VOICES

A-TOWN

After some exploration, one Backdropper sees their college town in a whole new light

Upon signing the lease on my house for the fall 2020 semester, the owners told me that it was built in the 1800s on President Street and moved not once, but twice, before it ended up where I live. As it was the early 19th century, the house was moved by horses through the streets of Athens.

This discovery reminded me to look at this town with an eye of wonder instead of taking the bricks and their history for granted. Whether someone has lived in a town for three years or a lifetime, there is always something new to uncover. Living like a tourist close to home allowed me to break out of the routine of life interrupted by the coronavirus. Since social outings aren’t the safest way to pass the time, this adventure gave me an outlet to avoid potential boredom, while being a responsible citizen, and learning something along the way.

“A building might just be an old building, then you learn something about it and the more you learn about it, the more interesting and fascinating it becomes,” says Tom O’Grady, a 40year Athens resident and Director of Development and Outreach and Director of Emeritus at the South East Ohio History Center. “You find out who designed it, where the materials came from that they built it with, and who lived there, or who worked in it, or what kind of an event occurred there, or who gave a speech there, and all of a sudden the building gets more and more and more important.”

The site of the diner on Court Street was once a premiere hotel of America built by Edward Berry in 1893. The Berry Hotel created a new standard of hospitality as the first hotel in the country to provide Gideon bibles in each room, as well as sewing kits, cologne and individual closets for travelers. Berry attended the Albany Enterprise Academy just 11 miles down the road and became the BY ANDIE HUNT | PHOTOS BY DYLAN BENEDICT most successful Black businessman in Ohio in the early 1900s.

The OU Foundation purchased the hotel in 1961 and turned it into a parking lot in 1974. Pictures I have found feature bay windows and balconies, and a commanding brick structure that was fought for by Berry and his wife Martha. Decades later, I am curious as to why an architectural and cultural hub of Athens would be destroyed.

On the corner of West Washington and Maple streets stands a two-story white house, taller than it is wide. A bronze plaque with gold letters is the only sign of antiquity. In 1886, this house served as the wedding venue for renowned leaders in higher education: Booker T. Washington and Olivia A. Davidson. Prior to meeting Washington, Davidson attended the Albany Enterprise Academy. The house was owned by Davidson’s sister and brother-in-law, and

The diner in the location of the old Berry Hotel.

is now a student rental.

Following the curve of the road down South Shafer Street, I found myself with the bike path and Hocking River to my right. Across the street from the Convocation Center is the oldest house in Athens built in 1803 and believed to be the work of Revolutionary War hero, Silas Bingham.

Originally built on South Green Street, the Bingham House served as the first courthouse in Athens. Moved in 1853, the house found new residence on East State Street until 1987 when the building was dismantled and relocated to its current location on the southwest corner of Richland Avenue and Shafer Street.

The repurposed yellow poplar logs were reinforced with cement to maintain the historic integrity in the modern era. On the horizon, I saw the Ridges and a flock of vultures circling overhead like a dark cloud in an otherwise clear blue sky.

The Athens Lunatic Asylum was the first building Levi T. Scofield ever designed and the largest building in the state of Ohio at the time. At 26 years old, the Connecticut Western Reserve resident created a series of buildings that would shape Athens’ history.

The Ridges, as they were renamed by the university, are few of the last-standing buildings by Scofield. One of Scofield’s better-known works is the Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument on Public Square in downtown Cleveland. As the single sculptor, architect and benefactor, Scofield’s civil war monument is one of the largest in the country.

On Depot Street, the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad ran right through town until the 1980s. Still, the original train depot remains with the Queen Anne style architecture, painted blue with a plot of freshly mowed grass in front where freight and passenger trains alike passed through during the 20th century. From 1976 to 1981, students of OU could hop on the “Shenandoah” Amtrak train to get from one end of campus to the other. I imagined running from Grover to Schoonover over my three years at OU and how nice it would have been to have the train do the work for me.

Upon finding the building, an “open” sign invited me in. I was greeted at the door and welcomed inside by the sole employee. It had an echo of old wood, when each floorboard creaked the sound bounced to the other side of the room, and I knew I could whisper and be heard.

The depot is now a leasing office for the properties behind it, but the interior feels just as it would have 40 or more years ago.

Nestled between Oxbow Trail and South Green Drive is Emeriti Park. Although the streets surround, it is a sweet escape with a fountain to drown out the noise. A plethora of benches allows for meditative moments from the various vantage points surrounding the water. It provides a setting for plant diversity and wildlife, like sleepy deer and fat groundhogs.

Nearly all the elements, from trees to benches to gardens, are dedicated to the educators and community members that have left their legacy in town and on campus. This park serves as a memorial to the people of the past that worked to create our present.

Schoonover Center once served as the campus hub, Baker Center. It was an architectural site to be seen, equipped with the old Front Room café, a billiards room and a bowling alley. The building served as a cultural center where townies and students gathered to hear famous bands and influential speakers, such as the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 2006, the building was renovated and officially became the Steven L. Schoonover Center for the convergence of the Scripps College of Communication in 2013.

“The university is in an arms race with all the other campuses in America—they think they have to have bigger and better,” O’Grady said. “They ended up with bigger but not better, it’s not really progress…it was a cultural hub.”

A walk across campus offers what could be considered the largest

The Bingham House, the first Court House in Athens.

open-air museum of Frank Packard’s architecture in the country. “America’s foremost institutional architect” designed many of the buildings that house our intellectual growth, but we know them as Bentley, Ellis, Gordy, Scripps, and Tupper halls. Four other OU buildings designed by Packard have been torn down, and more are on the verge of a similar fate, such as the President Street Academic Center (PSAC).

Packard took an integrated approach to erecting buildings within a town by using the materials produced or sourced locally, such as the brick and oak that were so plentiful in Ohio. As his life’s works are demolished one after another, the remaining structures have increased meaning.

Beyond the history of a building is its foundation: its physical elements. The yellow poplar logs that form the Bingham house and the brick laid by Edward Berry for his hotel, these history-rich materials are often put into a landfill for the next few centuries instead of rendered for further use. Buildings have been relocated when there was less technology, or had money invested into them for repairs, but it seems the modern impulse is to scrap the old for cheap and make something generic in its place. A previous life turned into rubble and forgotten, except for the few people that told the stories and fought for a plaque to tell it long after they are gone.

My tour through town revealed much more to me beyond just the history of this town, but rather illuminated the active strides being taken to tear it down. The politics of preservation serve to decide which history should be remembered, relocated or replaced. How long these places will continue to exist is uncertain, so take a stroll down memory lane before it’s forgotten. b