Columbus, Indiana

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Coordinates: 39°12′50″N, 85°54′40″W
City of Columbus, Indiana
Image:US-IN-Columbus.png Location in the state of Indiana
County	Bartholomew
Mayor	Fred Armstrong
Area
- City	68.3 km²
- Land	67.2 km²
- Water	1.1 km²
Population
- City (2000)	39,059
- Density	581.1/km²
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Website: www.columbus.in.gov

Columbus (IPA: [kəˈlʌm.bəs]) is the county seat of Bartholomew County, Indiana. The population was 39,059 at the 2000 census. It is a small city approximately 40 miles south of Indianapolis, ^GR6 on the east fork of the White River. It is also the principal city of the Columbus, Indiana metropolitan statistical area which encompasses all of Bartholomew County.

1 History
2 Architecture & Art
3 References
4 Further reading

[edit] History

Columbus, Indiana is the county seat of Bartholomew County, Indiana. In 1820, the land which is now Columbus was bought by General John Tipton and Luke Bonesteel. General Tipton built a log cabin on Mt. Tipton, a small hill overlooking White River and the surrounding flat, heavily forested, swampy valley. The town was known as Tiptonia, named in honor of General John Tipton. On March 20, 1821, the town's name was changed to Columbus. General Tipton was very upset by the change of names, and he moved from Columbus. Later in life, General John Tipton became the Highway Commissioner for the State of Indiana, and was given the job of building a highway from Indianapolis, Indiana to Louisville, Kentucky. Upon reaching Columbus, he constructed the first bypass road ever built. Mauxferry Road detoured south around the west side of Columbus on its way to Seymour.

Joseph McKinney was the first to plat the town of Columbus. No date of this plat was recorded by Mr. McKinney.

For years, it was recorded in the local history books that the land on which Columbus sits was donated by General Tipton. It has recently come to light that General Tipton actually sold the land. A deed showing sale of the land was acquired by the Historic Columbus Indiana website www.historiccolumbusindiana.org in 2003.

A ferry was established in order to avoid crossing both the Flat Rock and Driftwood rivers, which join only a short distance above the site of the ferry. This became a village of three or four log cabins and in 1821, the first store was added. In the same year, Bartholomew County was organized by an act of the State Legislature and named after the famous Indian fighter, General Joseph Bartholomew. Columbus, Indiana was incorporated as a city on June 28, 1864.

In 1844, the first railroad in Indiana reached Columbus from Madison, Indiana. This was known as the Madison branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The railroad caused the community to grow into one of the larger communities of the State of Indiana. By 1850, three more railroads came into the city.

Columbus is host to the oldest theatre in the State of Indiana: the Crump Theatre, which was built in 1889 by John Crump. Today, the building is a historical landmark and is also an all-ages venue where bands perform occasionally. Columbus is also host to the oldest, continually operated bookstore in the State of Indiana: Cummins Bookstore first began its operations in 1892.

The Irwin Union Bank building in Columbus Indiana, was built in 1954. It was designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service in 2001 because of its architecture.

The building consists of a one-story bank structure adjacent to a three-story office annex. A portion of the office annex was built along with the banking hall in 1954. The remaining, much larger portion, designed by Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo and Associates, was built in 1973.

Eero Saarinen designed the bank building with its glazed hall to be set off against the blank background of its three-story brick annex. Two steel and glass vestibule connectors lead from the north side of this structure to the annex.

The building was designed to distance the Irwin Union Bank from traditional banking architecture, which mostly echoed imposing, neoclassical style buildings of brick or stone. Tellers were behind iron bars and removed from their customers. Saarinen worked to develop a building that would welcome customers rather than intimidate them.

[edit] Architecture & Art

Columbus is a city known for its architecture. J. Irwin Miller, owner of the Cummins Engine Company, a local concern manufacturing diesel engines, instituted a program in which Cummins would pay the architects' fee on any building if the client selected a