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'Don't demolish Shaker building'
Monday, June 02, 2008
The Otterbein Homes board of trustees has approved a master plan that sounded fabulous. They plan to provide houses, shops and services to serve people of all ages in Warren County, even a village green with fountains, gardens and parks. The inflammatory ingredient in this decision not mentioned is the demolition of one of the remaining two Shaker buildings at Otterbein, Bethany Hall.
Otterbein-Lebanon is located on land that the Union Village Shakers sold to the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB) in 1912. Bethany Hall's construction began in 1844 as the Union Village Shaker Center Family Dwelling. When completed in 1846, it was the largest brick dwelling in Ohio, containing one million bricks.
Extras
In March 2005, Otterbein Homes entered into a memorandum of agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation, the Ohio Historic Preservation Office, and Federal Highway Administration to preserve the rich Shaker heritage on their property when a redirected section of Ohio 741 would destroy the Union Village North Family archaeological site. Three years later, this bond between the Shakers and the EUB/United Methodist church has lost its historic moorings.
This impressive brick Shaker dwelling house, the largest surviving in Ohio, will be demolished. The Western Shaker Study Group asked that the decision be postponed for six months so that planning and financing of alternative plans could be worked out for Bethany Hall. The building is eligible for the National Register and if that step is completed, it would be eligible
for federal tax credits of 20 percent of the restoration costs. A nonprofit group can then assign these credits to help with the total cost of restoration. The statewide preservation organization, Preservation Ohio, has Bethany Hall listed on its "Endangered Watch List ..."
Mary Sue Kallander
Chair
Western Shaker Study Group
