By 1812Blockhouse
When the 2021 List of Ohio’s Most Endangered Historic Sites was recently announced by Preservation Ohio, Ohio’s original statewide preservation organization, a Richland County building was included.
Ohio’s Most Endangered Historic Sites is unique in that it highlights historic buildings and sites submitted from local citizens and advocates, each hoping to bring attention and to identify ways to give important historic properties a future. Out of the many properties nominated this year, Preservation Ohio’s board was tasked with choosing the most at risk. Eleven properties representing all areas of Ohio are included in this years edition.
This list has been issued since 1993 — first every other year, and then annually. It serves the highlight properties in peril that merit preservation attention, and has led to several high profile renovation and restoration projects, including the only Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie-style house built in Ohio, the Westcott House in Springfield; the former Masonic Temple in downtown Columbus, now the successful Columbus Athenaeum; and the Anthony Wayne Hotel in Hamilton.
The local site included in this edition was the Oakland Cemetery Mausoleum in Shelby.
According to a information provided by Preservation Ohio,
“In 1907, Oakland Mausoleum was built, as a community mausoleum, and was the second mausoleum of its type in Ohio. Designed to hold 240 interments. Made of seamless reinforced concrete without mortar joints, it was state of the art for the time. The building is 32 feet wide by 100 feet long and was built with a 12-foot arched drive-through opening the length of the building so that a horse-drawn hearse could be pulled through. The back of the building has been filled in and a door and iron gate placed on the front of the building for protection.
The mausoleum is the final resting place for 220 Shelbians, from farmers to those who created commerce in the booming town, and military veterans from the Civil War through the Korean War. The mausoleum is still in use, although closed to the public.”
The entire list can be found here.
Source, Photo: Preservation Ohio
