Levy Avenue of Flags

The "Park" is primarily a row of 50 flag poles flying flags of City of Columbus and State of Ohio along a sidewalk between Broad St and Town St. Sidewalk and flagpoles are between the curb of Civic Center Drive and the balustrade above the east bank of the Scioto River. Park is a connector between Battelle Park at the north and Bicentennial Park to the south. The Lower Scioto Greenway Trail uses this walkway as part of the trail. Flowering trees and benches are spaced along the sidewalk of this downtown riverfront Park. Walkway provides excellent overlook area of the Scioto river and the westbank park, amphitheater and COSI.

 The Avenue of Flags was developed in 1967 at a cost of $600,000. Originally, the flag for each state was flown on each of the 50 flagpoles, but in recent years only the Ohio State flag and the City of Columbus flag alternate along the row of poles. Each flagpole has a plaque with a State's name, State's capitol and the date of it's admission to the Union. The plaques are placed on the poles in the order in which they joined the Union, with the first state, Delaware, at the north end, and the last State, Hawaii, at the south end. Flags are flown from Memorial Day to November. Seasonal and special occasional flags are flown at other times.

Park was renamed and dedicated the "Robert K. Levy, Sr. Avenue of Flags", on June 29, 1990. A plaque on site (near Broad St) reads "DEDICATED IN MEMORY OF ROBERT K LEVY SR. FIRST CHAIRMAN OF THE DOWNTOWN AREA COMMITTEE AND ORIGINATOR OF THE IDEA FOR A RIVERFRONT AVENUE OF FLAGS. MR. LEVY WAS A CHAMPION OF DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT BY HIS SUPPORT OF OFF-STREET PARKING PROGRAMS, THE INNERBELT CONSTRUCTION PROJECT AND RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT". Mr Levy was head of The Union Co., a family-owned clothing store in Columbus, that his father, S.M. Levy, started in 1894. Mr. Levy died in 1976.

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