Columbus, Indiana

Columbus is a small town in south central Indiana that is known as a giant in the architectural world, and the headquarters of Cummins, Inc.  The idea of building modern structures to last generations began in 1942 when First Christian Church became the first contemporary building in Columbus. 

We parked at the Visitor’s Center near downtown, where we picked up a tour map.  We were fortunate to find street parking for the RV and had to be content with a walking tour of the many sites offered from there.

First up was the First Christian Church that inspired the move toward the modernistic approach that would define the city.


Nearby is St. Peter’s Lutheran Church.


The Commons is located downtown.  The lower level contains a food court and an awesome playground for the kids, including this vertical maze.


The Eos statue faces Mill Race Park.  Unfortunately park access was denied us by road work … the entire street we needed to cross was covered in tar!


Zaharakos has been serving ice cream from the same location since 1900.  One side of the parlor is now a museum highlighting their history.  Parties can still be scheduled within the museum.


Cummins corporate headquarters are located here, on the site where flaked corn was first produced by Cerealine Manufacturing.  They have a beautiful campus and will pay the design fee for new construction that continues to place Columbus in the top of the nations architectural cities.


The lobby contains a display of Cummins history including an ‘exploded’ engine.


After walking all morning it’s getting to be lunch time.  Being from San Diego I had to try the fish tacos at The Garage.

Definitely not Baja style with the pickled carrots, but very tasty.

The final stop was a return to the Visitor’s Center to view the yellow glass chandelier and sculptures that we missed hours before.




Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio this weekend …