This appears to be the first of Josephine Park Cranston’s compositions describing a city. It seems clear that these were created while she was in school, but what school or year, I do not know. The actual letter is shown below.~ CCJ
A Description of Columbus
Columbus is the capital of the state of Ohio. It is situated on the bank of the Scioto river at the mouth of Whetstone river in Franklin county near the cent[er] of the state. It is a handsome laid out town. The streets are broad, the National road passes throug[h] it and there is a splendid bridge over the Scioto. There are a number of public buildings. There is a public squa[re] laid out in the center of the city for the state house, United States court-house and public Offices. There are three Asylums, one for the lunatics, one for the deaf an[d] dumb and one for the blind. The lunatic Asylum is very well finished inside. The Penitentiary is a very large stone building. It has at this time betwee[n] four and five hundred convicts. The county court-hous[e] and jail is a large and beautiful building. Columb[us] is a place of considerable business. There are a num[ber] of stores and warehouses and some handsome dwellin[gs]. The population is six thousand. North of the city there is a beautiful garden whare they cultivate all kinds of flowers, trees and shrubbery of every descript[ion].
Composition. No. 1st
Josephine P. Cranston
