It's a town of less than 50,000 people located about 30 miles south of Indianapolis. However, it often has made lists of the nation's top cities for architectural treasures.
It seems that the Cummins Engine Company dominates the local economy, and management wanted to do something for the city. It set up a trust fund around 70 years ago to pay for top architects to come to Columbus and design public buildings such as schools, offices and parks.
It seems to have worked. Some of the best work is concentrated on Fifth Street, also called "The Avenue of the Architects." Other buildings are scattered around the city, most concentrated in downtown. The list includes Eliel and Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, Richard Meier and Robert Venturi. We're talking some heavyweights of the business here.
As you'd expect, plenty of people come here just to walk around. One of the sites if the Veterans Memorial, shown here. What makes this particularly haunting is that the memorial has portions of letters home from military personnel ... just before they died. It's a wonderful idea, particularly in a small city like this one.
I'd like to post 25 photos here, but this video will have to take its place:
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