Biohazard Cleanup Near Beechview Worthington, OH

Worthington is a city in Franklin County, Ohio, founded in 1803 by the Scioto Company of Connecticut settlers led by James Kilbourne, and named in honor of Thomas Worthington, who later became governor of Ohio.

Worthington's founders bought 16,000 acres along the Whetstone River (now the Olentangy River) for $1.50 per acre in 1802, and the village was laid out around a 5-acre public green with 160 town lots.

Ezra Griswold, who traveled to the site by ox-cart, is officially Worthington's first settler, arriving ahead of the other Scioto Company families in the fall of 1803.

Worthington's commercial building at 679-681 High Street, erected by James Kilbourne in 1808, is the oldest commercial building in continuous use in the state of Ohio.

President James Monroe visited Worthington in 1817, and that same year Philander Chase arrived as the first rector of St. John's Episcopal Church; Chase went on to found Kenyon College, which he initially established in Worthington.

President Abraham Lincoln's funeral train passed through Worthington on April 29, 1865, on its way to the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus.

The Pontifical College Josephinum, described as the only Roman Catholic pontifical college outside of Italy, relocated to just north of Worthington in 1931.

Worthington had 14,786 residents at the 2020 census, living in 5,866 households, and Census Bureau figures for 2020-2024 put its owner-occupied housing rate at a high 82.6% with a median owner-occupied home value of $440,500.

Worthington is completely surrounded by the city of Columbus, forming an enclave together with the neighboring village of Riverlea.

Worthington's public school district operates two high schools, Thomas Worthington High School and Worthington Kilbourne High School, and its first high school class graduated back in 1880.