On March 30, 1803, the Ohio government authorized the creation of Franklin County. The county originally was part of
Ross County. Residents named the county in honor of
Benjamin Franklin. In 1816, Franklin County's Columbus became Ohio's state
capital. Surveyors laid out the city in 1812, and officials incorporated it in 1816. Columbus was not Ohio's original capital, but the state legislature chose to move the state government there after its location for a short time at
Chillicothe and at
Zanesville. Columbus was chosen as the site for the new capital because of its central location within the state and access by way of major transportation routes (primarily rivers) at that time. The legislature chose it as Ohio's capital over a number of other competitors, including
Franklinton,
Dublin,
Worthington, and
Delaware. On May 5, 1802, a group of prospective settlers founded the Scioto Company at the home of Rev. Eber B. Clark in
Granby, Connecticut, for the purpose of forming a settlement between the
Muskingum River and
Great Miami River in the
Ohio Country.
James Kilbourne was elected president and Josiah Topping secretary. On August 30, 1802, James Kilbourne and Nathaniel Little arrived at Colonel
Thomas Worthington's home in Chillicothe. They tentatively reserved land along the
Scioto River on the
Pickaway Plains for their new settlement. On October 5, 1802, the Scioto Company met again in Granby and decided not to purchase the lands along the Scioto River on the Pickaway Plains, but rather to buy land farther north from Jonas Stanbery and his partner, an
American Revolutionary War general,
Jonathan Dayton. were purchased along the Whetstone River (now known as the
Olentangy River) at $1.50 per acre. This land was part of the
United States Military District surveyed by
Israel Ludlow in 1797 and divided into townships square. Before the state legislature's decision in 1812,
Columbus did not exist. The city was originally designed as the state's new capital, preparing itself for its role in Ohio's political, economic, and social life. In the years between the first ground-breaking and the actual movement of the capital in 1816, Columbus and Franklin County grew significantly. By 1813, workers had built a
penitentiary, and by the following year, residents had established the first church, school, and newspaper in Columbus. Workers completed the
Ohio Statehouse in 1861. Columbus and Franklin County grew quickly in population, with the city having 700 people by 1815. Columbus officially became the county seat in 1824. By 1834, the population of Columbus was 4,000 people, officially elevating it to "city" status. ==Geography==