The metropolitan area is home to the Battelle Memorial Institute, the world's largest private research and development foundation Chemical Abstracts Service, the world's largest clearinghouse of chemical information and the Ohio State University, one of the largest universities in the United States. The city has a diverse economy based on education, government, insurance, banking, defense, aviation, food, clothes, logistics, steel, energy, medical research, health care, hospitality, retail and technology. The 1990s and 2000s saw redevelopment in numerous city neighborhoods, including Downtown. Beginning in the 1950s, Columbus began to experience significant growth it became the largest city in Ohio in land and population by the early 1990s.

Amid steady years of growth and industrialization, the city has experienced numerous floods and recessions. The city assumed the function of state capital in 1816 and county seat in 1824.

The city was named for Italian explorer Christopher Columbus. The city was founded in 1812 at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, and laid out to become the state capital. Franklinton, now a city neighborhood, was the first European settlement, laid out in 1797. It had a population of 2,138,926 in 2020, making it the largest metropolitan area entirely in Ohio and 14th-largest city in the U.S.Ĭolumbus originated as numerous Native American settlements on the banks of the Scioto River. It is the core city of the Columbus metropolitan area, which encompasses ten counties in central Ohio. Columbus is the county seat of Franklin County it also extends into Delaware and Fairfield counties. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest after Chicago, and the third-most populous U.S. John Glenn Columbus International Airport, Rickenbacker International AirportĬolumbus ( / k ə ˈ l ʌ m b ə s/) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S.

Columbus library train display