so superior that English-speaking residents of Columbus chose to attend them, such as one that once stood at Fulton Street east of S. ĭuring the early 20th century, the south end saw newcomers from eastern Europe aside from German immigrants, resulting in brother neighborhoods such as the Hungarian Village. Karb became mayor of the city, twice, at the end of the 19th century and again in the early 20th century. Mary's Catholic Church, built in 1865 and adorned with a 197-foot (60 m) steeple in 1893. They built up the local neighborhood, including many businesses, such as Hessenauer Jewelers and Lazarus Department Stores, schools, and churches, such as the Ohio-historic St. By 1865, one-third of Columbus's population was German and the community was flourishing. Many would serve in the American Civil War, thus gaining the universal respect of the local citizens. The most influential German newspaper in 1843 was Der Westbote. By 1814, a settlement had grown up, originally called 'Das Alte Südende' (the Old South End), and German immigrants contributed to building the first statehouse.īy 1830, massive German immigration to the city had occurred. As German immigrants arrived, McGowan sold tracts of land to them. By 1802, an American Revolution veteran named John McGowan claimed 328 acres (1.33 km 2), most of what would become the German Village. In 1796, Congress appropriated the Refugee Lands for Canadian province individuals who had supported the Colonial cause in the American Revolution. In 1980, its boundaries increased, and today it is one of the world's premier historic restorations.

It became a city historic district in 1960 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, becoming the list's largest privately funded preservation district, and in 2007, was made a Preserve America Community by the federal government. It was settled in the early-to-mid-19th century by a large number of German immigrants, who at one time comprised as much as a third of the city's entire population. German Village is a historic neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, just south of the city's downtown.

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