The Fort Hayes school campus off Cleveland Avenue doesn’t just have a history as an academic complex for hundreds of Columbus City Schools students a year — it also has a military history going back to the Civil War and as recently as the war on terrorism.
Students at Fort Hayes take an active role in preserving their connection to the storied history of the campus, with over a dozen students involved in the Fort Hayes Historical Society, which recently completed a museum exhibit highlighting the campus’ history in a building adjacent to the Shot Tower.
The architectural centerpiece of the sprawling campus — known as the Shot Tower — literally towers over the other buildings. It was completed in 1864 as an arsenal for storing munitions in the Civil War, but today it holds art galleries to exhibit work done by students at the Fort Hayes Metropolitan Education Center.
Jaden Lanier, a Fort Hayes senior, said it was important to her and other members of the historical society to preserve the past of their school. The group also offers tours of the campus to prospective Fort Hayes students. The Fort Hayes Campus hosts a career technical education school, an arts and academics high school and art-oriented middle school.
“The greatest thing is that we are experiencing this today, just to know who was here before us and who was serving and honoring those people,” Lanier said. “So that’s why we’re here, and we’re still telling their stories, and we’re still showing off their stuff and showing the past.”
Although the building complex was originally constructed for use in the Civil War, the Columbus Arsenal (later called the Columbus Barracks) saw use through all major U.S. wars until it was finally decommissioned in 2009. Up to its closure, it was the longest in-use military facility in the United States.
The Fort Hayes campus, located just north of Downtown, began its history as a U.S. arsenal for storing munitions and powder during the Civil War. In 1864, the Shot Tower was completed under the supervision of Captain T.C. Bradford and adjacent buildings were also completed. In all, the Columbus Arsenal stored enough weapons to arm 30,000 union soldiers during the war, according to information compiled by the Historical Society.
Ben Baughman, curator at the Ohio History Connection, said that when the federal arsenal was commissioned in 1861, there were only a dozen such facilities, most of which were located in the South at the outset of the Civil War. At the time, Columbus was just a small city of around 20,000 residents.
“The federal government wanted to start a new one that would be a little more away from the Mason-Dixon Line,” Baughman said.
Following the Civil War, the Columbus Arsenal transitioned to a training and housing site for recruits in World War 1. In 1922, the name was changed to Fort Hayes to honor Rutherford B. Hayes, former Ohio governor and 19th U.S. president.
In World War 2, it continued as a recruit depot and training facility, and housed up to 2,000 soldiers and officers. In 1946, the Ohio National Guard took over the facility and continued to have sole control of it through the Vietnam War.
In 1976, Columbus City Schools purchased 50 acres of the over 70-acre property for $1 and converted it to the Fort Hayes Career Center. Eventually, CCS also opened the Fort Hayes Arts and Academic High School, Arts Impact Middle School and administrative offices on the site.
The Ohio National Guard continued to maintain a smaller presence on the campus until 2009.
Students participating in the Fort Hayes Historical Society are excited by the storied history of the campus. Jude McGonigle, a sophomore, is grateful that the school offers this opportunity to students.
“I love how we are trying to focus on the history of this place as a military base, as well as history as a place of education,” McGonigle said. “We all have a sense of community, we all are able to geek out — for lack of a better word — over all of this amazing history.”
The Historical Society was founded by Fort Hayes history teacher Eric East, a Navy veteran himself, in 2009 when the Ohio National Guard finally exited the campus. East said building “community history” is important for the students since Fort Hayes is a district lottery school, meaning the students come from all over the city.
“Having a sense of neighborhood or a sense of place is so important,” East said. “When their parents come pick them up … and they all go, they just go to the wind after this. So what connection do they have this? And I think that’s important.”
McGonigle pointed to a diorama model of Fort Hayes, made in the 1960s by a soldier who was stationed on the base when it was in full operation as a military site.
“Most of those buildings aren’t here anymore,” McGonigle said. “I love being able to like, imagine what it was like back then. I love that we are also focusing not just on the military past, but also the educational past.”
Cbehrens@dispatch.com
@Colebehr_report
Français 
English