Merry Makers Club Marks 100 Years
Published on March 03, 2026
Franklin County Board of Commissioners
They were founded because they had to be. In 1926, a group of young Black men who had graduated from East High School in Columbus were not permitted to socialize with their white classmates. They built their own space. They called it the Merry Makers Club, and they have kept it going for 100 years.
On March 3, the Franklin County Board of Commissioners recognized the club's centennial with a formal resolution and welcomed club members to the dais.
The Merry Makers has never grown beyond 35 members. That constraint has always been intentional. The club is not trying to scale. It is trying to sustain quality, purpose, and presence. In a century shaped by war, depression, civil rights struggle, and ongoing community change, those 35 slots have produced an outsized impact.
The club has endowed scholarships at Ohio State University, Columbus State Community College, and the Columbus College of Art & Design. But as club president Dr. George Barnett and club parliamentarian Bo Chilton explained to commissioners, the scholarships are not designed to recruit students. They are designed to finish what students started.
"We're not trying to attract students," Chilton told the Board. "We're trying to work with the students who are already there but need a little help getting to the finish line."
That philosophy drives the club's current campaign: March to the Million. The goal is to raise $1 million in endowed scholarship funds across the three institutions. The club is already halfway there, with $500,000 raised and a matching gift at Ohio State that doubles every dollar donated. The centennial celebration is scheduled for August 29 at the Hilton Downtown.
Commissioner Boyce, who said he held his first political event at a Merry Makers gathering, not an endorsement, just a community conversation, put it plainly: the scholarships are one thing, but the underlying message the club sends to the community about responsibility, legacy, and doing bigger things is what defines the Merry Makers.
The Merry Makers are halfway to a million and 100 years into a mission. Both are still going.