Petitioners Buy Time for House with Historic Ties to Kent

The wrecking crews have been called off — for now — for a house some in the Kent community say has significant ties to the city's history.

Officials at Kent State University and the city are reviewing the possible historic significance of the house at 250 E. Erie St. after one Kent resident sparked a social movement online to save it from demolition.

The house, dubbed the Sherman House, stands in the path of from campus towards downtown, and to make way for the new pathway. Construction on the Esplanade is scheduled to start this spring.

The campaign, started by Kent resident Sally Burnell, urges the university to save the building and possibly turn it into a visitor's center for Kent State.

Kent State spokesperson Emily Vincent said the city and university are partnering to determine the historic value of the house, which the university bought in 2010.

"We are sensitive to and appreciate the interest in this house should it have any historical significance to the city," she said. "We want to be good neighbors, and we are not going to do anything to the house until we further investigate it."

Historically significant?

In an online petition to save the Sherman House, Burnell states it was built in 1853 for a daughter of Zenas Kent, who was an early settler in the city and for whose son, Marvin, the city adopted the family's last name. The Record-Courier reported, based largely on old newspaper articles and other accounts, that the house was later owned by Dr. Aaron M. Sherman, who was a prominent local physician and Civil War veteran.

Vincent said the university consulted experts at the Ohio Historic Preservation Office about numerous houses in the path of the Esplanade.

"The city and the university are not aware of any historical significance of the house located at 250 E. Erie Street," Vincent said in an email sent Friday. She said the house was determined ineligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

Despite its ineligibility, Kent City Manager Dave Ruller said the city is working with university officials to try and verify the house's historic nature.

"The interior and exterior walls have been covered over, (so) the university offered to selectively remove some of the exterior vinyl siding or interior drywall to see what lies underneath," Ruller told members of Kent City Council last week. "If this was Zenas' house, we should be able to find some appropriately dated material under the siding or perhaps in the walls."

Tom Hatch, administrator for the , said he believes the house has historic significance to Kent based on the prominent residents who once lived there.

But Hatch said the actual structure's historic value may not be as evident.

"I suspect that it’s historic value has been significantly diminished because it was moved in 1924 and substantially renovated at that time, and it’s been a rental business for many years," he said. "Historic preservation is very important, and it’s important to the historical society. But historical preservation really starts with ongoing care of the properties that people own, and respect for those properties."

The university bought the house for $225,000 in 2010 from Frank Hornyak, who bought it in 1995. Hornyak operated it as a rental house and licensed it with the city for such purposes.

The house was registered as a licensed rooming house with Kent as far back as 1978, according to records. The most recent license issued in 2011 permitted a maximum six tenants in the house.

The house's historic relevance so far seems to only have been confirmed anecdotally.

Burnell said she would like to see research done at various Portage County offices, such as the auditor's office and tax map office, to try and find air-tight proof that the house has historic provenance.

"If someone with the time is willing and able to do that, it would be most appreciated," she said.

Potential options

Kent State is willing to sell the house for $1 to an interested buyer for relocation if it's determined to have any historical value, Vincent said.

Much would need to happen before relocation could take place.

Land would need to be bought or donated so the house could be moved from the Esplanade site. And the city's chief building official, Robert Nitzsche, must inspect the house first to determine if it's structurally sound enough to withstand a move. The cost to move the house is estimated at as much as $35,000.

Ruller said the university might be willing to provide a temporary location for the house.

"Because we have to stay on track with the planned timing of the Esplanade project the house may need to be moved twice unless a permanent site can be found quickly," Ruller said. "Fortunately, once the house is moved the first time it would be set on blocks, and any second move would be much cheaper."

One member of council suggested possibly moving it to one of the city's parks, as was done with the Old Jail at the on Middlebury Road.

Burnell said she agrees with one suggestion to make the house a visitor's center incorporated into the Esplanade project.

"After all, if this house is indeed what we all think it is, then Kent State's history is a part of it, too," Burnell said. "Zenas Kent's grandson William donated his farm for the site of what we now know as Kent State University. So this house is irretrievably linked to both the history of Kent and Kent State."

Kent's changing landscape

The university already moved one house that was in the path of the Esplanade to save it from the wrecking ball.

In February, the former home of May H. Prentice, ’s first female faculty member, from 128 S. Willow St.

It wasn't the first historic structure in Kent to be saved in light of in the past three years.

Prominent restoration efforts in Kent include the historical society's last year to create a permanent museum of the city's history. And the most recent example is Ron Burbick's efforts to .

Burnell said she laments other losses either to wrecking crews or fire — such as — and she believes the Sherman House should be saved from a similar fate.

"I do hope that, at the end of the day, we can save one of the last vestiges of early Kent history from the wrecking ball," she said.

If nothing else, Hatch said he wants to see the stories and images of the house that have appeared in recent weeks documented for preservation's sake.

"We can collect the stories about it that people have been telling in the last couple of weeks, and we can make sure that we collect those stories, that we preserve the stories and that we tell the stories," he said. "What’s going on in Kent in terms of rebuilding is a very positive thing. Yes, we have lost 61 structures, but I suspect that many of those structures, their useful life is over."