October 14, 2004

Historic house demolished, giving way to newer homes

By Diane Chiddister

Flames shot through the autumn sky Tuesday evening as one of Yellow Springs’ oldest homes was burned to the ground.

In a training exercise, Miami Township Fire-Rescue volunteers burned the small white house at Dayton and High Streets that had been owned by the Lawson family since the 1920s.

Purchased earlier this year by Home, Inc., the home was destroyed to make way for two affordable houses that will be built on the property, which has been split into two lots.

The decision to destroy the historic home was not an easy one, said Marianne MacQueen, the director of Home, Inc.

“Initially, I very much wanted to save the house. In general, we want to save houses rather than tear them down,” MacQueen said.

Home, Inc.’s research indicated that the home was built around 1860, and the group wanted to save the house because of its historic nature and because it had long been identified with the Lawson family. However, MacQueen said, after the group purchased the home, its contractors determined that the building was in much worse shape than previously thought. Home, Inc., then sought the opinions of additional contractors who agreed that the structure was not salvageable.

Home, Inc., plans to begin construction on the two new homes later this fall, MacQueen said. The organization has found buyers for the homes, both of whom are currently Yellow Springs residents, she said.

The project will be partially funded as part of a $399,628 grant the group received earlier this year from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.

The Dayton Street house had been empty for several years, according to Phyllis Lawson Jackson, who grew up in the home. Jackson said that her parents purchased the home from the Bynum family in 1921 and lived there until their deaths, her father in 1951 and her mother in 1979. The Lawson family then attempted to sell the house, but the deal fell through, and the family rented the home for many years before it finally sat empty, Jackson said.

Jackson has many fond memories of her childhood home, saying that the swing on its front porch was a “great spot for people watching.” She remembered the home and its nearby corner as a popular gathering spot for local children and young people, including those from the Benning, Cordell, Hamilton and Perry families, all of whom lived nearby during her childhood.

Though she has fond memories of the house, Jackson said she supports the decision to burn it down.

“I have no feelings about that,” she said. “I always felt it needed to be demolished and then rebuilt.”

Fire Chief Colin Altman said that burning the house offered the fire department a valuable training exercise.

“Our volunteers can see how a fire actually behaves. That’s extremely beneficial to us,” he said.

Altman said on Monday that about 20 volunteer firefighters would take part in the exercise, and that it would be the first time for many to experience an actual fire. While this is the third time this year the department has conducted a live fire-training exercise, previously Fire-Rescue went several years without any such training opportunities, he said.

The squad contacted neighbors earlier in the week to alert them to the fire, Altman said. He said that the training exercise would begin with firefighters setting and attempting to put out several small fires in the house, after which the house would be burned to the ground. To prepare for the fire, 16 Home, Inc., volunteers removed asbestos from the house’s floor and walls, MacQueen said.

Contractor Bruce Parker will begin work on one of the new homes this fall or early spring, MacQueen said. The process will also include a volunteer “barn-raising,” she said. The other home will be built by Innovative Housing Solutions, a division of Oberer Construction Company, beginning this fall.

The new buyers for the homes are both single mothers with grown children, said MacQueen. Both women have physical disabilities and their homes will be built according to their needs, she said. One home will be sold for about $91,000 and the other for about $110,000, and both new buyers have secured low-interest mortgages through the Rural Development division of the United States Department of Agriculture. MacQueen declined to name the new buyers.

The new homes are two of the four homes that Home, Inc., will begin working on this year. Besides the Dayton Street homes, the group will also rehab and expand a house at 321 South High Street and will build a new house on a lot at 1211 Xenia Avenue.

When Home, Inc., secured in May the grant from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, it had options on 11 lots, but 7 of those options have since fallen through, MacQueen said. Six lots were located in Birch III, the 22-acre area on the south side of town that Antioch University is selling.

Home, Inc. had an option with Innovative Housing Solutions, which initially planned to build on the lots, but the company’s research showed that Antioch’s asking price was too high, given the cost to install utilities and a lack of sufficient market, so the company chose not to proceed with the project.

The seventh housing option fell through when the home owners discovered possible groundwater contamination on their property and got involved in a lawsuit against a local company, said MacQueen, who declined to name the homeowners.

If Home, Inc., cannot find more options, it will lose a significant part of its grant, MacQueen said. However, the group has a year to find more potential lots, and although it is difficult in Yellow Springs to find land for sale at a reasonable price, MacQueen said, she is confident that Home, Inc., will be successful.

“We’re looking at other properties and talking to other potential partners,” she said.