A Historical Guidebook to Old Columbus. Bob Hunter

Power and Light Company. His business career ended tragically, however. Because of his interest in both mining and Mexico, he bought the La Valencia mine in 1904 and formed the Guanajuato Reduction and Mines Company. On a March night in 1929, he learned in Columbus that bandits had raided the mine, stolen $92,000 worth of bullion, and were holding two of his employees for ransom, demanding $27,000 in exchange for them. When Kurtz got the word, he got his banker out of bed, packed up the cash, and left for Mexico at 2 a.m. At Guanajuato, he was told to leave the money under a certain tree and leave, and after a time, he would find the men there when he returned. When he came back, both men were hanging from the tree dead. Kurtz returned home but was so disturbed by the experience that he died within a week.

      38. 1776 East Broad Street—This fine old home was built in 1888 as Monypeny Hall, the original structure of the Columbus Home for the Aged. William Monypeny donated the lot for its construction.

      4 West Broad Street

      Rivers aren’t much of an impediment to us now. Between Circleville and the Columbus Zoo there are twenty-one diferent places where a traveler can drive across the Scioto River these days, and most of those trips require all of about ten seconds.

      Water? Unless it’s in a bottle in a cup holder between our car seats, we probably don’t give it a second thought.

      But getting from one side of the Scioto to the other was a big deal to the early residents of Franklinton when it was settled on the west side of the river in 1797. When Franklinton was founded, Chillicothe was the nearest major settlement, and there were plenty of opportunities to ford the river in the forty-eight miles between the two places. But when the state legislature decided to locate the state capital on the forested bluf on the other side of the Scioto in 1811, getting there became imperative.

      Franklinton founder Lucas Sullivant started a ferry to ease some of his neighbors’ initial pain. But once the legislature started meeting in Columbus, it became obvious the new town needed a bridge to ensure safe, fast, dry travel for anyone living on the west side of the river. Sullivant came to the rescue again, constructing a simple, one-lane wooden bridge at his own expense in 1816 and charging a toll for its use. Construction of the bridge was a life-changing event for those who needed it, so much so that it’s difficult to imagine anyone being able to have that kind of local impact with any kind of civic project now.