Trustees say there are no plans to get rid of the structure, but a sale is not out of the question, especially in a time when budgets are shrinking and the cost to move it or to update the property would be cost prohibitive.
That is not something the historical society, which has spent thousands of dollars to help restore the property to its original state in 1900, wants to hear.
“All this development that’s going on, you try to save some things — and you think you have — but, now you don’t know what’s going to happen to them,” Historical Society President Mary Jo Bicknell said. “It could easily be here one day and gone the next.”
The fear of losing the building was not an issue, she said, until November when the historical society was asked to relocate from it to the former Union Elementary School. Members immediately saw it as a threat to the future of the building they have made into their labor of love.
Township officials say people have looked at the property, but there have been no offers to buy the historic site, and the relocation had nothing to do with the fate of the building, but rather for the safety of the artifacts stored there. The new facility has better parking and handicap accessibility.
If a prospective buyer offered to preserve the historic building, Trustee George Lang said he would consider the offer. Lee Wong said it isn’t an issue at the moment, but if it came to a vote, he would do what he deemed best for the township.
Trustee President Catherine Stoker warned that one owner’s promise to preserve the property doesn’t mean future owners would follow suit. Her desire is to protect the landmark, but “I worry that I could be outvoted, and we might lose that building forever, and I think that would be a tragic loss for the community.”
Historical Society has new home
WEST CHESTER TWP. — As Mary Jo Bicknell, president of the West Chester/Union Township Historical Society was unpacking boxes Monday in a classroom of the former Union Elementary, she carefully pulled out a 49-star flag.
It used to hang prominently in what she believes to be Butler County’s only restored two-room school house, before the society was asked to relocate its artifacts to a classroom at the former Union Elementary on Cincinnati Dayton Road.
The new space has more parking, handicap accessibility and locked storage capabilities to protect artifacts that could have been damaged by visitors of the other facility, according to township officials.
But the move was unpopular with many of the society’s 40 members, Bicknell said. Their organization spent more than $10,000 of fundraising money to help restore the brick building to its original design from 1900 and had visions of making the school a destination for elementary students to learn about local and state history.
But the fate of the building they had hoped would become a community landmark and gathering place once more parking was added, Vice President Jerry Koehne said, ultimately is in the hands of township trustees.
In these tough economic times, he said, he fears the building could be sold and then share the same fate as a one-room school house razed a dozen years ago during the expansion of Cox and Tylersville roads. Members haven’t soon forgotten the promises initially made to move the building to Voice of America Park. For financial reasons, that didn’t happen.
The concern, he said, is that the building generates no revenue at a time when officials want to be fiscally conservative. The small historical society has limited funds and cannot afford to pay to mow the lawn, add new parking and maintain the building.
“This is really a dear treasure in the township,” he said.
Trustee President Catherine Stoker agreed.
“I think it’s a wonderful treasure for the township, because it represents an era of settlement and growth of this township,” she said. The move of the historical society was for its best interests, she said, and they can still meet in the building if they wish. The move had nothing to do with plans to get rid of the building, she said, and no plans are in the works to sell it.
However, Stoker said she shares their concern for the fate of the landmark should it be sold down the road.
The building, however, is not the only two-room schoolhouse left in Ohio, and is not listed among records of historic sites.
Ideally, the property would be developed to allow more public access, or the structure would be moved to a park, she said. But “during this time of extreme economic distress its hard to justify putting any significant of money into it at this time,” Stoker said.
Trustee George Lang called the property an “under performing asset.”
“Based on revue that is generated, we can’t even afford to mow the grass on the facility,” he said.
The township needs to find a way to make it profitable, like Muhlhauser Barn which was moved to an area park and is rented to the public, he said.
However, he said, the sale to someone committed to preserving the historic building wouldn’t be ruled out as a future option if an interested buyer came forward.
“I think it’s a pretty valuable piece of land,” Lang said. “The piece of acreage it sits on is just beautiful.”
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