Westerville

First settled in 1806 by Edward Phelps and his friend, Issac Griswold, and later named Westerville after the Westervelt family, in part due to their generous land donations. This town still retains its picturesque 1800’s charm with its shops, churches, and restaurants in the original buildings of that era. Many homes from the pre-civil-war era through the 1920’s have been lovingly renovated by their owners in this college-town atmosphere. Westerville is well known for its role in the Temperance Movement and became the headquarters of the Anti-Saloon League. Some of the older homes were safe-havens for runaway slaves striving to hide and assimilate into a community of free African Americans. Some of these homes are on Africa Road, now part of Alum State Creek State Park. Westerville is only 10 miles Northeast of downtown Columbus and is home to Otterbein College. In 2000, Westerville was voted the “Best Place to Raise a Family” in central Ohio by Columbus Parent magazine.