The last few days has brought news of yet another Ohio community facing the possible loss of historic resources through a development proposal involving a chain drug store.

Earlier this month, New Philadelphia voters turned back plans of a developer seeking to place a Walgreens Drug Store immediately adjacent to one of the city’s original town squares. The impact of that construction would likely have led to the long-term decline of the Franklin Square neighborhood.

This time the controversy has different players but the same tune. Orrville, home to Smuckers, is a community of 8,500 people located in Wayne County. In early November, a Lakewood-based developer presented plans that called for the demolition of several buildings on a prime corner of downtown Orrville for construction of a “B-grade” CVS Drug Store. Among the buildings to be removed would be the 1947 Orr Theatre (now the Orr Twin Cinema), the community’s only theatre building (click here to visit the Orr Theatre online).

Downtown Orrville is currently undergoing a revitalization project under the auspices of Main Street Orrville. The website of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, sponsor of the national Main Street program, includes a section dealing with the issue of chain drugstores. This site includes a profile of several communities where important historic resources were preserved in spite of chain drug store development pressure.

Yesterday, the Design Review Board in Orrville voted to decline the request for a Certificate of Appropriateness for demolition. A reading of the local Design Review Ordinance indicates that this denial triggers a period of dialogue between the applicant and the Board, at the end of which the applicant can appeal a continued denial to City Council.

MyHometownOhio will continue to update our readers as this story unfolds.

Photo: Ludwig Restaurant Building, home of the Orrville Historical Society Museum -- revjim5000/Creative Commons License