What to See in Columbus - Top Sights and Attractions

Market in Columbus, Ohio. North Market is a food hall and public market in Columbus, Ohio. The Downtown Columbus market was established in 1876, and was the second of four founded in Columbus, and the only one remaining. The market is managed by the non-profit North Market Development Authority, which also manages North Market Bridge Park, a market in Dublin, Ohio.

The downtown market hosts about 35 vendors. About one third of these sell ready-to-eat foods, one third sell specialty goods, and the remaining portion sell produce, flowers, meat and fish, cookware, and gifts. The NDMA also hosts a weekly farmer's market from June to October outside the market building.

The Dublin market, completed in 2020, was designed to be more modern than the downtown location. The new market has 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2) of space, two-thirds of which is for the public. The market has 15 vendors, with a total capacity of 19.^[1]

Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio Stadium is an American football stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on the campus of Ohio State University. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team and is also the site for the university's Spring Commencement ceremonies each May. Common nicknames for the stadium include "the Horseshoe", "the Shoe", and "the House That Harley Built".

From 1996 to 1998, Ohio Stadium was the home venue for the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer prior to the opening of Columbus Crew Stadium in 1999. The stadium also was the home venue for the OSU track and field teams from 1923 to 2001. In addition to athletics, Ohio Stadium is also a concert venue, with U2, Taylor Swift, The Rolling Stones, Genesis, Pink Floyd, and Metallica among the many acts to have played at the venue.

The stadium opened in 1922 as a replacement for Ohio Field and had a seating capacity of 66,210. In 1923, a cinder running track was added that was later upgraded to an all-weather track. Seating capacity gradually increased over the years and reached a total of 91,470 possible spectators in 1991. Beginning in 2000, the stadium was renovated and expanded in several phases, removing the track and adding additional seating, which raised the capacity to 101,568 by 2001 and to 102,329 in 2007. In 2014, additional seating was added in the end zone, raising the official capacity to 104,944. Another renovation to add more luxury suites began in 2017 and will eventually lead to a decrease of 2,600 seats. It is the largest stadium by capacity in the state of Ohio, and the third largest on-campus football stadium in the United States. Ohio Stadium was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service on March 22, 1974.^[2]

Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Value City Arena is a multi-purpose arena, located on the campus of Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The arena opened in 1998 and is currently the largest by seating capacity in the Big Ten Conference, with 19,049 seats, which is reduced to 18,809 for Ohio State men's basketball games.

It is home to Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball, women's basketball and men's ice hockey teams. Previously, the basketball teams played at St. John Arena, while the ice hockey team played at the OSU Ice Arena. The facility is named the Jerome Schottenstein Center in honor of Jerome Schottenstein, of Columbus, late founder of Schottenstein Stores Corp. and lead benefactor of the project, while the seating bowl is named for Schottenstein's store Value City Furniture.^[3]

Historical place with art . The Ohio Statehouse is the state capitol building and seat of government for the U.S. state of Ohio. The Greek Revival building is located on Capitol Square in Downtown Columbus. The capitol houses the Ohio General Assembly, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. It also contains the ceremonial offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, state treasurer, and state auditor. Built between 1839 and 1861, it is one of the oldest working statehouses in the United States. The statehouse grounds include two other buildings, the Judiciary Annex or Senate Building, and the Atrium; the three are collectively referred to as the Ohio Statehouse into the present day.

The statehouse's prominent architecture has earned it several landmark designations, including as a National Historic Landmark. The building sees about 500,000 visitors per year.^[6]

Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. Historic Crew Stadium, previously known as Columbus Crew Stadium and Mapfre Stadium, is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It primarily served as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer from 1999 until 2021, when the team moved to Lower.com Field. The Historic Crew Stadium is the current home of the Crew's training facility, the OhioHealth Performance Center and MLS Next Pro team Columbus Crew 2. Historic Crew Stadium is also the site of a variety of additional events in amateur and professional soccer, American football, lacrosse, and rugby, and is a regular site for outdoor concerts due to the permanent stage in the north end zone.

Built in 1999, it was the first soccer-specific stadium built by a Major League Soccer team, starting an important trend in MLS stadium construction. The stadium was named for Madrid-based Mapfre Insurance after the company signed a 5-year sponsorship agreement announced on March 3, 2015. In December 2020, the deal expired and the Crew renamed the stadium. The listed seating capacity is 19,968. In 2015, Mapfre Stadium and Director of Grounds Weston Appelfeller were honored with the prestigious Field of the Year award by the Sports Turf Managers Association (STMA) for the professional soccer division.^[9]

The Union Station arch is a 35 ft Beaux-Arts arch standing at McFerson Commons Park in Columbus, Ohio. The work was designed by renowned architect Daniel Burnham, as part of a grand entranceway to the city's Union Station. It has intricate details, including Corinthian columns, multiple cornices and friezes, and statuary groups; some currently in storage.

The arch and entrance arcade were designed in 1893 and completed by 1899. The arcade was listed on the National Register of Historic Places from 1974 to 1999. Nearly all of the arcade was demolished in 1976, and preservationists managed to save the single tall arch. It was moved to storage in 1977, and placed in a new park, Arch Park, which opened in 1980. A parking garage was built on the site, necessitating that the arch move to McFerson Commons in 1999. The arch now acts as a sculpture and architectural and historical relic.^[13]

Museum in Columbus, Ohio. COSI, officially the Center of Science and Industry, is a science museum and research center in Columbus, Ohio. Originally opened in 1964, COSI was moved to a 320,000-square-foot facility designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki along a bend in the Scioto River in the Franklinton neighborhood in 1999. COSI features more than 300 interactive exhibits throughout themed exhibition areas.

