Salzgaber Farmhouse

In the late 19th century the Grandview Heights/Marble Cliff area was grazing land, woodland, a few summer homes on the river, and farms. One of the original homes in the area was the farmhouse built by the Clarence and Mary Salzgaber family.  

Their produce farm was located on the east side of Grandview Avenue and the family sold vegetables to the North Market, Central Market, and local farmer's market on Grandview Avenue. Salzgaber was president of the Columbus Vegetable Growers Association. In the early 1900s, the land east and south of Grandview Avenue played an important part in the food market that supplied Franklin County. The members of the Columbus Vegetable Growers Association marketed approximately $400,000 worth of vegetables annually. Salzgaber, living on his farm with his wife Mary and family, was one of the 126 "truck farmers" in Franklin County. These farmers farmed over 2000 acres, producing fresh vegetables for the Columbus area.

The Salzgabers originally built a 2-room house shortly after their marriage in 1885. The Salzgaber’s 2-room house was razed in the 1960s; condominiums built in 2007 on Grandview Avenue are located where that original house once stood.

to accommodate their growing family, the Salzgabers built a large 8-room farmhouse in 1904 which still stands on the property. Three generations of the Salzgaber family lived in the farmhouse and worked the farm until 1916 when it was sold to King Thompson's Northwest Boulevard Co. The Salzgaber farm lands were subdivided into what is now Grandview Heights east of Grandview Avenue. The Salzgabers moved to farm lands north (near what is now the Lane Avenue Shopping Center in Upper Arlington) where they continued their farming business.

In the 1980s and 90s, the farmhouse was occupied by the Tri Village Studio photography business. The farmhouse was placed on the Columbus Landmarks Foundation’s list of Most Endangered Buildings in 2015 when a planned commercial development would have required demolishing the farmhouse. The demolition was averted, and the farmhouse is once again a single family residence.   

Note:  This stop is a private residence. Please respect the owner's privacy and observe the residence from public access points only.  

Original Salzgaber 2-room farmhouse; porch and roofline of their larger (still standing) home is visible in background.   

Truck farmer Clarence Salzgaber in the side yard of his new Lane Avenue farmhouse.

Logo for Tri Village Studio, a photography business, which was located in the Salzgaber farmhouse in the 1980s and 90s.