History of Hilltop: Timeline of Development and Diversity
Written by Karie Miller, Design by Josh Truett
| 1795 | First settler, Lucas Sullivant, arrives from Louisville, KY. He was a deputy surveyor sent to claim land for an officer in Virginia following the Revolutionary War. As payment, Sullivant received one-fourth to one-half of the surveyed land. Sullivant gave sons William and Michael the 1600 acres of the Hilltop area, making them the first residents and landowners in Hilltop. |
| 1816 | City of Columbus incorporated. |
| 1856 | Number of different families in Hilltop: 35 |
| 1861 | Establishment of Camp Chase, originally a Union training camp and later a Union POW camp named after Ohio governor Salmon P. Chase |
| 1863 | Camp Chase establishes a prison cemetery, which is now all that is left of Camp Chase. |
| 1865 | End of the American Civil War resulting in the closure of Camp Chase. |
| 1872 | Arrival of Quaker families from Jefferson county, relocating to purchase portions of Camp Chase land after the camp was abandoned by the government.
Number of different families in Hilltop: 83 |
| 1884 | Ohio Public Accommodations Law prohibited discrimination on the basis of race in all public buildings. |
| 1887 | The Ohio State University established |
| 1900 | Population in Hilltop: approximately 2000. 226 born in Ohio, 28 born in other Midwest states, 9 in eastern and southern states, and “the remainder immigrated from various countries such as Switzerland, Wales, Ireland, and Germany” (Butler, 12).
· 56 families, 259 residents, 119 females, and 140 males. |
| 1902 | Monument dedication at Camp Chase to honor Confederate soldiers. |
| 1913 | The Great Flood: Franklinton was submerged under 22 feet of water. The flood resulted in 93 dead, 20,000 homeless and approximately $5-10 million in property damage. Hilltop, because of its geographic location on top of a hill was virtually unaffected by the flood’s property damage and so became a destination neighborhood.
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| 1917 | Buchanan v. Warley: U.S. Supreme Court struck down racial zoning laws. |
| 1920 | Population in Hilltop: 15,000 |
| 1948 | Shelley v. Kramer: U.S. Supreme Court struck down legal enforcement of racially restrictive covenants |
| 1950 | Population: 375, 901, an increase of 23% over the past ten years. |
| 1957 | Fair Housing Act Passed |
| 1968 | Westland Shopping Mall open.
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| 1975 | Hilltop officially named a Neighborhood Commercial Revitalization Area by the city. |
| 1978 | National Affordable Housing Act passed. |
| 1992 | Mall at Tuttle Crossing opens giving direct competition to Westland Shopping Mall and resulting in the closing of Westland Mall’s anchor store, JC Penney. |
| 1991 | 50% of all refugees admitted to the U.S. came from Somalia, Cuba, and Laos. |
| 1997 | Westland Shopping Mall closes.
Penn National Gaming opens Hollywood Casino |
| 2004 | 850,106 in Columbus. 66,648 total population in Hilltop. 11.4 % or 96,912 in Columbus are foreign-born.
· Asian population: 34,854 in Columbus, 1,303 in Hilltop · Hispanic or Latino population: 47,605 in Columbus, 5,606 in Hilltop · Somali population: 13,311 in Columbus
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All Photos Courtesy Columbus Metropolitan Library Digital Collections.