“It’s possibly the oldest house in West Liberty,” King said. “Even older than the town hall.”
It’s estimated a man named George Bailey built the original structure around 1850, said Grayson Atha from the West Liberty Historical Society.
Once the building was condemned, the village planned to tear it down, King said, because it would be too expensive to do anything else.
“We were going to raise it up and put a basement underneath it,” he said. “But it was way too much money.”
The historical society began a campaign to save the building, Atha said, because of its significance to the community.
“It became apparent to me that the community was not paying close attention to the historical aspects that we were losing,” he said.
It received one call from someone who wanted to restore the building, he said, because of what it meant to his family.
The great, great-grandson of George Bailey, Herbert McClain, contacted the historical society to say he wanted to save the building, Atha said.
McClain lives in Cambridge, Ohio, he said, and agreed to give the society $25,000 to secure the building and prevent it from deteriorating further.
McClain has also said he will give more money to complete the restoration in the coming years, Atha said.
The historical society plans to convert the building into a museum of West Liberty history, he said, as well as an office for the organization.
“It will store some of the relics of the community,” he said.
The property still needs to be transferred from the village to the historical society to seal the deal, King said.
The organization is also currently working to renovate the opera house on the top floor of the village’s town hall building, Atha said.
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