Worthington: Go back in time with a historical photo series of downtown

If you were to go get a slice at Dewey’s Pizza at 640 High St. in Worthington, you might see a large, black-and-white photograph on the front of the building that's difficult to miss.

The photo depicts the old Knapp football team, sometime in the early 20th century, posing for a portrait in front of the former Knapp Motor Sales that was at 28 E. New England Ave. in Worthington. Knapp Motor Sales was known by that name until 1925, when Ed Heil bought the business and changed the name to Worthington Motor Sales.

Another photo on the side of Worthington Jewelers, at 692 High St., depicts three men gathered around a Stewart Motor Corp. truck belonging to the former Tuller Groceries and Meats as it's being fueled. In the background is a former Worthington Savings Bank location, now the site of Worthington Jewelers.

Those two enlarged historical photos are part of a series of 15 recently displayed throughout downtown Worthington as part of the Picture Worthington History Walk.

The series, which will be on display through June, is a collaboration among the Worthington Partnership, Worthington Historical Society and Worthington Libraries and aims to give residents and visitors a visual glimpse into Worthington’s history while comparing the locations depicted to the current landscape.

Elizabeth Dekker, tourism director with Experience Worthington, said she had envisioned the idea more than a year ago during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – when taking an outdoor stroll was a popular activity amid the limited hours and closures of local shops and businesses.

“Businesses weren’t open to come in, or they had shorter hours, and people were kind of taking to the outdoors for walks,” she said. “I had the idea of, ‘what if we brought some images outside?’”

Dekker got together with Kate LaLonde, director of the Worthington Historical Society, and Meredith Southard, a librarian with Old Worthington Library, and began sourcing photos from worthingtonmemory.org and the historical society’s archives.

“I really was inspired looking through these photos, and I thought, ‘Man, it’d be wonderful to see these compared to what we have today,’” Dekker said.

“So much of Worthington (and) the buildings themselves have been preserved. Or if they’re slightly changed, they’ve been altered in interesting ways.”

Other photographs along the history walk take a look back at the New England Masonic Lodge at 634 High St., the former Snouffer Brothers’ Garage and Filling Station at 627 High St. and the Sharon Township Fire Department’s former location on the west side of High Street, north of the Village Green.

“Kind of the impetus of this project was seeing all of these photos and wanting to bring that out into the public right of way,” Dekker said.

LaLonde said the team sought photos that had a geographic tie and connection to current properties and businesses when they were selecting which ones to feature.

“If you’re standing in a place looking at an image, you can look maybe across the street at the subject that’s in the photograph and look at it as it looks today and compare how Worthington has preserved its history, but also what changes have happened over the past 150 years," she said.

Some of the photos date back to the 19th century, such as one taken in 1898 displayed on the north side of the Old Worthington Library at 820 High St. It features two men with bicycles in front of the Buttles-Pinney-Brown House – a 5-story, Federal-style house constructed in 1818 that still stands.

“I’m hoping the series gives people a nice perspective of Worthington’s history,” Southard said. “I hope people learn something new about Worthington’s history, and I think it’s really neat to have that look into the past and see what a particular location looked like decades or a century ago.

“I hope people have fun and they learn something new.”

Those interested can download a free digital guide of the series and several walking tours throughout the city on the free Pocketsights app.

A QR code for the app and more information about the history walk is available at experienceworthington.com.

sborgna@thisweeknews.com

@ThisWeekSteve

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Downtown Worthington history walk features snapshots of city's past