page_title: Flytown
section_title: Decline
hierarchical_section_title: Flytown / Decline
caption_attribution_description: English: Interstate 670 Westbound at High St. Self made photo.
context_page_description: Flytown is a neighborhood just northwest of downtown Columbus encompassing portions of the present-day Arena District and western sections of the Victorian Village. In the 19th century, it was considered the center of the Irish-American community in the city after the arrival of immigrants fleeing the Great Famine, and Naghten Street, now Nationwide Boulevard, was nicknamed the "Irish Broadway".
context_section_description: The neighborhood, considered lower-class, was hit hard by the Great Depression, beginning a cycle of decline. By 1953, the Columbus Redevelopment Authority (CRA) declared the area blighted and a bond was passed to raze much of the neighborhood. The Goodale Expressway, which would eventually become Interstate 670, began construction, resulting in further destruction of the neighborhood as it cut through its heart.
  In total, 118 acres (0.48 km²) were cleared, 547 families, 71 individuals, and 73 commercial businesses displaced by the CRA's renewal project.
caption: Interstate 670 traveling west, with the Greek Orthodox Cathedral and the Short North Cap in the background.
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