The community of Forest Park consists of almost 2900 private residential properties, plus apartments, condominiums, commercial properties, city-owned parks and schools, in approximately 1.4sqmi of the Northland area of northeast Columbus, Ohio. These properties adjoin a total of 132 distinct streets and courts maintained by the City of Columbus. The community's approximate center is near the intersection of Karl Road and Sandalwood Place in Columbus.HistoryThe region that includes Forest Park was originally awarded by President John Adams to James Hamilton in payment for his military service during the Revolutionary War. The land was subsequently sold, subdivided, and used primarily as farmland well into the 20th century.Forest Park was developed beginning in the late 1950s by the Metzger Brothers Company, founded in 1955. Metzger Brothers, which was dissolved in 1980, also developed Devonshire and several other communities in the Northland area. During this period, the city of Columbus expanded significantly by way of annexation beyond its 1950 boundaries. The construction of the North Freeway (a segment of Interstate 71) immediately west of Forest Park stimulated new residential and commercial development in the area.The majority of homes in Forest Park West (west of Karl Road) were built in the 1960s. In the early years of the decade, it was the site of a Parade of Homes. Forest Park West's development largely coincided with the construction and expansion of the Northland Mall, which opened as the first shopping mall in Columbus in 1964 and was a significant contributor to employment and the area economy for 38 years. The Mall closed in 2002 and a new retail and government complex, Northland Village, is being developed on the site. The aircraft manufacturing facilities of North American Aviation, later known as North American Rockwell and Rockwell International, near Port Columbus also employed many residents of Forest Park and nearby communities during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. These facilities closed in 1988.
