Ohio Group Raises Cash To Move House
By Margaret Foster | From Preservation | Mar. 28, 2007
When the state of Ohio decided to widen a state highway, it bought a 19th-century house that was in the way, planning to demolish it this April.
The Italianate house, built c. 1870 in Alexandria, Ohio, for Union soldier and abolitionist Joseph Scott, was doomed until this month, when a grassroots group came up with enough money to move it.
"We raised $68,000 in five weeks," says Donna Herring, president of the Friends of Captain Scott Committee, which formed in October 2006. "There were a lot of people who thought we couldn't do it."
The group had a tight deadline: The Ohio Department of Transportation agreed to donate the Scott House to the Village of Alexandria if the structure was contracted to be moved by Mar. 16.
"I've driven by the house for years, from the time I was a child until now, and just always appreciated the architecture of the house," says Nelson Kohman, president of a Columbus-based engineering company, who donated $5,000 to the group. "Something needed to be done."
This week, a crew is preparing the Scott House for its relocation next month. A private business will lease a site for the building, which was occupied until last year. In the meantime, the committee is trying to raise another $12,000 to cover the rest of the $80,000 relocation cost.
After the house moves, the group will begin raising money for its restoration as a local museum and community center.
Just as its neighbors helped save it, neighbors will help restore it. A nearby technical college has offered to teach locals in week-long, hands-on workshops at the Scott House, which was occupied until last year. "They'll be learning a new skill that they can apply to their homes," Herring says. "Our housing stock really needs this in the village."
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