Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1984. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“He then went to live with Griffith Thomas, of Perry township, with whom he remained until fourteen years of age, having very limited educational privileges, for there was no school house in his neighborhood and he had to walk miles through the dense woods to the nearest school. His mother taught him some of the principles of arithmetic and experience and observation in later years added to his knowledge.”
A Centennial Biographical History of the City of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio .. (1901). Machine-read text.
one of 295 National Register listings in Franklin County · listed in 1984 · category: Building · one of 3 National Historic Landmarks in Franklin County.
National Register reference number.84003677- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
What happened here
An account from the chapter on Columbus city, The inset identifies its exact
source book and publication year.
The Mound Builders and Indians - First White Settlements and Struggle for Possession - Indian Village at the Forks of the Scioto Attacked by Crawford and Dispersed - The Ohio Company, the Scioto Company and Symmes Purchase - Indian Power Broken and British Hopes Blasted - First Surveys - Topography, Geology and Soil of Franklin County.
The chapter on Columbus City in History of Franklin County [Ohio]:, published 1858 names Columbus. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
From the first organization of the State government in 1803, until 1816, there was no permanent seat of State government. The sessions of the Legislature were held at Chillicothe until 1810, and the sessions of 1810-11, and 1811-12, were held at Zanesville, and from thence they were removed back to Chillicothe, and there remained until December, 1816, when the first session commenced in Columbus.
No further definite action, however, was had on the subject until February, 1812, when the law was passed establishing it at Columbus. Various proposals were received, offering inducements for its establishment at different points, and amongst the rest were the proposals of Lyne Starling, James Johnston, Alexander McLaughlin and John Kerr, for establishing it on the '-' high bank of the Scioto River, opposite Franklinton," which site was principally a native forest. Franklinton was then at its apex, and a town of considerably more consequence than it now is, and was one of the sites proposed ; but the plan upon which it was laid out, and more particularly its low situation, were considered sufficient objections to its adoption. Worthington and Delaware were also among the sites proposed.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Felton School between
2007 and 2011, burning about 0 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
1
Debris and open burning
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 10,115 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Felton School between 1804 and
1975: 8,140 Animalia, 1,269 Fungi, 561 Plantae, 117 Chromista, 27 Unrecorded, 1 Protozoa. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by 19 V 1938 in original publication, Knull, =, ? and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
2 workings within 5 miles of Felton School: 1 past producer, 1 plant.
1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Zinc, Sulfur, Sulfuric Acid. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Columbus, the town this property stands in, in 107 storm reports between 1993 and 2026: 56 thunderstorm wind, 26 hail, 13 flash flood, 11 flood.
The reports record 9 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
Trees were downed, some on power lines. Four golfers were injured after lightning struck the shelter house they entered to take shelter from the storm.
Trees were downed at several locations. Winds were measured at 59 mph at Port Columbus Airport. Four men were injured at an outdoor amphitheater when the tent they occupied was blown over.
A microburst, with winds estimated to be between 80 and 100 mph, struck the west side of Columbus, destroying roofs of two industrial buildings. The debris from the roofs stretched 600 yards. A tractor-semitrailer was also blown over, injuring one male.
Damage was first observed on Deserette Court. The west-facing|side of several housing units had shutters torn off and also|experienced minor siding damage. This is where it appears the|tornado first touched down.||On the opposite side of Deserette Court, additional shutter and|siding damage was observed, and primarily affected the east-facing|side of the housing units.||Damage continued to the east onto Boyleston Boulevard, with the|garage door of one home completely destroyed and walls of the|garage experiencing significant damage. Siding and roof damage was|also observed on this home, and damage is assessed to be in the|EF0 category, with winds around 80 mph. An eyewitness also stated|that she was looking west and saw a tornado moving toward|Boyleston Boulevard.||A swath of damage continued to the east, affecting homes along|Niantic Drive and Hingham Lane. Much of the damage was associated|with trees, where large tree branches in the back yards of|several homes on both Niantic Drive and Hingham Lane were snapped.|A convergent pattern was observed from 10 to 12 inch diameter tree|branches. Some damage to homes was also observed, including a|large portion of siding being stripped off the east-facing side of|a two story home. Minor roof damage was also noted on several|homes.||Damage became more sparse further east along Hingham Lane and was|confined to a few large hardwood tree branches being snapped off.
Two to three feet of water on some roads submerged some cars and caused others to float. On Leonard Street and 5th Avenue, a foot of water was entering the main level of some homes.
Roofing materials were removed from several buildings, a gutter was blown down, power lines were downed, and fencing was partially blown over in northeastern Columbus due to damaging thunderstorm winds. These winds also blew a large tree down onto a house on Schleppi Road.
10 papers published in this town,
digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 0 issues,
0 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be
looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
From the nomination file
1,919 words on record
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
feature rectangular openings at the basement and first"floor The north elevation (rear) is the simplest with rectangular During the mid-l95o's one story wings were added to the east and The round arched main entrance is located in the base of the 2pairs of hipped roof blocks with the central tower recessed Check one The Felton School is located at the end of Monroe Avenue and the openings, corbel and other decorative brickwork, a pyramidal roof rock-faced ashlar stone foundation.
A smooth stone watertable date deteriorated The ruins designed by noted Columbus architect David Riebel and completed The interior plan is symmetrical.The entrance tower contains first and second levels are embellished with designs in the The Felton School is a handsome Romanesque Revival which has the name of the school on it.Additional round arched west sides of the building. roofline is a steeply pitched hip and is slate covered.Gabled They are not compatible in design the staircase which leads to a central east-west axis.All of windows are double-hung l/l sash.The spandrels between the 8.
Statement of significance
(in one paragraph) ratio, round'arched openings and arcading and tower are typical exterior features remain virtually unaltered, althougth the number of educational buildings including the following: Indianola School, West High School, Michigan Ave. School, St. John's School, St. Francis School, Heyl Avenue School and Ohio Avenue School in Columbus; College Township School, Clintonville Columbus, like many cities, has a rich collection of 1890-1920's. However, changing school population and economic factors have led to the demolition, sale and mothballing of a number of these significant resources.
Felton School was closed 1600-1699 1400-1499 1900 1500-1599 1893 1700-1799 communications conservation commerce economics invention philosophy engineering education industry archeology-historic transportation art archeology-prehistoric military Period humanitarian science literature prehistoric theater agriculture Specific dates music sculpture social/ Xarchitecture central tower have made this an important neighborhood landmark law David Riebel began his architectural practice in Columbus in the continued to be an active and important architectural firm until century and his later design work.
during a major school expansion program which took place from and after 2 previously unsuccessful attempts to sell the which is a monumental style well suited toaschool and other choice of Romanesque Revival firmly places this building in the design for Indianola High School in 19o7 exhibited horizontal Areas of Significance-Check and justify below by important.local architects and some of the finest were built High School, and Central College School in Gambier. This particular building was.designed early.in his career and the other (specify) since it was built. Criterion C 1937.The Felton was one of the first educational It is an excellent of the style. In addition, this building exhibits particularly 1937 .
building, it was recently purchased and rehabilitation plans are Builder Architect David Riebel fine and extensive decorative brickwork. Both interior and public buildings.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 84003677, 13 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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