Where's the State Auto Nativity Scene? Here's where to find it

If you have lived, worked or spent any length of time in Columbus during the past 61 years, you are bound to have seen it: Each Christmas season, shepherds, sheep, kings and a small family have graced the grounds of the State Auto building on East Broad Street.

Since 1962, a sweeping life-sized Nativity Scene — depicting numerous figures, but focused on the Holy Family of Mary, Joseph and, beginning on Christmas Eve, the infant Jesus — has been one of the most enduring attractions Downtown during the holidays. The scene complemented an existing holiday display that had been presented at State Auto since 1932, known as its “Christmas Corner.”

For some families, seeing the Nativity Scene was something of a seasonal ritual; for newcomers to Columbus, it was high on the list of sights to see.

Those hoping to view the scene this December, however, won’t find it at State Auto.

Earlier this year, the insurance company — which, since 2022, has been under the ownership of Liberty Mutual Group, headquartered in Boston — donated its Nativity Scene to the Museum of Catholic Art and History, which, in turn, has provided it to St. Joseph Cathedral, also on East Broad Street, for display each year.

“I grew up going to St. Patrick’s Church Downtown,” said Shawn Kenney, executive director of the museum. “We lived on the East Side, so we always got off the Broad Street exit. I would see the scaffolding going up and then the Kings going up and then the vegetation. . . . It was always a tradition watching this Nativity going up. I never thought we’d own it.”

The Nativity Scene made its debut in its new location on the day after Thanksgiving.

“What I hope is that a lot people from around the city and the Greater Columbus area will come and see it again,” said Columbus Catholic Diocese Bishop Earl Fernandes. “Come as families, and come and renew the real spirit of Christmas.”

Details of the Nativity Scene

The Nativity Scene — which Kenney thinks is the largest Nativity Scene in the Midwest in terms of the number of figures and scenes depicted — fills up nearly all available open space beside the cathedral and in front of the adjacent chancery, where the bishop resides, and rectory, where the priest who serves at St. Joseph lives.Shepherds (and their sheep), as well as the Three Kings, converge on the center of the display: the stable housing the Holy Family. Above them is an angel and a star. At least several minutes must be spent observing the scene to fully digest the story it tells and the meaning it conveys.

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“Maybe some people don’t go to church the way they used to go, but maybe they come and they see the Nativity Scene again and it awakens something of their childhood innocence and they say, ‘Yeah, I’ll get back on the road again,’ or recalls some happy memory of doing something as a child . . . and it brings some of the joy of Christmas forward,” Fernandes said.

On a recent weekday afternoon, Circleville resident Michele Willoughby parked in front of the cathedral to set up her camera on a tripod. She was there to take pictures of the Nativity Scene for a photography-class project about Christmas at Columbus State Community College.

“This is very impressive — oh my goodness: lifelike, life-size,” said Willoughby, 56, who felt the display was more “spread out” than it had been at State Auto.

“It’s beautiful, especially right here with the cathedral,” she said. “It’s very pretty.”

The scene's storied history

Many of the figures in the Nativity Scene are department-store mannequins that were repurposed by the original creator of the display, department-store window-display designer Gordon Keith.

“He’s the same guy who did the Lazarus windows that everybody remembers Downtown,” Kenney said, noting that improvements and modifications had been made over the decades.

The figures were then “built up” with additional materials, including foam, leather, burlap and even hula-skirt straw (the last of which is used for the roof of the stable). Fiberglass rocks hide lighting elements to illuminate the scene at night.

“The Nativity itself has changed over the years,” Kenney said. “Figures have been altered and changed.”

The transition of the display

How the display ended up at the cathedral has an element of providence.

About two years ago, Kenney heard through a friend a rumor that the soon-to-be-acquired State Auto might make its Nativity Scene available. Wanting to keep the scene on view, Kenney contacted a State Auto employee, Kyle Anderson.

“I sent him an email, saying, ‘Hey, I’ve heard this rumor — it might just be a rumor — but this is a beloved tradition here in Columbus. . . . I would like to help you find a new home,’” Kenney said. “He got back to me within a day.”

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Last Christmas, the Nativity Scene was again on display at State Auto, but by the first of the year, the wheels were in motion to make a move. The first step involved Kenney and his colleagues taking a close look at the scene, which by then was housed in a storage facility in Gahanna.

“(I wanted) to see how they were storing it, the sheer size of this, and whether or not it was even going to be possible for us to do this,” Kenney said.

State Auto then suggested that it donate the scene to the museum.

“They said, ‘What can we do for you to make this sure that this Nativity Scene is not going to come back to us in a year?’” Kenney recalled. “I said, ‘Well, why don’t you donate the Nativity Scene and give us (about) $250,000?’”

That figure — which State Auto agreed to provide — reflected close to the amount spent each year to cover expenses including the moving and set-up of the display. (Kenney said that he has since found ways to reduce the annual budget, which in the future will be covered by fundraising and sponsorships.)

“As a long-standing member of the Columbus and central Ohio community, State Auto is proud that Christmas Corner and its life-sized nativity scene have long been part of the city’s holiday traditions,” Kyle Anderson, the State Auto spokesperson, said in a press release. “We are thrilled that it's continuing in the new Downtown location with an organization committed to continuing this special tradition for generations to come.”

“For us, it’s a real honor to take over the care of it and to take this great Columbus tradition forward in the years ahead,” said Tom Berg Jr., chancellor of the Catholic Diocese of Columbus.

In October, the scene was moved out of storage and onto the cathedral property.

“We used 12 26-foot trucks to move it,” Kenney said. “Scaffolding, backdrops, lighting, the figures — it’s a lot.”

The bishop watched the arrival of the various elements.

“When they were bringing the pieces in, down Broad Street, I thought, ‘Wow, this is something else,’” Fernandes said. “There are so many pieces, and it’s so large, that for a while, when they were setting up, I felt like we were ‘Sanford and Son’ cathedral!”

A peaceful presence Downtown

The scene — which replaces a far smaller Nativity Scene that had for many years been on display at the cathedral — is already drawing good crowds, especially on weekends.

“(Last) Saturday night, we had hundreds of people come to see it,” Kenney said. “We had the cathedral open (with) hot chocolate and coffee. Our museum was open across the street.”

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Because the scene is located in front of the cathedral chancery, Fernandes can keep an eye on it.

“It’s in my front yard, essentially,” Fernandes said. “At all hours of the day and night, I’m looking out my windows. . . . People are going back and forth to their businesses, . . . and they’re stopping and they’re looking.”

The cathedral has also assumed another State Auto tradition: On Fridays and Saturdays, area choirs and instrumental ensembles will be performing inside the cathedral through the end of the month.

“We’re giving these diverse choirs from all over the community — from Presbyterian churches to Catholic schools and the Columbus State gospel choir — (the chance to sing) in our Catholic cathedral,” Kenney said.

The Nativity Scene will be kept up in its entirety through Epiphany, which falls on Jan. 6.

“For human beings, tradition means a lot,” Kenney said. “We all want to refer back to those good, warm feelings we had in our life, but most of the time that’s going back to the holidays. . . . This is just one of those experiences.”

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At a glance

The Nativity Scene can be seen at St. Joseph Cathedral, 212 E Broad St. For more information, or for a list of choirs performing at the site, visit https://www.catholicmuseum.org/event/nativities-from-around-the-world/ and click on “Nativities from Around the World”.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: The Nativity Scene is now located at St. Joseph Cathedral Downtown