From the files of Project Blue Book. This event was more extensively detailed in its investigation than others, and the conclusion was that it was a common airplane.
To view more incidents from around the world, go here.
UFO Database
This occasional series will focus on interesting or important dates in Columbus history, with today’s being the 1919 Prohibition Party Convention.
February 22, 1872
A convention of the Prohibition Party was convened at the Opera House to discuss ways in which to enact legislation banning the manufacturing and sale of alcohol. Such conventions had taken place at least 8 times in the previous 40 years, but was the first such event since 1869. The 1869 event in Chicago formed the Prohibition Party itself, so the Columbus event could be described as the first convention of the new political party.
The event was attended by about 25 delegates from 12 states. Those in attendance included Gideon T. Stewart, then a prohibition candidate for Ohio governor. Stewart gave the welcoming speech. In it, he described the prohibition movement as an attempt to “protect the interests of humanity” and that due to the government’s involvement in the sale of liquor, was “fast verging towards the precipice over which other governments have swept to destruction”.
Gideon Steward around 1900.
Stewart was elected as the party secretary during the convention. The 1872 convention was also the first the party nominated candidates for US president.
During the event, it was ironically noted that Columbus itself benefitted greatly from alcohol sales, and functioned as “one of the foremost benefactors of the world” in that regard. Columbus did have multiple breweries at the time- most in the Brewery District, of course- but it cannot be verified if Columbus was indeed special in either its alcohol consumption or sales compared to other cities.
In 1919, the Prohibition Party was ultimately successful in establishing nationwide prohibition by assisting in the passage of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. This victory, however, proved somewhat pyrrhic in nature as the 18th was repealed by 1933 and the Party suffered a long-lasting blow to its reputation. It was never again quite able to gain such a prominent role in leading national public policy. For a political movement driven by such a singular issue, it is perhaps surprising that the Prohibition Party is still in existence today, though its influence even as a 3rd party is now virtually non-existent.
The modern logo of the Prohibition Party.
From the files of Project Blue Book. There is not much information on this event, but the conclusion seems to be that it was the planet Venus.
To see more incidents from around the world, go here:
UFO Database
I decided to create this Columbus murder tracker for a few reasons. First, 2020 and 2021 produced consecutive records for total murders in the city, with 2021 coming in far above all other years on record. Additionally, 2021 managed to have the highest murder rate overall, narrowly beating out the early 1990s crack epidemic years. This is significant given that in 2021, the city had a much larger population than it did 30 years ago. I wanted to see if this trend would continue in 2022 or if 2021 was just a very bad fluke.
Second, I wanted to monitor just where murders were taking place in the city. Columbus is going through rapid changes, so I wanted to see if neighborhoods that have been seeing revitalization are still having violent crime issues.
To find out the answers to these questions, this murder tracker monitored homicides through the year and compared the results with previous years. A graph below counts total murders by specific dates of every year since 2018 vs. 2022. Additionally, an interactive map is provided to give further details on specific locations and report information. Homicide data is mostly provided by the Columbus Division of Police
2022 Murders by Month
January: 9
February: 9
March: 11
April: 9
May: 17
June: 9
July: 17
August: 11
September: 16
October: 13
November: 9
December: 7
The 2022 final numbers are in! 137 murders took place across the year. While not exactly good, this represents a significant decline from both 2020 and 2021. There were 68 fewer than 2021 and 38 fewer than 2020. With luck, this trend of decline will continue into 2023.
It is possible that additional murders will be added to the 2022 over the next few days/weeks/months, so this total will probably change a bit in time. Regardless, 2022 will still end up a vast improvement from last year’s record.
Starting in 2023, the Murder Tracker will be located on the main Columbus Crime Statistics page.
Columbus, Ohio weather is has varied wildly over the 143 years of records, and the holidays are no different. It’s seen record warmth into the 60s, and record cold well below zero, as well as heavy snow and driving rainstorms. The records below break down Columbus’ historic Christmas Day climatology.
Normals 1991-2020
High: 35.6
Low: 23.1
Mean: 26.8
Precipitation: 0.10″
Snowfall: 0.1″
1878-2020 Averages
High: 36.4
Low: 23.5
Mean: 30.1
Precipitation: 0.08″
Snowfall: 0.3″
First, let’s take a look at the temperature breakdowns for the holiday.
Top 10 Coldest Highs
1. 1983: 1
2. 1878: 10
3. 1924: 11
4. 1980: 15
5. 1902: 16
6. 1985: 17
7. 2020: 18
8. 1884, 2000: 19
9. 1899, 1906, 1914:20
10. 1950, 1968: 22
Top 10 Coldest Lows
1. 1983: -12
2. 1980: -5
3. 1935: -4
4. 1924: -3
5. 1878: -2
6. 2004: -1
7. 1985: 1
8. 2000: 2
9. 1884: 4
10. 1914, 1999: 7
Top 10 Warmest Highs
1. 1893: 64
2. 1982: 63
3. 1932, 1940: 62
4. 1889: 60
5. 1964: 58
6. 1895, 1955: 57
7. 2019: 56
8. 1891: 55
9. 1936, 2015: 53
10. 1888, 1915, 1987: 52
Top 10 Warmest Lows
1. 1889, 1982: 55
2. 1895: 52
3. 1893: 49
4. 1891: 45
5. 2015: 43
6. 1932, 1940: 40
7. 1888, 1964, 1973: 39
8. 1987: 38
9. 1922, 1941, 2009, 2016: 37
10. 1936, 1972: 36
Number of Christmases with High Temperature
Less than 10: 1
10-19: 8
20-29: 24
30-39: 54
40-49: 36
50-59: 12
60 or Higher: 5
Number of Christmases with Low Temperature
Less than 0: 6
0-9: 7
10-19: 36
20-29: 47
30-39: 38
40-49: 5
50 or Higher: 4
Now let’s example precipitation and snowfall records.
Top 10 Wettest
1. 2009: 0.79″
2. 1944: 0.77″
3. 1926: 0.69″
4. 1951: 0.58″
5. 2006: 0.57″
6. 1945: 0.54″
7. 1957: 0.52″
8. 1987, 2005: 0.51″
9. 1915: 0.48″
10. 1909: 0.47″
Number of Christmases with Precipitation Amount
0.00″: 46
Trace: 27
0.01″-0.24″: 55
0.25″-0.49″: 6
0.50″-0.74″: 7
0.75″-0.99″: 2
1.00″ or More: 0
Top 10 Snowiest
1. 1890: 7.0″
2. 1909: 5.7″
3. 1950: 3.0″
4. 1917: 2.5″
5. 1969: 2.3″
6. 1884: 2.2″
7. 1976: 1.9″
8. 1880: 1.8″
9. 1935: 1.3″
10. 1944: 1.2″
Most Snow on the Ground (Since 1940)
1. 1960: 9″
2. 1961, 1963, 1989, 1995: 4″
3. 1969, 1980, 2004: 3″
4. 1947, 1950, 2000: 2″
5. 1944, 1945, 1951, 1956, 1962, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2010, 2017: 1″
Number of Christmases with Snowfall Amount
0.0″: 75
Trace: 23
0.1″-0.4″: 20
0.5″-0.9″: 9
1″-2.9″: 7
3″ or More: 3