Coming Down Soon?
Published 10:20am Monday, April 25, 2011City takes steps toward demolishing Veterans Memorial Hall
The City of Ironton is taking steps toward the demolition of Veterans Memorial Hall, a decision that came after members of a local veterans group decided to give up efforts to restore the 100-plus year-old building.
A structural evaluation of the building has been scheduled for Friday, Mayor Rich Blankenship said.
“Council’s wish at this time it appears is to obtain a demolition price cost,” Blankenship said Wednesday. “But the first thing we want to do is the evaluation.”
The building’s demolition was the topic of discussion at a recent joint meeting of the public utilities and finance committee of the Ironton City Council. The city currently owns the building.
“We’ve got to do something with this property, as a city,” Councilman Kevin Waldo said. “It’d be my opinion at this time, three years after we started, that we ought to tear it down.”
Councilman Mike Lutz agreed, saying it was is not right of the city to hold on to the building while telling its residents to tear down their dilapidated houses.
“That’s a little hypocritical in my opinion,” Lutz said.
The city had planned to transfer the building to the veterans group. The plan was to transfer Memorial Hall first to the Ironton Port Authority.
The port authority was to then transfer the building to the veterans group, if it could raise the first half million dollars towards the restoration within two years, IPA chairman Paul Woods said. The arrangement was made about a year ago.
“It’s a city problem right now and it will be a city problem until someone can raise the money,” Woods said. “Apparently the American Legion is no longer interested.”
Members of the group had hoped to receive a grant from the federal government for $2.4 million over the course of 10 years, said Tom McClain, a trustee of the Veterans Memorial Hall Restoration Fund, a nonprofit founded for the purpose of the restoration. Besides McClain, two other members of the American Legion Post 433 are also trustees of the fund. In order to get that grant, the nonprofit had to own the building, he said.
McClain said the organization raised about $20,000 toward the restoration, minus the cost of advertisements and some other materials.
“We were fighting a losing battle,” McClain said.
McClain said the building is a part of the history of Ironton that will be lost.
The building used to be the center of attention in the city, he said, adding that the Memorial Day parade once started there. A United States president visited the hall during the early 1900s. The architect who designed the structure also designed buildings at Ohio State and the Ohio governor’s mansion, he said.
“Now it’s going to be destroyed because the city was supposed to keep it up,” he said.
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Hello friends this is robert here and it is really wonderful and every thing written by you not even good it best also
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Hello friends this is robert here and it is really wonderful and every thing written by you not even good it best also
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online dating
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This is so dishearting to hear about, it was such a beautiful structure in it’s day.
It’s a shame that we can’t keep these building maintained so they won’t be demolished.
Many good memories there, I’m sure.
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TIME TO MOVE ON FINALLY..!!
During all the ‘hoopla’ about a year and a half ago
concerning this building and Mini-Block…
There was a man who brought some drawings to the meeting.
His response to the City Council was to take some of the
big blocks of Memorial Hall and make a 3 or 4 way
Memorial Wall with flags etc.
His suggestion and many others liked it at these meetings, was to
turn the block into a small park area with 2 big pic nic
shelters and allow citizens to reserve the shelters for free
at the city hall
And the idea was to have Ironton In Bloom be responsible
for keeping the walkways and park benches decorated thru
out the year.
I think he also suggested a permanent Evergreen tree facing
railroad street to be decorated with colored lights and hopefully someone
would donate a beautiful large star. For the annual
Christmas tree.
Remember, way back when, this area of 4th & railroad streets
was the starting point of all parades, Memorial Day, Halloween & Christmas parades too.
I say ‘LETS RUN’ with this old Idea.
and quit putting up a disgraceful nasty looking tree
in the 3rd street parking lot. It’s ugly there
Here’s Hopeing The Mayor & Ironton City Council will
go with this olde idea.
I think it would be the ‘cheaper’ solution and I would
ask that the veterans group would DONATE THE MONEY
THEY RECEIVED TO THIS IDEA OF A SMALL VETERANS MEMORIAL
PARK..!!
Wow imagine that by the end of summer we could have an
attractive place for the citizens of Ironton to visit
sit a spell and enjoy the park like setting.
(Here’s Hopeing)
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It’s about time they tear this eyesore down. Urban Renewal destroyed downtown Ironton, taking our department stores, dress shops, fine restaurants, drug stores, book store, beautiful homes and houses of prostitution, etc. I agree, the American Legion should donate all the money they bummed from people to a good cause in town. Let’s gets the traffic flowing on Park Avenue again so we can get where we are going. Ironton is dead and it is falling into the river
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What a shame! Ironton should have always tried their best to keep up the historical buildings.
Many small towns in Ohio have kept their historical building, turn them into museums, or used for other things….as well as their downtown districts kept up and developed new shops and stores. Yellow Springs is a good example.
There is a lot of history in Ironton! Seems the local gov. doesn’t care.
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I think you should ask the Legion to turn over all of the money they collected. the public gave the money for the building so the Legion should not be alloud to keep the money
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A sad state of affairs for the city of Ironton, to allow a historical building like this to be torn down. Does not speak very highly of the citizens of Ironton or their representatives. This is a prime example of a lack of historical perspective and backwardness. It’s a good thing the citizens of St. Augustine, Florida, Savannah, Georgia and Williamsburg, Virginia did not take this attitude.
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what da ya say we get the ro na tore down now as well
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Well, the way people think and run stuff in the town of Ironton, the only thing I see working is start the bulldozer at Coal Grove, and plow all the way to Hanging Rock. Go from the river to 5th street and make it one huge bar and run Rally on The River 12 months a year. Doze it and they will come. If this sounds pathetic, then your right, but this is how the Ironton government entity looks from the citizens’ point of view, towards Ironton and Lawrence County. I understand wanting to try to keep old town values, but in this day and age we need to be competing with the rest of the world. I have always thought that the property along the river on Third Street should be converted to a river front Mall Complex. The stimulus that it would create in construction jobs for local citizens and jobs to staff the complex when it was built would create enough monies, to revamp the downtown district into Arts and theater district with loft style housing and unique restaurants. We have to Dream Big and move forward rather than standing still and crumbling into drug infested, uneducated, welfare and SSI dependant nothings.
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