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The Ohio Journal of Science [Vol. XVII, No. 5, 



Influence of State Institutions. — While so much is in large 

 degree a response to physical conditions here before the town 

 came at all, and is a measure of the adjustment already accom- 

 plished, no small importance must be attached to the location 

 of the State Capital, the State University, and a half dozen 

 other State Institutions in and about the city. But since these 

 came partly because of the opportunities already offered and 

 are now a part of the geographic environment, they may be 

 considered among the geographic factors aiding in the growth 

 and importance of the city. They each bring many workmen, 

 skilled and otherwise, whose homes are a part of the residence 

 districts, and whose expenditures add a large item to the busi- 

 ness of the city. Not only through their employes but directly 



Fig. 12. Drives, shade and conservatory in Franklin Park. Sags and swells of 

 moraine may be seen among the trees on both left and right. 



through their own maintenance do these institutions each con- 

 tribute to the importance of the city. Further, most of them 

 owe no small part of their size and usefulness to the fact that 

 they are in the midst of a large, growing, prosperous community. 

 Parks and Drives. — Columbus has taken advantage of but 

 little of its narural beauty and attractiveness in its park and 

 drive system. Two parks in the thickly settled parts of town 

 and the U. S. Barracks in the midst now of a manufacturing 

 district constitute all that could be called park until the out- 

 skirts of the city are reached, and all these lie on the exceedingly 

 level uninspiring till plain. Franklin Park on the eastern 

 border along Alum Creek is part flood plain and part till plain, 

 with a rolling somewhat sandy intermediate zone of charming 

 country suitable for drives, shrubbery and flowers. Some use of 



