By Shannon McMahon

Driving through the Upper Arlington Historic District today, it might be easier than expected to see what it looked like when UA was first incorporated in 1918.

Thanks to the efforts of many UA residents, the district maintains historical integrity with its fresh landscapes, arched doorways and open space.

In 1985, the Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its 1,100 buildings – 950 of which are more than 50 years old – outnumber similarly-sized communities that also have historic districts.

For example, Westerville, Dublin, Worthington and Delaware all have districts on the National Register: they include anywhere from 15 to 40 buildings. The buildings in UA’s district are outnumbered by only a few local historic districts, such as German Village (1,780) and the Columbus Near East District (1,900).

According to Judy Williams, a historic preservation consultant and volunteer for the Upper Arlington Historical Society, Upper Arlington’s historic district is different from other Central Ohio communities for several reasons. For one thing, the district was planned and developed as an independent community, a suburb of Columbus.

“It stands out because it was a planned community, which is somewhat unique in Central Ohio,” she says. “It was a holistic approach to developing. It was a completely-planned development. It needed a school, it needed a fire house, it needed some commercial space. They built those buildings and they still stand today.”

According to Kate Erstein, executive director of the istorical society, the city’s historic district is unique because of everything included in it.

“Our district is unique because the whole area is on the register, not individual buildings,” she says. “It is the whole package: landscaping, houses, streetscapes, parks, schools, commercial buildings and a library.”

The district has brothers King and Ben Thompson to thank for its unique nature. The brothers owned the land on which the community was developed. The Thompsons had progressive goals and theories about the land when it was first acquired in 1913.

King solicited the work of William Pitkin Jr., a landscape architect from New York who was familiar with the popular Garden City Movement of the early 20th century, according to Williams. Upper Arlington, as part of this movement, is unique as a planned community, one not built on a grid but instead with curvilinear streets moving with the land.

Williams says the Thompson brothers’ plot of land was attractive because of its stark contrast to the city, where people worked.

“The whole (Garden City) movement was a reaction to the industrialization and crowding of the city,” she says. “It offered spacious areas. Here you were coming out to an area where you could have a driveway, a garage, a garden …”

The district boasts houses with various architectural styles, including Colonial Revival, French Revival, English Tudor, Cape Cod, and Spanish Colonial Revival. These styles are featured on buildings such as Jones Middle School (the first permanent school building in UA), the original municipal building (now a fire house across from Jones) and stores on Arlington Avenue.

In 1985, these spectacular features, as well as the character and pride that went into creating and maintaining them, were awarded national recognition. The 536-acre area of Upper Arlington that stretches from West 5th Avenue to Lane Avenue and from Riverside Drive to Andover Road was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, identified by the federal government as worthy of preservation for its significance in local and national history.

Jo Duran, who has lived in Upper Arlington for 52 years, led the effort to put the UA district on the National Register when she was an architecture student at The Ohio State University,

“So many people worked on it, and it took us two years to get it done,” she says. Duran says the process required her and a team to take pictures, make historic inventories and more.

Now, members of the UA Historical Society, UA citizens and district residents continue the effort toward education and preservation of this eclectic and remarkable community.

“We want to preserve the character,” Williams says. “We want people to see the importance of pausing, stopping and appreciating.”

Shannon McMahon is a contributing writer for Upper Arlington Magazine.