As readers of this blog know, and as preservationists from across Ohio are well aware, the fate of the Seneca County Courthouse has hung in the balance for many months – awaiting the final verdict of demolition or renovation. If lost, the building would represent the first 19th century Ohio courthouse lost in over 40 years – and the first non-urban 19th century Ohio courthouse lost in 60 years.

One front in that ongoing public discussion has been occurring in the Seneca County Court of Common Pleas, where a group of six individuals brought suit against the County Commissioners. Among allegations in the Tiffin lawsuit are a breach of fiduciary duty on behalf of the Commissioners, as well as a failure of the Commissioners to follow Ohio law in rendering their demolition decision.

Now, in a nearby community, another Common Pleas lawsuit has been filed in an effort to prevent demolition of a public building – in this case, the historic 1917 Galion High School in Galion, Crawford County. Despite the fact that a new high school was constructed elsewhere as a part of an Ohio School Facilities Commission project, and despite years of work by supporters of an adaptive reuse plan for the school building, the local Board of Education chose to demolish the local landmark structure with no plans for the building site. Reasons cited for the Board’s decision are largely based on traditional biases against older buildings. In Galion, however, the situation has a “twist” – the building was constructed on a cemetery, and the land is therefore contaminated with arsenic.

The 1917 Galion High School building is the only known secondary educational building designed by the Columbus firm of Howard & Merriam – the architects for the country’s first Presidential Library, the Hayes Presidential Library in Fremont. Other buildings designed by the firm include University Hall, the first building on the campus of Bowling Green State University, and the Paulding County Library. The Galion school was also one of the first buildings in the world to feature an internal telephone system. Galion High School is also the alma mater for Preservation Ohio Executive Director Thomas Palmer, and former Heritage Ohio Executive Director Pauline Eaton.

And in another "twist," the lawsuits in Tiffin and Galion are both being handled by the same attorney.  Click here to read about the recently-filed Galion action.