History

1803: The Ohio state legislature establishes Franklin County, and Joseph Vance is appointed as the first Franklin County Surveyor. He sets property lines for early settlers and establishes the first roadways from Franklinton to Worthington, Springfield, and Lancaster.

1842: The first edition of the Franklin County Property and Highway Map is published. Around this time, the Franklin County Surveyor’s Office begins adopting responsibilities for highway engineering.

1851: Land from Fairfield County, including Canal Winchester, is added to Franklin County, marking the last major change to the county’s boundaries.

1852: The Franklin County Agricultural Society establishes Franklin Park on 88 acres along Broad Street.

1887: Reuben Partridge designs the Bergstresser-Dietz Covered Bridge in Canal Winchester, incorporating his patented triple Partridge truss design.

1899: The U.S. Geological Survey includes Franklin County in the first coast-to-coast survey, creating topographic and hydrologic maps.

1900: The Franklin County Surveyor begins replacing stone survey monuments with iron pins, marking the start of modern surveying practices.

1913: Following the Flood of 1913, the Franklin County Surveyor collaborates with the City of Columbus, The Ohio State University, and the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey to conduct a precise survey of 80 square miles of Columbus, aiding in flood control and land redevelopment projects.

1935: The Ohio Legislature officially redesignates the position of “County Surveyor” as “County Engineer.” This change provides for both surveying and highway engineering needs, requiring the officeholder to hold both Ohio Professional Engineers (P.E.) and Professional Surveyors (P.S.) licenses.

1948: The last streetcar runs on the Neil Avenue/Main Street Line, marking the transition to automobiles and buses as the main forms of transportation.

1956: The Federal-Aid Highway Act authorizes the construction of the nation’s first multi-lane interstate highways and the modernization of state and local routes.

1956: The introduction of interstate highways contributes to the dramatic growth of suburban communities and in turn redefines the county engineer’s duty to oversee annexations, new municipal and township boundaries, and county tax map and road map revisions.

1992: The grand opening of the Broad Street “Discovery Bridge” marks the rebirth of the “City Beautiful” movement for bridge construction in Franklin County.

1998-1999: The replacement of the old bridges at Third and King avenues continues the tradition of building neoclassical structures over the Olentangy River.

2001: Columbus’ first cable-stayed suspension bridge is built on Beach Road over Big Darby Creek without any piers in the waterway to protect the environmentally sensitive area.

2003: The Lane Avenue Bridge, a cable-stayed structure, opens over the Olentangy River. The Engineer News Record cited the cable anchorage assemblies atop each of the concrete pier towers as the heaviest single pieces of steel ever to be galvanized.

2012: The triple-span, arched, concrete girder Dodridge Street Bridge replaces the previous bridge that rested upon a stone pier. The historic stone blocks are used in the rebuilding of the Olentangy Trail and the new retaining wall.