president in the Jefferson administration. Once Thomas Bull and his family settled the land and began to farm, they were faced with a mighty problem. Namely, there was no one else around— nowhere they could easily go to buy shoes, have blacksmith or carpentry work done—they were isolated. This isolation made the management of a 600-acre farm difficult at best. In an attempt to draw others to the area and lessen the isolation of their farm, the Bulls built businesses in the center of Clinton Township, along the plank toll road that later became North High Street, the main north–south thoroughfare connecting Columbus to Worthington, Ohio to the north. They offered to give these buildings away to any skilled laborers who would stay. A post office designated "Clintonville" opened in the center of this district on September 13, 1847, and this date is marked by present-day Clintonville residents as the neighborhood's "birthday". By the early 1900s, downtown Columbus residents and professors from Ohio State University had built summer homes in Clintonville and the surrounding farmland was developed into housing developments shortly after the extension of the streetcar lines northward from Columbus. A business district developed in Beechwold, separated by nearly a mile of residences from the Clintonville district to the south. Both communities were entirely part of Columbus by the 1950s after it annexed most of Clinton Township. Governance Clintonville is part of the City of Columbus and is therefore governed by the City of Columbus. Because Columbus City Council does not use a ward system of representative government (all members of City Council are elected at large) the city created a series of Area Commissions to act in an advisory capacity to the city in reviewing zoning, variance, and demolition requests. The Clintonville and Beechwold neighborhoods, along with other Columbus neighborhoods are represented by the Clintonville Area Commission. The nine district-representative commissioners of the commission are nominated by neighborhood elections—with the commissioners being subsequently subject to appointment by the Columbus mayor and affirmation by the Columbus City Council. The Old Beechwold subdivision is further subject to an architectural review process. Since 2004, residents along the southern ridge of Glen Echo Ravine have been seeking to have their neighborhood represented by the Clintonville Area Commission rather than by the University Area Commission, citing the view that their needs more closely match those of Clintonville residents than those of the University