Columbus Neighborhoods
Soapbox Derby Memories: Grandview Avenue Races of the 1940s & 50s
Season 8 Episode 27 | 1m 17sVideo has Closed Captions
In the 1940s and 1950s, Grandview Hill was the heart of Soapbox Derby racing in Columbus.
In the 1940s and 1950s, Grandview Hill in Grandview Heights was the heart of Soapbox Derby racing in Columbus, where young racers sped down Grandview Avenue to Riverside Drive. With minimal adult supervision, these hand-built racers, costing no more than $10, brought community excitement to the area. T
Columbus Neighborhoods is a local public television program presented by WOSU
Columbus Neighborhoods
Soapbox Derby Memories: Grandview Avenue Races of the 1940s & 50s
Season 8 Episode 27 | 1m 17sVideo has Closed Captions
In the 1940s and 1950s, Grandview Hill in Grandview Heights was the heart of Soapbox Derby racing in Columbus, where young racers sped down Grandview Avenue to Riverside Drive. With minimal adult supervision, these hand-built racers, costing no more than $10, brought community excitement to the area. T
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship>>> This is a photograph of 12-year-old Jerry Chubb having his soapbox derby racer weighed in, inspected behind the municipal building in Grandview.
The races used to take place in the 40s and 50s on Grandview Hill, as they called it, and they would race down Grandview Avenue until they got to Riverside Drive.
The Soapbox Derby races started here in Columbus in 1934.
The racers were only allowed to have minimal adult supervision while building their races, and they could cost no more than $10 to build.
After that, there was finally a permanent racetrack built in 1967 at Big Run Park, and the races have been held there ever since.
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Ohio Snapshots in Time is produced by WOSU Public Media in partnership with the staff of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.
Columbus Neighborhoods is a local public television program presented by WOSU