Ben Sells Thompson, 1918

Ben Sells Thompson, one of the founders of Upper Arlington, was born in Georgetown, Ohio in 1879. As a young man, he moved to Mansfield and worked in the hardware business. Later he attended the engineering college at The Ohio State University. In 1907, Ben joined his brother, King Thompson, in the real estate business. In 1913, Ben Thompson and his brother, King, purchased 840 acres of land from James Terrell Miller to develop an "ideal residential community for Columbus." The land appealed to the Thompsons as a residential site because of its location on high ground, its proximity to both downtown Columbus and The Ohio State University campus, and its position upwind from larger cities. The beautiful land that was once a "well-managed, immaculately kept, working farm" was subdivided into 2500 lots. In 1914 the King Thompson Company was formed to sell this new community to the public. In August of 1914, laborers and teams of horses were hired by the Thompson brothers to construct the first street, named Roxbury Road, leading into this pristine new subdivision. Ben Thompson's home, located on Cambridge Boulevard, was completed in 1916. In 1917, the Upper Arlington Company was established, with King Thompson as president and Ben Thompson as vice president, to manage the streets, sewers, and water lines. Ben Thompson also served as president of the Northwest Boulevard Company, which deeded the land that was eventually used to construct Northwest Boulevard. This road, known by many Upper Arlington residents as a crucial step in the development of the village, provided a convenient route from Upper Arlington directly to downtown Columbus. On March 20, 1918 the village of Upper Arlington, with two hundred residents, was incorporated. Before the establishment of a police force, Ben Thompson was elected to the "high office of Marshal of Upper Arlington" for which he took no salary. Ben and King Thompson were very active in the life of their new community, entertaining residents, sponsoring athletic competitions, and organizing holiday activities for the families. Ben Thompson was a member of the first Village Commission, an appointed member of the Upper Arlington Park Board, and served as treasurer of the Men's Brotherhood, predecessor of the Upper Arlington Civic Association. Ben Thompson later accepted a secretarial position with the Y.M.C.A., and was stationed overseas in that capacity. Ben Thompson was married to the former Catherine Pinney, of Flint, Ohio, and the couple resided at 1919 Cambridge Boulevard. Mrs. Thompson served as chairwoman of the Upper Arlington Red Cross Unit, established in 1917, which met weekly to socialize, as well as to sew towels, hospital clothes, and bandages in their contribution to the war effort. In addition to his work in real estate, Ben Thompson was an outdoorsman who enjoyed baseball, hunting and fishing. Ben once gave a "short and very interesting account of his northern hunting trip and the methods and difficulties encountered in bagging a grizzly bear." This image available online at the UA Archives >> Read the related "Norwester" magazine article at the UA Archives >> ---------------------------------------- Identifier: hinw12p024i01 Date (yyyy-mm-dd): c. 1918-10 Original Dimensions: 3.3 cm x 6.4 cm Format: Black and White Halftone Photograph Source: Norwester, October 1918, page 24 Original Publisher: Upper Arlington Community (Ohio) Location/s: Upper Arlington (USA, Ohio, Franklin County) Repository: Upper Arlington Historical Society Digital Publisher: Upper Arlington Public Library, UA Archives Credit: UA Archives - Upper Arlington Public Library (Repository: UA Historical Society)