German Village

German Village is a 233-acre neighborhood just south of downtown Columbus, Ohio, made up of more than 1,800 structures. German immigrants began settling in Columbus in 1812, and by 1890 about 7,000 Germans lived on the south side. They built small brick cottages on limestone foundations, later followed by larger two-story brick houses and Italianate Victorian homes, many around Schiller Park. Brick streets and sidewalks, narrow lots and houses set close to the street gave the area a walking-village character. The community declined after the First World War, Prohibition and postwar migration, and city studies recommended clearance. An expressway took the northern third. Restoration began in the late 1950s with one individual, led to the German Village Society in 1960, city recognition as a historic district, rezoning and design controls. Nearly two-thirds of the buildings have since been restored with private funds, and the district is valued as a well-preserved nineteenth-century area.