German Village

German Village is a historic neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, just south of downtown. It was settled in the early-to-mid-19th century by a large number of German immigrants, who at one time comprised as much as a third of the city's entire population. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 30, 1974, becoming the list's largest privately funded preservation district, and in 2007, was made a Preserve America Community by the White House. On November 28, 1980, its boundaries increased, and today it is one of the world's premier historic restorations.

In 1796, Congress appropriated the Refugee Lands for Canadian province individuals who had supported the Colonial cause in the American Revolution. By 1802, an American Revolution veteran named John McGowan claimed 328 acres , most of what would become the German Village. As German immigrants arrived, McGowan sold tracts of land to them. By 1814, a settlement had grown up, originally called "Das Alte Südende" , and German immigrants contributed to building the first statehouse.

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