herr2ck: Columbus - Milo-Grogan

February 2026.

Milo-Grogan is one of Columbus’s very niche neighborhoods. It is northeast of downtown and east of the trendier neighborhoods like Italian Village and the Short North, though its western end is beginning to experience gentrification. Despite its largely residential and industrial fabric, it has two significant landmarks in the Columbus Railway, Power, & Light Office and Milo Arts.

Milo-Grogan is located on the near northeast side of Columbus, Ohio. It is bordered by railroad tracks and South Linden to the north, I-670, Fort Hayes, and Mt. Vernon to the south, railroad tracks and Devon Triangle to the east, and more railroad tracks, Italian Village, and Weinland Park to the west.

History

1922 view of Cleveland Avenue, with the CRP&L powerhouse at right. (OWU Digital Collections)

Milo-Grogan comes from two separate cities established northeast of downtown Columbus in the late 19th century. Milo was named after brickyard owner Milo P. Streets, and Grogan came from a grocer and postman named John Patrick Grogan. The two towns had unclear boundaries, but Milo was west of Cleveland Avenue and Grogan was east of it, and as a result it was common to refer to the two as “Milo-Grogan.” The two also shared Cleveland Avenue, the former commercial center of the area. By 1900, the two had a population of 5,000 people.

Workers striking outside the Timken plant circa 1950. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

Milo-Grogan and adjacent Italian Village were Irish working-class neighborhoods at first due to the industrial presence nearby. The first business that opened there was Kilbourne & Jacobs in Italian Village, and later the Jeffrey Manufacturing Company was a very large company that drew from the Milo-Grogan area. Industries within the bounds of the neighborhood itself were the Timken Company, Columbus Dye, and Columbus Railway, Power, & Light Company (eventually COTA). Timken was one of the largest companies in the area, which made bearings for trains and cars, and it had three shifts of “several thousand workers” at its peak. The surrounding railroad tracks were a draw for these employers.

Milo and Grogan were eventually annexed into Columbus due to the city government straining to maintain services to the population, such as water, power, law enforcement, etc. This was a hotly contested issue with residents, but ultimately the two were officially annexed on October 16, 1908. At that point in time, it still remained isolated from Columbus and was only connected via the Pennsylvania Railroad. However, it was eventually attached to downtown with the Cleveland Avenue bridge.

1960 photo of highway construction near Milo-Grogan. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

Milo-Grogan’s decline is the same tired old story about how our other inner-city neighborhoods were destroyed. I-71 was built right through the center, leaving only 5th Avenue and 2nd Avenue connecting the two separated halves. After the population decline from the 400 homes and businesses demolished for I-71, the remaining residents who could afford to leave departed for the suburbs, leaving only the poorest residents behind. The neighborhood continued to decline with the closure of the local factories, which faced increased competition from foreign manufacturers and outsourcing. Absentee landlords owned over half of the neighborhood’s housing in the late 1970s. With the closure of Ohio Malleable Iron Company in 1980 and Timken in 1989, many other small businesses went with them.

1990 photo driving north up Cleveland Avenue, taken near its intersection with Reynolds Avenue. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

Like several other neighborhoods, Milo-Grogan has received special attention from the city government for revitalization. The Milo-Grogan Neighborhood Plan was published in 2007, which established planning priorities and design requirements for new construction. It also set off two buildings (the CRP&L Office and Milo Arts) as the two highest priorities for preservation. 2nd Avenue has been repaved with brick parking spots, and some of the abandoned buildings on Cleveland Avenue have been demolished. However, it seems that gentrification has begun to occur in the western end of the neighborhood closest to Italian Village, as a trendy new brewing company and a luxury apartment complex have opened at the southwest corner of Milo-Grogan.

Photos

Ohio Brewing Company (The Blue Box Company)

This trendy hipster brewing company is an adaptive reuse of factory buildings that were most recently used by the Blue Box Company.

View of the site from the 1921-1922 Sanborn map. (Library of Congress)

The 1901 Sanborn map documents the site, but it was vacant at that time. However, according to the 1921-1922 Sanborn map, the earliest brick buildings on the site were built for the Grocers & Butchers Ice Company. It had ice-making machines, two tank rooms, cold storage, and an ice house in the rear.

