The Columbus Jewish Historical Society

Around 1940, Martin Godofsky opened a grocery store at 1381 E. Livingston Avenue at Ellsworth Avenue in the Driving Park neighborhood of Columbus. During the 1940s, Driving Park was the main Jewish neighborhood in Columbus, and Martin’s thrived as a source of kosher meats as well as general grocery items. The store was also a gathering place for women in the community. Many women did not work outside the home after having children, and they needed to go the grocery store several times a week because refrigerators — which had only recently become common items in most kitchens — had small storage capacities. This store was closed in 1952 after Godofsky opened a new location on E. Broad Street at Chesterfield Road, just east of Bexley, joining much of the Jewish community which was moving out of Driving Park. The building at Livingston and Ellsworth is still standing today. Martin’s moved in 1970 to its final location at E. Broad Street and Maplewood Avenue in Whitehall. Today at the Broad and Maplewood location is a Kroger’s that contains the area’s only kosher butcher shop.