HOT OFF THE PRESS
Fire destroys Columbus City Hall, Jan. 13, 1921
There had already been some discussion about moving Columbus City hall to the riverfront. ● A fire at the existing city hall, at Pearl and State streets, on Jan. 12, 1921, made it a foregone conclusion. ● The Dispatch reported the following day that while city officials entered the burned building with the intention of figuring out how to eventually return, they left calling it a lost cause. ● They immediately started the search for temporary quarters and called for work to begin on plans for a new home. ● The current City Hall opened in 1928. ● The Loew’s theater chain opened the Ohio Theatre that same year on the site of the former City Hall. ● The theater operated until 1969, but it started losing its luster much earlier that decade. After it closed, a local real estate developer planned to raze the building to make way for a new office tower. ● The threat prompted a “Save the Ohio” campaign that ultimately led to the creation of the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts. CAPA raised the money to save and renovate the theater. ● CAPA has since taken on the Palace Theatre and Southern Theatre, both Downtown.