Neil Run used to be part of a ravine ecosystem that connected to other ravines in Columbus, including the Iuka Ravine and Glen Echo Ravine. These ravines host unique plant life compared to more glaciated parts of central Ohio. They are slightly more acidic, have shale, and have temperature gradients (i.e. ravines tend to be cooler than surrounding areas) due to their massive topographical changes.
Neil Run was also used as a landmark on the underground’s railroad! You can fine two historical signs on campus that mark the landmark—one of these markers is also right next to a ~200 year old sycamore tree next to the medical center, which likely grew along the banks of Neil Run.
Neil Run was also connected to Mirror Lake hollow. In accordance to Ohio State University’s founding myth, after touring the land, the university trustees stopped at Mirror Lake and the refreshing spring waters—Neil Run—that fed it. They took a break to drink from the small spring and ultimately decided to build the campus around it
The earliest documentation of Neil Run is in an 1842 map of the Clinton Township.
Neil Run runs straight through what would be the South Oval, branching off of the Olentangy River and into what is now Iuka Ravine.
Mapping of Neil Run depicts changes in its course and shape representing the fluidity of streams and also the human intervention that has affected its form. Early maps depict Neil Run branching off before high street. They also depict a small pond that the stream likely fed into.
Later, campus plans depict the stream feeding into Mirror Lake and channelizing—meaning that the stream would mostly follow a singular path. This channelization follows the development of the South Oval, most likely to make the university more navigable. Some maps also depict a small pond on one of the stream’s branches. It’s debated whether this pond existed, for most maps do not depict it.
The map below depicts one of the last known documentations of Neil Run. Here, the stream skirts on the outside of the campus paths, running under North High Street.
The disappearance of Neil Run represents a major alteration of the South Oval’s landscape, its disappearance taking back a rich ecosystem that we now only see remnants of.