Introduction
Elmer and Lydia Goins operated the 23-room Goins Hotel—a boarding house—from 1928 to 1946. Lydia passed away in 1945, and Elmer continued running the business until the following year. The hotel building had originally been constructed as an addition to the Griffith Building, which was demolished in 1924. The Goins Hotel itself was razed in 1955 to make way for a drive-up window for the First National Bank. In 2023, the site was reimagined as A Carousel for Columbus, an Exhibit Columbus project designed to create an outdoor gathering space along Fourth Street.
Above Black Heritage Trail Goins Hotel bronze sidewalk marker
In March 1865, agricultural entrepreneurs and prominent businessman Randolph Griffith, together with the first Francis Crump, founded a national bank, which would be the cause of construction for a building that would later house the Goins Hotel.
Construction was planned for the southwest corner of Washington and Walnut Streets.
The map above is the earliest depiction of this site known at the time of writing. The Goins Hotel would be upper right, above number “40” on the map.
Above 1879, Illustrated Historical Atlas of Bartholomew County
The realization of the Goins Hotel is still far away in 1851, when Article 13 of the Indiana Constitution prohibited blacks from settling in the state, so many fled to states farther North, with many in Columbus fleeing to Minnesota in particular. Some historians describe Indiana during this era as a “contested territory” rather than a true free state.
Article 13 was legalized over a decade later, in 1865.
Above Left Cover image of the 1851 Constitution of the State of Indiana. Above Right Four-section transcript from Article 13 from the 1851 Constitution
By 1866, the First National Bank reportedly moved operations to Fourth Street, near the alley east of Washington, once a vault and basic office were completed. This means they started construction in these upper right shopfronts, along the alley, which would later house the hotel.
A Sanborn Map from 1886 is color-coded, with blue being the first addition and green the second.
By 1866, the First National Bank reportedly moved operations to Fourth Street, near the alley east of Washington, once a vault and basic office were completed. This means they started construction in these upper right shopfronts, along the alley, which would later house the hotel.
Above A Sanborn Map from 1886 is color-coded, with blue being the first addition and green the second.
Property deeds list construction completion in 1869. Given the long construction period of possibly four years, and the absence of a named architect in the National Register, it is likely the building was planned by a contractor rather than a formally accredited architect. Architect Charles Sparrell would lead renovation of this building 1884.
Above 1886 Bird’s Eye View of Columbus, Indiana, by J. Wallis Smith and published by Shober & Carqueville Litho Co. Courtesy of BCHS and special thanks to Tami Iorio.