Groveport Messenger - August 27th, 2023

PAGE 4 - GROVEPORT MESSENGER - August 27, 2023
Groveport history films
Two documentary films on the history of
Groveport, produced by the Groveport
Heritage Society and Midnet Media, are
now available for viewing online on
YouTube.The films are: “Groveport: A
Town and Its People” and “The Story of
John S. Rarey and Cruiser.”
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to: Groveport Messenger, 3500 Sullivant
Avenue, Columbus, OH 43204; or by email to
southeast@columbusmessenger.com.
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southeast
Messenger
(Distribution: 8,000)
Rick Palsgrove ...................................Groveport Editor
southeast@columbusmessenger.com
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The geography of youth
The universe of my early youth consisted of a backyard, a sidewalk,
and a neighborhood.
My family and I inhabited this universe on Groveport’s Clark
Court during the first five years of my life.
The homes in the
Editor’s Notebook
Rick
Palsgrove
Clark Court neighborhood
were constructed
during the housing and
baby boom of the early 1950s. Our house sat on
the southeast curve of the court’s bulb and the
property had the distinction of a sidewalk running
along its edge leading to a gravel path
through a grassy field that connected to Main
Street.
The sidewalks currently in place on Clark
Court were installed in the recent past and so
were not there back in the 1950s and 1960s.
The lone sidewalk was the connector mentioned
above. This stretch of concrete beckoned
my young self to explore, especially after my
parents bought me a shiny green tricycle from
Bolenbaugh Hardware.
I wheeled up and down that sidewalk frequently.
The sidewalk was on flat terrain as it extended from Clark
Court, but quickly descended on a hill that featured a tight “dead
man’s curve” with a wooden utility pole stuck in the sidewalk at the
base of the hill. This pole had to be deftly negotiated with keen control
of the handlebars as one turned so as not to crash into it as one sped
down the hill on a tricycle or bicycle.
After the turn, the sidewalk extended flat along the edge of the
backyard until it ended at the straight, narrow gravel path that cut
through the neighboring grassy vacant lot to Main Street. This gravel
path was the remnants of a right-of-way of Frank Alley and it gave
Candidates file for election
These local candidates filed (pending certification)
with the Franklin County Board of
Elections to appear on the Nov. 7 ballot.
•Canal Winchester School Board (two
to be elected): Kevin Butler, Scott
Ferguson, Chloe Green, Matt Krueger,
Adam Twiss;
•Canal Winchester City Council (three
to be elected): Will Bennett, Alec
McLaughlin, Chuck Milliken, Richard
Moore, Tina Welch; (unexpired term ending
12-31-25, one to be elected): Steve Buskirk,
Scott Connor;
•Canal Winchester Mayor (one to be
elected): Mike Ebert, Joe Steager, Mike
Walker;
•Groveport Madison School Board
(two to be elected): Larry Carey, Benjamin
Joof, John Kershner, Kathleen Walsh
•Groveport City Council (two to be
elected): Shawn Cleary, Jean Ann Hilbert,
John Hougland, Cheryl Irving;
•Groveport Mayor (one to be elected):
Lance Westcamp;
•Hamilton Township School Board
(two to be elected): James Dommer, Walley
Obert, Arthur Short;
•Hamilton Township Trustee (one to be
elected): Belinda Anderson, Gary
Armstrong;
•Madison Township Trustee (one to be
elected): Bruce Jarvis, Andrew Nimely;
•Obetz City Council (two to be elected):
Michael Flaherty, Derek Varney;
•Obetz Mayor (one to be elected):
Angela Kirk, Bonnie Wiley.
Music makers
Clark Court residents a shorter way to get to Main Street. It was primarily
used by kids heading to and from school, including my two
older siblings.
I often pedaled my tricycle down this stretch of sidewalk, past the
dead man’s curve, to the gravel path. I can recall seeing butterflies
flitting about in the vacant lot. After a heavy rain, when I felt adventurous,
I would pedal a little ways along the gravel path to a big puddle
that would form in a depression in the ground along the path. This
“hole” appeared big to me at the time, but it was only a few feet long
and less than a foot deep. Though it was more or less a puddle, it
seemed like a small pond to my little kid mind. I floated sticks and
leaves on the water, watched bugs dance on the water surface,
splashed the water with my hands, and scooped out water to see what
I could find.
I only lived at the Clark Court house for about five years. I started
attending kindergarten and that rite of academic passage cut into the
time spent on youthful tricycle explorations. I soon entered first grade
and by then my family had moved to a larger nearby house on Main
Street, still close to the vacant lot and my Clark Court roots.
As kids we never knew who owned the vacant lot that bordered our
Clark Court yard or who kept it mowed. During our time living at the
Main Street hous, when we and the neighborhood kids got older, we
used the old vacant lot for football and baseball games. No one ever
stopped us playing there. We just did it.
Time moved on. I grew. The town grew. A fine home with a beautiful
yard now fills the ground where the gravel path, old vacant lot,
and puddle pond once were. The sidewalk that was my tricycle highway
that lead me to young explorations was broken up and removed
a long time ago.
Time is an eraser.
But I remember it all.
Rick Palsgrove is editor of the Groveport Messenger.
Our Pictorial Past by Rick Palsgrove
Photo courtesy of Bonnie Sallee
These are members of a Groveport School student band, from a photo possibly
from the 1940s, getting ready to perform on the front lawn of what is now
Groveport Elementary. Groveport School on Main Street housed all 12 grades from
1923 until the 1950s. Note the fountain behind the band that is still in use today.
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