As a center of science and industry (rather than a standalone science center), COSI established embedded partnerships with local organizations. WOSU@COSI (Central Ohio's NPR member station and Public Broadcasting Service public media station) maintains a digital media center and offices; the Ohio State University maintains a center of research as well as health & medicine laboratories staffed by medical residents, and Columbus Historical Society maintains offices and exhibit space.

COSI also operates the largest outreach education program of any science museum in the United States, COSI in the Classroom, 21st Century Lab field trip experiences, international distance education Interactive Video Conferencing programs, and COSI On Wheels traveling outreach program. COSI originated the Camp-In overnight program for Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts in 1972 – a concept tnow commonplace in museums nationwide. Since 1964, COSI has engaged with nearly 30 million unique visitors through on-site and outreach programs.

As a nonprofit organization, COSI is supported by ticket sales, a network of community and statewide partnerships (including relationships with a variety of donors and sponsors), a volunteer program supported by 10,000 volunteers annually, and nearly 20,000 member households. In 2008, COSI was the named the #1 science center in the United States for families by Parent Magazine. In 2020, COSI was named the #1 Science Museum in the United States by USA Today.^[16]

Botanical garden in Columbus, Ohio. Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is a botanical garden and conservatory located in Columbus, Ohio. It is open daily and an admission fee is charged. Today, it is a horticultural and educational institution showcasing exotic plant collections, special exhibitions, and Dale Chihuly artworks.

The conservatory contains more than 400 plant species. Biomes representing global climate zones include: Himalayan Mountains, Tropical Rainforest, Desert, and Pacific Island Water Garden. Additional plant collections include a Bonsai Courtyard, Showhouse with seasonal displays, orchids and tropical bonsai collections, and Palm House with more than 40 species of palms. The conservatory is set within the Franklin Park neighborhood, and surrounded by Franklin Park, the 88-acre city park of the same name.

The conservatory was built in 1895 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It was added to the new Columbus Near East Side District in 1978.^[19]

University hub for contemporary art. The Wexner Center for the Arts is the Ohio State University's "multidisciplinary, international laboratory for the exploration and advancement of contemporary art". The Wexner Center opened in November 1989, named in honor of the father of Limited Brands founder Leslie Wexner, who was a major donor to the center.

The Wexner Center is a lab and public gallery, but not an art museum, as it does not collect art. However, when the Center was constructed, it replaced the University Gallery of Fine Arts, and assumed possession and stewardship of the University Gallery's permanent collection of roughly 3,000 art works. The collection serves a secondary role in the center's programs in the visual, media and performing arts. The Wexner Center is made available to OSU students and scholars for study, and is open to the public.^[20]

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum is a research library of American cartoons and comic art affiliated with the Ohio State University library system in Columbus, Ohio. Formerly known as the Cartoon Research Library and the Cartoon Library & Museum, it holds the world's largest and most comprehensive academic research facility documenting and displaying original and printed comic strips, editorial cartoons, and cartoon art. The museum is named after the Ohio cartoonist Billy Ireland.

Covering comic books, daily strips, Sunday strips, editorial cartoons, graphic novels, magazine cartoons, and sports cartoons, the collection includes 450,000 original cartoons, 36,000 books, 51,000 serial titles, and 3,000 feet (910 m) of manuscript materials, plus 2.5 million comic strip clippings and tear sheets.^[24]

Park in Columbus, Ohio. Goodale Park is a public park in the Victorian Village area of Columbus, Ohio. It was donated to the city in 1851 by Lincoln Goodale. For a few months during the Civil War, it was a staging area for Union troops known as Camp Jackson. ComFest, a large, free, multi-day, non-corporate, music and arts annual festival, is held in the park in June.

Located immediately north of downtown Columbus, the park is bordered by Goodale Street on the South, Park Street on the East, Buttles Avenue on the North, and Dennison Avenue on the West. Goodale Park features a pond, gazebo, tennis courts, a basketball court, bathrooms, and more.

The park contributes to the Near Northside Historic District, on the National Register of Historic Places.^[25]

Park in Columbus, Ohio. Dorrian Green is a park by the Franklinton neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. The park is part of the Scioto Mile network of parks and trails around downtown Columbus. Dorrian Green neighbors COSI, the city's science and children's museum.

The park has numerous gardens: sensory, reading, butterfly and pollinator, and prairie. There is a plaza with an interactive fountain, flanked by two pavilions and flowering cherry tree groves. The park's northwest and southwest corners have salvaged limestone structures salvaged from the Central High School building that was repurposed and expanded into COSI. There are play areas for children and adults. "The Spectrum Tree", a kinetic tree-shaped sculpture, references Isaac Newton's discovery that sunlight contains the entire spectrum of colors. The park is named for Hugh J. Dorrian, the city's treasurer and auditor, working for the city for 52 years. Dorrian was a Franklinton resident, and helped revitalize the Short North, the Arena District, University District, Scioto Mile and Franklinton.^[35]