Columbus’ CoGo bike share system has been in operation since July, 2013. After a decade of ups and downs, the system seems to be finally hitting its stride.
As the chart above shows, total CoGo trips were generally up between 2013-2017, and then saw a fairly steep decline 2018-2019. It’s unclear what caused that decline, but everything from system disruptions to weather could have played a role. Regardless, the pandemic, protests and general chaos of 2020 didn’t seem to matter as total trips for the year rebounded strongly. After another down year in 2021, 2022 saw CoGo’s highest ridership since the system opened, and 2023 continued that trend by blowing out 2022’s record. There were an extra 33 trips per day in 2023 vs. 2022, which added up to more than 12,000 more for the year. Hopefully, the increase in ridership will prompt another expansion of the system into new areas soon. And some actual protected bike lanes would be nice, as Columbus- to date, anyway- has been less than stellar on this issue.
After 4 previous tries, Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment to allow casinos to operate in the state’s 4 largest cities. Three years after that 2009 vote, casinos began operations in Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo, with Cincinnati’s casino opening the following year in 2013. The Columbus casino was originally supposed to be built Downtown in the Arena District. Specifically, it was supposed to be built where the Crew’s new stadium now sits. There was quite a bit of opposition to this plan given that casinos provide little to no external business traffic, and the thinking was that it would’ve caused more problems for the neighborhood than what it was worth. So, the following year, a second statewide vote allowed for the Columbus casino to change locations to the West Side. The site that was chosen was the former Delphi plant, which had been closed since 2007. A bit of hypocrisy and irony was not lot in the demand to move the site, though. The West Side and Westland area were already in late state decline at that point, and proponents of the move claimed that the casino would help the area improve. This claim was made despite the fact that the move was initiated with the idea that it would’ve hurt the Arena District. Still, the West Side seemed to be all for the move, as a new business- even a casino- was still better than a closed and deteriorating industrial plant. Columbus’ Hollywood Casino opened on October 8, 2012 after about 2 years of site clearing and construction. While visions of the West Side raking in the benefits never really materialized in reality, the casino itself has gone on to great success in terms of revenue.
Initially, Cleveland- whose own Jack Casino was located in the heart of its downtown- was the highest earner by revenue in the state, Columbus passed it by 2016 and has been the state’s leader ever since.
All the casinos saw a 2020 drop as they were closed for 2 months and had hour restrictions into early 2021 due to the pandemic. Curiously, though, all of the casinos saw a huge increase in revenue over where they were in 2019. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing.
The history of Ohio movie locations begins long before any movies were ever even filmed, let alone before movies as entertainment were ever a thing. Daeida Wilcox Beveridge was born in Hicksville in 1861. She went to school both in Hicksville and Canton and spent her formative years in the area. After marrying Harvey Wilcox, the couple moved around a bit before ending up in Southern California in 1886. There, they purchased a 200-acre ranch outside LA.
The following year, in 1887, the couple started to subdivide their land in order to lay out a brand new town. The town’s name was Hollywood, a name they supposedly came up with while visiting family in Ohio. Daeida may have gotten the name from what a Chicago friend called her country estate, but this is not the only legend around the name, so who knows how true it is. In any case, it was Daeida who helped name many of the city’s most famous streets, including Sunset Boulevard.
Until her death in 1914, Daeida spent her life promoting her new city, and she was instrumental in helping the city gain many of its amenities. This included the nascent focus on the arts. By the end of her life, she was known as the Mother of Hollywood, and she is now a part of the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame.
Despite all of this, Ohio has only occasionally been the location for movie shoots, though that seems to be increasing in recent years with several high-profile projects filming around the state. The link of the day is a site that gives maps, photos and other information on movie locations around the state. Take a look and remember that Ohio helped give the world the movies that they enjoy (not to mention native Ohioan Thomas Edison’s contributions to cameras, lighting and sound).
