Did you know Grove City once was one of Central Ohio’s first entertainment destinations? Frank Sinatra and Bill Cosby were among the first national entertainers to perform here. It started in 1973 with Musicpark and later in 1990 with Capital Music Center. Many acts visited Grove City including Eric Clapton and Friends, the Temptations, Four Tops, Michael Bolton, Huey Lewis & the News, Roger Miller, Kenny G, Doobie Brothers, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Wayne Newton, Barbara Mandrell and Guns & Roses. The Grateful Dead were slated to perform in a 3-day weekend event but that show was cancelled because of safety concerns.

Are you planning a walk before the heat of the summer? Stop by the Grove City Welcome Center and Museum, 3378 Park Street, and ask for a copy of our new Walking Tour. It’s free. Whether you walk, bike or ride in a vehicle, this can be an adventure to remember. It’s not just any walk; it’s a walk that will allow you to connect with Grove City’s early years and more than 20 plus stories along the way you’ll find interesting. It might take an hour or so, depending on your pace, but it will be one you remember for years to come. Park Street, originally identified on early maps as School Street, dates at least to 1852 as one of Grove City’s first village streets.

Before Grove City had a police department, the town marshal enforced local laws which included a variety of exhibitions that required licenses issued by the mayor. Local laws prohibited puppet shows, wire dancing, tumbling, juggling, menagerie, panoramas, a circus or any game that was slight of hand. Those who violated any of those laws were required to forfeit any illicit income and pay a $5 fine for each offense. Guess we’ll never know if the 1928 American Legion’s amateur minstrel show or Mrs. L. E. Grant’s April 4, 1929 masquerade party was held without being fined. The town marshal also had other unpleasant duties. He had to insure a dead horse, cow, hog, sheep or other animal found on a village street was promptly removed.

The first Manual of Rules and Regulations for the Division of Police in Grove City was published in 1969 by Lowell G. (Gene) Downey, safety director, under George M. Haughn’s administration. The document, now on display at the Grove City Welcome Center and Museum was based on Los Angeles Police Department guidelines. Downey previously served as a Grove City police officer and was the city’s first K-9 officer with Prince Victor von Trammheiler, a registered 75-pound German Shepherd from a royal blood line. Patrolman Glenn A. Stoll was the second K-9 officer with Rusty. Both were trained in the U.S. Air Force kennel at Lockbourne AFB (Rickenbacker today). The K9 corps was created locally by Chief E. L. Evans after he attended a Cincinnati meeting of police chiefs.

Who is Randolph Higgy? His name shows up on a Grove City & Green Lawn Street Railway pass signed by A. G. Grant, owner of the electric street car line that ran from Grove City to Greenlawn Cemetery where passengers could transfer to another line into Columbus. Higgy was a friend of William Foster Breck, founder of Grove City in 1852, who moved here from Fairfield County. He first purchased Breck’s sawmill when Breck decided to open a mercantile; then Higgy purchased Breck’s store around 1855 renaming it Higgy’s Store. After Breck’s death in 1865, Higgy succeeded Breck as the Grove City postmaster. By 1866 when Grove City incorporated as a village, Dr. Joseph Bullen was elected mayor and Higgy became village clerk. He is also mentioned as one of the town’s first marshals. In 1887, for an unknown reason, Grove City’s mayor and every member of the village council abruptly resigned and Higgy became mayor. Higgy married Catherine Grant, a daughter of Hugh Grant Jr.