Franklin county is located in central Ohio and is the home county for the state capital, Columbus, which is also the county seat. The county population on July 1, 1999, was 1,027,821, an increase of 66,384 over the 1990 census.
Nearly 300 sites, buildings and other structures in the county are listed in the National Register of Historic Places including Fort Hayes, German Village, the Capt. Edward V. Rickenbacker House and the James Thurber House in Columbus, the Groveport Log Houses in the southeast county area and Towers Hall on the campus of Otterbein College in Westerville just north of Columbus.