2020-07-02 – So Columbus, Ohio took down the statue of Christopher Columbus. Is that the end of it? He’s still commemorated in the city name.
Here’s my recommendation for their new name: Armstrong, Ohio.
When I first heard about the statue take-down I joked that they should rename the city after Woody Hayes, the guy who coached Ohio State football at the time I was a student there. But then another name crossed my mind: Neil Armstrong, the one-small-step-for-a-man-one-giant-leap-for-mankind guy, the first human to set foot on the moon.
Armstrong, Ohio.
Like Columbus, Armstrong was a world-changing explorer. Unlike Columbus, Armstrong was actually born and lived in Ohio.
And, as far as I can tell, Neil Armstrong lacks the genocidal baggage of old Chris.
I grew up in Dayton. One of the great points of pride for a Daytonian (and for all Ohioans) was that the Wright brothers lived there. We were the birthplace of aviation.
Ohioans can also take great pride that one of ours flew on Apollo 11 to Tranquility Base on the surface of the moon. It was a time when science led America to great achievements.
Could there be a better name for the capital of Ohio?
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Neil Armstrong wrote a nice introduction to the paperback edition of Dava Sobel’s book Longitude, which tells how John Harrison constructed clocks that enabled ships to accurately calculate their longitude. In the introduction, Neil mentions his youth in Ohio and how inaccurate watches were in those days. He seemed to have a wonderfully positive, adventurous spirit. Maybe the statue of Columbus could be replaced with one of Armstrong.