‘Poor Farm’ endangered
Tyler County property makes state listBy MICHAEL ERB merb@newsandsentinel.com
MIDDLEBOURNE - A farm in Tyler County has been added to a list of endangered properties in West Virginia.
The 2009 Endangered Properties List, released annually by the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia, includes eight properties throughout the state considered at-risk of being lost to decay and demolition.
Alliance Executive Director Karen Carper called the list geographically and architecturally diverse.
"We have a church, a school, two historic hotels, a theater, a bridge, a private home and a historic homeless shelter," she said. Locations span the state from the northern panhandle to the southern coalfields, the Ohio River Valley to the Potomac Highlands.
Among the sites is the Tyler County Home, also called the Poor Farm, which includes a farm house and surrounding property. According to a release from the alliance, the home "Also known as the 'Poor Farm' or the 'Poor House,' ... was built early in 1915. The home and associated pauper's cemetery are a testament to the forgotten disadvantaged and poor who struggled to help build this county and state."
Al Tuttle, a member of the Tyler Revitalization Group, also known as "Tyler Alive," said the property sits in the middle of the Tyler County Fair Grounds and was once a self-sufficient farm for indigent people.
"They raised their own food, they kept chickens and other livestock," he said. "It opened in 1915 and operated as such until 1951."
Across the road from the three-story brick structure is a pauper's cemetery.
"There are about 60 markers, two of which are stone and have people's names on them," said Chris Hoke, chairman of Tyler Alive. "The pauper's cemetery is really fascinating."
Tuttle said the house has been used over the years by several groups, including a Head Start program, the Tyler County Emergency Management department and the fairgrounds.
"Basically it has been in disuse since the 1990s," he said. "There is water damage. The wood is rotting. The longer it goes, the harder it will be to renovate."
Though some storage materials remain, the building has for the most part been abandoned and allowed to decay. Tuttle said he is unsure what the cost to repair and restore the building would be, but said "it is going to be an effort."
Hoke said though the county owns the property, there are insufficient funds to make repairs, but also said the lack of money has prevented the county from demolishing the building.
"Often times it costs less and creates more jobs to renovate a building than it does to demolish an old building," she said. "If it continues to decay, that may change."
Tuttle said the organization has several ideas on possible uses for the building, including using it to supplement the nearby campgrounds or using it as a base of operations for businesses or public services.
The group is trying to have the building put on the national registry for historical properties, but said if that would happen, it could limit the structure's uses.
"Our main thrust has been to find a way to make this an energy-efficient, low-maintenance building but still keep the historical flavor," he said.
Endangered lists are collections of at-risk historic properties in a given region compiled primarily to bring attention to the plight of the properties and the organizations involved in their preservation. These lists have been used by preservation organizations for many years to help draw attention to diminishing historic resources.
All of the properties are listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and meet other criteria such as historic significance, geographic location, preservation emergency and resources available to resolve the endangerment.
The Preservation Alliance's push to recognize and rebuild at-risk historical sites began more than two decades ago. Nominations for the 2010 Endangered Properties List will be accepted in the fall through the group's Web site, www.pawv.org.
|
JCB1964
|
|
|---|---|
|
04-12-09 12:30 PM
|
Why don't they ask the Wood County Commission, they'll donate some money.
|