“And now,” as they say, “a word from our sponsor.”

The year was 1982. Ronald Reagan was President, and James Rhodes was in his last term as Governor of Ohio. In May of that year, a group of intrepid Ohioans met at the Departments of State building in downtown Columbus, now home of the Ohio Supreme Court, and launched Ohio’s non-profit statewide preservation organization, the Ohio Preservation Alliance, Inc..

The initial Trustees of OPA included the following, among others:

John Cimperman, Director, Cleveland Landmarks Commission
Franklin Conaway, Urban Affairs Consultant, Chillicothe
Douglas DeGood, Mayor of Toledo
Robert Gaede, Architect, Cleveland
Loren S. Gannon, Historian, Dayton
Bruce Goetzman, Architect, Cincinnati
Emily Gulker, Bonneyfiddle Association, Portsmouth
Judith Kitchen, Architectural Historian, Columbus
Rose Mary Martin, Ohio Chamber of Commerce, Columbus
Dixie Sayre Miller, Civic Leader, Columbus
Judge Thomas Moyer, Judge, Court of Appeals, Columbus (now Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court)
David Taylor, Director, Columbus Landmarks Foundation
Josephine Voss, Fairfield Heritage Association, Lancaster

Over the next 25 years, successor Trustees have included a “Who’s Who” in preservation in Ohio, and OPA, now known as Preservation Ohio, has remained at the forefront of historic preservation, downtown revitalization and smart/sustainable growth efforts in the Buckeye State. Some quick highlights of that history would include the following:

  • In 1983, the organization hosted the first general conference in Ohio on preservation-based downtown revitalization.
  • In the early 1990s, OPA hosted one of the first comprehensive looks at the need for and potential of smart and sustainable growth strategies in Ohio, the “Managing Change Conference.”
  • In 1993, the organization issued the first List of Ohio’s Most Endangered Historic Sites; subsequent lists have been published annually or bi-annually since then.
  • In the mid-1990s, OPA sponsored the first look at historic courthouse renovation in Ohio.
  • In 2002, OPA announced Ohio’s first statewide preservation easement program, which now protects properties across the state.
  • In 2005, the organization announced creation of the OHIO Heritage Neighborhood Program and the Gannon Fund for Historic Preservation.
  • In 2006, MyHometownOhio was launched, which is already the most popular statewide preservation and revitalization online magazine in the country.

On March 24, the organization will celebrate its 25th Anniversary with an open Annual Meeting at the main branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.  At that time, the 2007 List of Ohio's Most Endangered Historic Sites will be announced. For more information on Preservation Ohio, be sure to visit our website by clicking on the link to your left.