Ohio Penitentiary decommissioned, Sept. 21, 1984

It’s had some pretty notable occupants over the years. Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan, author William Sydney Porter (better known as O. Henry) and Dr. Sam Sheppard (the Bay Village osteopath whose murder conviction inspired the TV series The Fugitive).

But the Ohio Penitentiary site and surroundings in Columbus now serves as a night spot for baseball, hockey and, now, soccer fans – plus just folks looking for a nice place to eat and or drink – in what is now known at the Arena District.

The Ohio Penitentiary opened in 1834, not that long after Ohio became a state, and served as a prison until 1984. The prison grew to house 5,235 prisoners in 1955. But it is also the site of a 1930 fire that killed 322 inmates, one of the worst fires in American prison history.

The prison was vacant until it was demolished in 1998 after a judge ruled it a hazard.

But before its demolition, in 1990 then-mayor Dana G. “Buck” Rinehart grew a little impatient – or maybe it was a premonition.

Rinehart jumped into the cab of a crane at a news conference and knocked several big holes in the historic façade.

Then officials at the state Administrative Services Department, which owned the building, told him he had to fix the holes. And local historians took him to task.

But that arch that is located opposite Nationwide Arena Plaza? Some think it was saved from Rinehart’s and the later wrecking balls. It’s not from the Pen.

It was recovered from Columbus’ Union Station during its 1979 demolition to make way for the Greater Columbus Convention Center, which serves as the Arena District’s eastern boundary.

DISPATCH FILE PHOTO Metro cover of The Columbus Dispatch for September 21, 1984, reporting the Ohio penitentiary has been decommissioned. Editor’s note: Each Sunday, The Dispatch features a front page from this week in history to celebrate the newspaper’s 150 years of publication, with a little update on what’s happened since.