Working to save the Historic Wells Sherman House

For the past several months, a dedicated group of Kent citizens has been meeting on an almost weekly basis to work toward saving the Historic Wells Sherman House in Kent. The question I most often hear from people when they talk to me about it is, "Why wasn't this house identified sooner? What took you so long to find out what it was?" This is a good and valid question, and my answer to that is that, like most older homes and buildings in Kent, we tend to take them for granted until they are threatened with demolition. I had known for years that this old house didn't architecturally fit with the rest of the houses on Erie Street and that it was doubtless much older than the rest of them, but I never stopped to ask myself why. I just always assumed that it had been built there sometime in the 19th century. I knew from my understanding of architectural history that this house was of Greek Revival style and that this was popular in the mid 19th century, but it never occurred to me to firmly date the house until it became apparent that it might be torn down. It was when the house was suddenly threatened that several of us leaped into action to save it, and it all started with a Facebook discussion between myself and several other local history buffs. 

Now that a group has been formed and has been meeting for several months to work toward the goal of saving the house, I have learned a great deal about the process of historic preservation and how it is done. To say it is not easy is an understatement, as the whole process has been a series of ups and downs that for me has occasionally strained my patience. But if I have learned anything throughout the 55 years I have been on this earth, it is that nothing good ever came easy. While our hard work on saving the house continues even as of this writing, things are looking better all the time. We have identified our choice for a new site for this historic house, a small lot on North Water Street between Scribbles Coffee and the Standing Rock Cultural Arts building. I think it's kind of neat to return the house to the street on which it was originally built 154 years ago (for those not in the know, the house originally stood at the Northeast corner of South Water and Erie Streets, where the 157 Lounge now stands). We still have a long way to go to make our hopes for the house a reality, but we've inched that much closer by identifying a site for its new home that meets with a careful criteria that we worked on for months. We were forced to work with a fairly short time frame due to the anticipated vacation of Erie Street to construct the Esplanade, so we didn't have as much time as we would have liked to locate the new site for the house, but we are satisfied that the one we have chosen will be the best one for the city and its people as a way to save this historic 1858 house for future generations to enjoy. 

For those who have expressed dismay at our choice, I can only say this: we worked with a lengthy list of potential sites at the very outset of the process. We made spreadsheets of cost analysis for each one based on factors like moving of overhead utilities, distance of move, ownership and cost of land, practicality of repurposing based on each site and more. We had many criteria to consider as we worked our way down our list while making many phone calls and e-mails to people we would need to involve in each site. We've worked very hard with the City of Kent, the Downtown Kent Developers Corporation, the Kent Historical Society and Kent State University as they have assisted us with many resources they have available. Their assistance has been invaluable in helping us to determine the best site for the house, and we thank their generosity for their time and resources. It is most sincerely appreciated. We look forward to a continued relationship with the officials with whom we have been working so diligently for the past few months. We could not have gotten as far as we have without their valuable time and assistance. This is what makes living in Kent so special, knowing that we live in a town where people will come together to do the right thing, and in this case, all of the parties mentioned have risen to the occasion to help us to save this valuable part of Kent history so that future generations will know a bit more about our past. For that, I am extremely grateful.