Next month, AllColumbusData.com will have its 10-year anniversary. Hard to believe! Here are some stats on just some of what the site now contains: -338 published posts. 10 additional are already complete and scheduled over the next few months. -105 specific content pages. -Well over 2,000 individual and before and after series historic photos. -143+ years of weather data for both Columbus and its suburbs. -200+ years of demographic and population data for Columbus and its suburbs. -Information and photos for hundreds of current and past development projects. -100+ videos.
What has been the most visited page, the most popular post over the years? Unfortunately, visitor data was lost prior to 2015 for various reasons. However, here have been the top 10 most popular posts and pages since 2015.
Top 10 Posts and the Year Published 1. Before and After How Columbus Changed in 10 Years 2021 This 2-part series was extremely popular last year, and easily became the most visited in the past 7 years. 2. Questions Answered- Columbus Zip Codes 2014 This post was very popular into 2018, but is now defunct. The information on this post ended up becoming bits and parts of other posts and pages. 3. Columbus Retail History- Shopping Centers 2013 One of the oldest posts on the site, it still gets consistent traffic almost a decade later. 4. Columbus Historic Church Demolition 2021 This one detailed plans to demolish an old church on the South Side. 5. Columbus Area Murders by Zip Code 2008-2015 2016 Pretty explanatory. This post provided crude maps of murders by zip code. 6. Columbus’ Greatest Snowstorm 2021 This post gave an account of the March 7-8, 2008 blizzard. 7. Columbus Area Zip Codes and Their Economies 2013 Still a consistent hit after a decade, this post gave details on economic information by local zip code. 8. Winter 2020-2021 Review 2021 Review the 2020-2021 winter with stats and rankings, something that has been done for all winters since 2014. 9. Franklin County Gentrification Trends 1990-2015 2017 This post looked at how income and race changes were driving neighborhood gentrification around Columbus. 10. How We Should Develop Around Intel 2022 The most recent on this list, this post deals with how the area around the Intel project should have a development plan, and detailed a hypothetical map of what that development could look like.
Top 10 Pages 1. Columbus Tornado History The most popular by far, this page covers historic tornadic events throughout the entire Columbus Metro Area. 2. Olde Towne East Historic Buildings This has been the most popular of all the Historic Building Database pages to date. 3. Proposed Development This regularly-updated development page highlights the region’s many proposed projects. 4. Other Residential Historic Buildings This page was one of the very first to be included in what would eventually become the Historic Building Database. It is defunct now, as its photos were eventually divided into a much greater expansion of featured neighborhoods. 5. Development Under Construction All the projects currently under construction at any given time. 6. Census Tract Maps Demographics, population and other data at the census tract level are provided in interactive maps going back to 1930. 7. Winter Storms This page chronicles significant winter weather events from the past. 8. Columbus Flood History As above, but dealing with flooding events. 9. Columbus Crime Statistics Violent and property crime data, maps and demographic data related to Columbus crime are provided going back about 40 years. 10. Completed Development Buildings and projects that were completed at some point in the past are highlighted on this page going back to the 19th Century.
Any surprises in what has been the most popular? Any posts or pages you’d like to see more of? Let me know here or on the Facebook page if you are enjoying the content or would like to see something different!
Halloween is my absolute most favorite holiday. The crisp, fall weather, the pumpkins, the candy, the costumes, the scare movie marathons… what’s not to like? Here are some great spooky links for Halloween to help you have the best holiday possible.
Columbus Halloween Climatology Curious to know what the historic weather was like on past Halloweens back to 1878? This is your link.
Ohio’s Haunted Attractions Looking for some spooky fun? This is yours. This is a great list to find all the haunted houses, hayrides and corn mazes near you.
2022 Trick or Treat Schedule NBC4 provides a list of Trick or Treat times across Central Ohio, so you have no excuse to miss out!
And don’t forget about Columbus’ largest costume party! HighBall Halloween