The site in 1961. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

The 1921-1950 Sanborn map shows that the Blue Box Company occupied the buildings as early as 1950. At that point in time, they demolished the cold storage portion of the building, and the ice house was vacant. The 1922-1961 map then shows a carton warehouse to the south that was built in 1957, which also stands today. There was also a fireproof concrete warehouse from 1914 at the rear that was demolished sometime before 2007, along with an annex of similar construction to the east that was razed during the renovation process. (These belonged to other companies, but were likely acquired by Blue Box later on.)

The buildings appeared vacant on Google Maps as of 2007, with graffiti coating the exterior. It seems that they were used at some capacity from 2015 to 2019, or a cleanup was ongoing, because various trucks and dumpsters were parked in the gravel lot outside during that period. New windows were installed in 2019, and the conversion process had begun in 2020.

With cases like this, I have to make the distinction between revitalization and gentrification. Revitalization is improving community infrastructure, free public services, and rectifying issues such as a food desert. Gentrification is the process of an area changing its racial and class demographics. Placing a trendy microbrewery with $17 hamburgers in a working-class neighborhood is gentrification in progress. I also noticed a certain demographic featured very frequently on the brewing company’s website.

At least downtown looks purdy.

Clark Grave Vault Company

This one is technically in Italian Village, but if I were to put it in that neighborhood’s own post, it would leave this one with only one place that I visited. It’s basically right on the border anyways.

The specific site of the building was not documented on the 1901 Sanborn map, and the area immediately north of it was vacant. This tracks, since this factory has more modern steel construction. The 1921-1922 map depicts the site, but the factory building was not yet constructed. However, the Cotter-Armstrong-Smith Products Company, which made steering gears, was present next door.

Clark Grave’s footprint as of 1961, which stretched from 2nd Avenue to 5th Avenue. That’s one big factory. (Columbus Metropolitan Library)

The county auditor’s website asserts that the plant was built in 1934, which I cannot back up due to a 40-year gap in the Sanborns, but will include as it is probably in the ballpark. As of 1961, Clark Grave Vault Company’s factory included a steel-framed factory building to the south, which stands today, as well as an older brick building on 5th Avenue that they purchased from the Monitor Motor Car Company.

Clark Grave is a much older company than the Sanborns revealed, as they only mentioned that the Clark Grave Vault Company and Clark Auto Equipment Company made steel vaults and automotive parts. However, since the company is still in operation at this site, their website goes into great depth about their own history.

During the Industrial Revolution, the “despicable and decidedly g[h]oulish crime of grave robbery” was apparently a common issue. This led local inventor Hugh Clark to design a sealed, burglar-proof vault for coffins in 1898. Along with deterring thieves, the metal construction of the vaults protected the wood coffins from moisture and subsequent rotting.

In 1917, Allen F. Beck purchased Clark Grave Vault from Hugh Clark’s estate. Beck worked at the company and decided to maintain the original name as a tribute to its founder. Apparently, Clark Grave Vault was the first Columbus business to advertise nationally (in 1919), and it then became the first grave vault company to distribute its products across the country in 1920.

The Great Depression seemed to be no deterrent to Clark Grave Vault, as they invented several new types of vaults. First was a solid copper vault in the early 1930s, then the Clark Custodian Vault (formed from a single piece of metal) was introduced in 1934, and finally the first galvanized vault was available later that decade. The company also introduced value-priced “Sentinel” and “Shield” vaults for cash-strapped families.

As was common for other plants in the “Arsenal of Democracy,” Clark Grave Vault retooled their plant for war production during World War II. It made 155mm shells, steel landing plates, tank hulls, 5-inch rockets, and disposable airplane fuel tanks. The company received the Army-Navy “E” award for their efforts. After the war, the company diversified and began to stamp parts for cars, railroads, and household appliances.

Clark Grave Vault survived the wave of deindustrialization and outsourcing in the 1970s and 1980s. They opened regional distribution centers across the country in 1989 and moved raw material processing inside the company with the Cut to Length Steel Division in 1990. As cremation became more popular, the company began making urn vaults as well.

Clark Grave Vault remains in business, and although the older brick portion of the plant has been demolished, this patina-ed steel shed remains.

I very much loved putzing around the plant to see the various shades of crusty brown, piss yellow, and sickly green. Buildings like this were not meant to be beautiful, but in its entropy, it has paradoxically become that way.