Segway Tour - Part 3

The last leg of our tour was equally interesting. We saw the new Huntington Baseball Park and the Union Station Arch. Fely a little sad as we glided by the last remaining piece of Union Station.

In 1897 the third Union Station was opened in Columbus. It was decided that this new station was needed to accommodate the increasing train, pedestrian, and vehicular (horse and buggy, and eventually cars) traffic. Daniel H. Burnham & Company from Chicago was the designer of the building, and construction actually began in 1894.

Over the years parts of the station were torn down. In 1928 part of the arcade was removed to provide more automobile parking, and in 1931 the train shed was removed to be replaced with a smaller concourse.

After train service began to decline in the 1950's through the 1970's, it was decided to demolish it entirely. On October 22, 1976 the main arcade was torn down even though it had been listed with the National Register of Historic places just a couple years earlier. The demolition began before preservationists had an opportunity to stop it. By the time a judge issued a restraining order, the only piece left was this arch.

It was moved from its original location to McFerson Commons to be put on display when the "Arena District" was being developed. The Arena District, including the land upon which the arch is located today is where the Ohio Penitentiary once stood.



Traveling past the Nationwide arena, we arrived at North Market. North Market is an indoor market that contains a plethora of wonderful foods.

By this time in the tour, our Segways had long become a very comfortable part of our bodies. I felt so great traveling through Goodale Park which is surrounded by the Victorian Village - a cluster of homes with charming architectural features. It is the oldest park in Columbus and among the oldest in the United States.

Goodale Park is the center of the community, surrounded by many elaborate Victorian-style homes, including the Sells Mansion, built in 1895 by Peter Sells, owner of the Sells Brothers Circus and designed by Frank Packard. Baby elephants and other animals were kept in the back of the house. Jim called it "The Circus House".

In 1905, the circus was sold to James Bailey of Barnum and Bailey, who eventually sold shares to the Ringling Brothers. The act continued to tour under the Sells Brothers name until 1911, as part of the conglomerate Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth.

Dan is in front of the pedestrian arch which leads into (and I guess out of) Goodale Park.

This arch is very interesting and is a great stone structure.

We traveled through the Victorian Village. Most of the houses within the village were originally built in the early 1900s, when a streetcar line ran through that part of town.

Cocoa Manor is a beautiful house located in this area.

I have to share some art with you. Artist Curtis Goldstein's restoration of the mural of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa on North Pearl Street is really super.

After our two hours on the Segways, we returned to the Greater Columbus Convention Center. Before ending our tour, Jim allowed us to "play" in the convention area. This means that we took our Segways and did a snake-like course through the cement pylons around the convention center.

David and Jim assisted our team in dismounting.

After the tour, Guide Extraordinaire Jim asked where we were from and all at once a light goes on.

Jim is good friend of our friends Dan and Margie Colbert who lives near Glenville . We had even met Jim when he came to Glenville to attend Margie's birthday party. Jim and Margie worked together on the airlines. It is a small world!


Thanks to David and Jim in making our trip a most memorable experience.

Tomorrow - The North Market