Just six blocks south of the Statehouse, I-70 separates downtown from the delightful German Village neighborhood. During the mid-nineteenth century, thousands of German immigrants settled in this part of Columbus, building neat redbrick homes, the most lavish of which surround the 23-acre Schiller Park . Their descendants, however, started leaving the area during World War I, and with Prohibition and World War II further depleting their numbers, few were left by the 1950s. The area, then known as the Old South End, soon became run-down, and by the 1960s the big corporations were eyeing it for office developments until a group of local preservationists, determined to save these gorgeous homes from the wrecker's ball, decided to designate the area as the German Village. They formed a preservation society, drew up a list of renovation guidelines for residents, and won a place on the National Register of Historic Places.

Today the eighteen-block village is the biggest privately funded body on that register, a professional residential district with a sizable gay community. The best way to explore its brick-paved streets, corner bars, old-style restaurants, Lutheran churches and grand homes is to call at the German Village Meeting Haus , 588 S 3rd St (April-Sept Mon-Fri 9am-4pm, Sat 10am-2pm; rest of year closed Sun), where popular walking tours run by the German Village Society start with a twelve-minute video presentation. The Society also oversees the immensely popular Haus und Garten Tour on the last Sunday in June, and the Oktoberfest celebrations in early September. The Village caters to book lovers; the Book Loft , 631 S 3rd St (daily 10am-11pm), crams its books, many of them discounted, into 32 rooms of a former residence.

Just across High Street (US-23) are the warehouses of the Brewery District , where, until Prohibition, the German immigrants brewed beer by traditional methods. Many of the original buildings still stand, but today the beer is produced by a handful of microbreweries such as Columbus Brewing Co , 525 Short St, which sometimes sets up free tours of the operation (by appointment, tel 614/224-3626). The area is also the focus of Columbus's more mainstream nightlife, with several restaurants, theme pubs, music venues and, inevitably, brewpubs.

German Village and Brewery District

• German Village and Brewery District

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