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Albert B. Sabin developed the oral, live-virus polio vaccine at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Research Foundation, where between 1939 and 1969, he conducted his most significant research. His vaccine has nearly eradicated the dreaded “infantile paralysis” that killed or maimed millions of children. Dr. Sabin, who considered Cincinnati his home, made many other significant medical discoveries here, particularly in the area of tropical diseases. Presidents and royalty worldwide honored him, including President Bill Clinton who said he was “one of the great heroes of American medicine.” His numerous awards include the U.S. National Medal of Medicine (1970), Presidential Medal of Freedom (1986), Medal of Liberty (1986), and Order of Friendship among Peoples awarded by the President of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R.
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Thousands of Irish immigrants came to Columbus to seek personal and religious freedom. With the “Great Hunger” in Ireland and the completion of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the National Road, immigration to Columbus increased in the mid nineteenth century. They initially settled in the north side of the city in the swamp flats, where inexpensive land was available and work could be had on the railroads. Settlement spread to Franklinton, on Naghten Street, later known as “Irish Broadway”- part of which is now Nationwide Boulevard, and to nearby Flytown. The immigrants became domestic workers, civil servants, entrepreneurs, and served the city in police and fire departments. Others were leaders in government, law, medicine, and education. Their legacy continues today in the Irish-American population of Columbus, Ohio.
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A tavern and inn, for which Noble Landon (1783-1866) obtained a liquor license in 1835, formerly occupied the southeast corner of High and Main streets. In 1837 Landon and William Yantis laid out the town of New Albany in 50-by-100-foot lots, with Landon’s lots lying on the east side and Yantis’ on the west side of High Street. Landon was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, lived as a young man in St. Albans, Vermont, and migrated to Licking County, Ohio, in 1810. He was the first clerk and first Justice of the Peace in St. Albans Township and first postmaster in Johnstown and later in New Albany. In addition to contributions as a builder-developer, Landon gave to the village lore the story of a remarkable conversion. Long known as a heavy drinker, he suddenly ordered kegs of whiskey he owned to be carried into the street and broken. He then attended church regularly. (continued on other side)
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Daniel Drake, M.D.. Daniel Drake (1785-1852) was an influential figure in 19th century American medicine, gaining fame as physician, scientist, author, educator, and ardent champion for the City of Cincinnati. In 1819, Drake was the founding president of the Medical College of Ohio, which eventually became the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine, and a founder of Cincinnati College. Among Drake’s contributions, he argued for raising standards of medical education by having students study at patient bedsides and work in hospitals. A history of medicine from 1921 hailed Drake’s Practical Essays on Medical Education in the United States (1832) as one of “the most important contributions ever made to the subject in this country.”
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Dr. Jared Potter Kirtland was a prominent nineteenth century professor, physician, naturalist and horticulturist. In 1837, Kirtland purchased land in Rockport Township that stretched from Madison Avenue to Lake Erie. Kirtland used that land as a natural laboratory and filled it with gardens, greenhouses and an arboretum where he developed fruit and grape varieties best suited for the region. His success with new varieties inspired area farmers to successfully concentrate on fruit and grape growing. In 1839, he built a home at Detroit and Bunts Roads and lived there unitl his death in 1877. (Continued on other side)
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Established during the Great Migration and intense segregation in Columbus, The Big Walnut Country Club (BWCC) was one of the first Black country clubs in the United States. Conceived in 1925 and incorporated two years later, the club encouraged and promoted aquatic and athletic sports by providing the means and facilities otherwise not available to the Black community. Members enjoyed golf, swimming, archery, tennis, badminton, boating, dining, and dancing on the nearly 20 acres of land between the Big Walnut and Rocky Fork creeks. The club was a social, professional, and political hub for Central Ohio’s growing Black population in the decades leading to the Civil Rights Movement. The BWCC closed in 1963. Gahanna purchased the land in 1970 and opened its first public park, Friendship Park, the following year.
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