Huber Heights, Ohio — There’s controversy surrounding an old building in Huber Heights that is scheduled to soon be demolished.
The building, located along Taylorsville Road, is across the street from D.J. Ayers' home.
“We weren’t sure what to think of it at first because it is a very old building,” Ayers said to News Center 7′s Katy Andersen. “Because we noticed the fence, we didn’t know if they were renovating or tearing it down.”
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This week, a temporary fence was installed to block off the building, and there is construction equipment and dumpsters sitting next to the structure.
Community members are speaking up, saying they do not want to see the building be torn down.
“If it is from the Civil War era, that is a piece of history and if there’s a way to save it – we should save it,” Ayers said.
Several comments have been circulating on social media claiming the building was part of the Underground Railroad. Pat Stephens, who is the president of the Wayne Township Huber Heights Historical Society, said there is no record of those claims.
“I think that because we do have some buildings that were part of [the underground railroad], I think that people think since it’s an old building it was, and it could have been, but nobody has come and told me that and I haven’t had any proof of that,” Stephens said.
Some people within the community have asked why the building is not on the historical registry.
“You have to have a real historical significance,” Stephens said. “You have to apply the Ohio and National Register [of Historical Places] to do that, and it takes a lot of time, money and effort.”
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Stephens said the effort would have to be made by the building’s owner, North Huber Heights Baptist Church.
News Center 7 talked to the church’s pastor who said it would take more than one million dollars to restore the building. He said the church bought the building in the 1960s for church services. The church was later told they could no longer use the building because it was not up to code. Since then, the building has been condemned. The pastor said the church is being torn down because of safety and liability issues.
Ayers said he hopes demolition of the building will not affect his home. “That is a very hardy building and what they’re going to use to knock it down – I don’t know – but I hope it all stays over there,” Ayers said.
The church’s pastor said they have no plans to rebuild anything in place of the soon-to-be demolished building.
Cox Media Group
