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Columbus (/ kəˈlʌmbəs /, kə-LUM-bəs) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, [ 10 ] it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest (after only Chicago), and the third-most populous U.S. state capital, after only Phoenix, Arizona ...
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Columbus, city, Franklin, Fairfield, and Delaware counties, capital (1816) of Ohio, U.S., and seat (1824) of Franklin county. It is situated in the central part of the state on the relatively flat Ohio till plain, at the junction of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. Columbus is at the centre of a metropolitan complex that includes Dublin (northwest)...
Columbus was planned in 1812 as a political centre by the Ohio legislature and was named for Christopher Columbus. The state government moved to the city in 1816 from Chillicothe, and Columbus later absorbed the nearby earlier settlement of Franklinton (founded 1797). The city experienced significant growth after a feeder branch of the Ohio and Erie Canal was opened to it in 1831 and the Cumberland (National) Road from Maryland reached it in 1836. The first railroad arrived in 1850, further stimulating development.
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During the American Civil War, Columbus became a major staging area for Union forces, and Camp Chase, one of the North’s largest facilities for Confederate prisoners of war, was built on the city’s west side. The local economy continued to boom after the war. Columbus became one of the country’s major manufacturers of horse-drawn vehicles. By 1900, when the population exceeded 125,000, the city had emerged as an important transportation and commercial centre. Following damaging floods in 1913, the Scioto River was widened and levees, retaining walls, and bridges constructed, which allowed riverfront development.
In the early 21st century the fastest-growing sectors of the local economy were education and health, transportation and utilities, and professional and business services. High-technology industries and manufacturing (automobiles, motorcycles, communications equipment, steel and steel products, and nutritional supplements) were also important. The city’s favourable geographic position was enhanced by the presence of main-line railroads, an extensive highway network, and an international airport. Nearly half of the U.S. population was located within a 500-mile (about 800-km) radius of Columbus.
The main campus of the Ohio State University (1870), which has one of the largest enrollments of any American university, occupies a large site north of downtown. Other institutions of higher learning include Franklin University (1902), Capital University (1830), Ohio Dominican College (1911), Otterbein University (1847), Pontifical College Josephinum (1888), Columbus College of Art and Design (1879), Columbus State Community College (1963), and state schools for the hearing and visually impaired. Notable research organizations are Battelle Memorial Institute (1929; technology), the Orton Ceramic Foundation, and the Chemical Abstracts Service. The federal government operates a large military supply centre and other facilities. Many of the state’s institutions and offices and the state fairgrounds are in the city. The Ohio Statehouse (a limestone structure in Doric style, completed in 1861) has a monument by sculptor Levi Tucker Scofield.
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Geography of Columbus, Ohio. Satellite image of Columbus. The city of Columbus is located in central Ohio at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers. The region is dominated by a humid continental climate, characterized by hot, muggy summers and cold, dry winters.
Sep 12, 2022 · Columbus covers a total area of 585.26 sq. km, of which 570.08 sq. km is occupied by land, and 15.18 sq. km is covered by water. Due to the presence of a sizable glacier that blanketed most of Ohio during the Wisconsin Ice Age, Columbus is thought to have relatively level topography.
Average elevation: 856 ft. Minimum elevation: 554 ft. Maximum elevation: 1,125 ft. The confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers is just northwest of Downtown Columbus. Several smaller tributaries course through the Columbus metropolitan area, including Alum Creek, Big Walnut Creek and Darby Creek.
The current population of Columbus, Ohio is 915,427 based on our projections of the latest US Census estimates (released May 2024). The last official US Census in 2020 recorded the population at 906,418 .
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Columbus is the capital city and largest city of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is in the middle of the state. The Ohio State Buckeyes and Columbus Blue Jackets play there. In 2020 there were 905,748 people. [4] Columbus is the second largest city in the American Midwest, and the fourteenth largest city in the United States of America.
