Strock house lease dropped

The Austintown Historical Society will continue to maintain the historic home.

BY JORDAN COHEN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

MINERAL RIDGE — The Mahoning Valley Sanitary District unanimously voted Wednesday to terminate the lease of the historic Strock Stone House with Austintown Township, so that it can apply for grants to cover the costs of badly needed repairs.

The township began leasing the 177-year old home for $1 a year in 1991. Under terms of the lease, the township was responsible for all repairs and maintenance — a cost Austintown Trustee Warren “Bo” Pritchard says has become prohibitive. For that reason, the board’s decision did not come as a surprise to Pritchard.

“The bottom line is that our park budget doesn’t have the room to do all the necessary maintenance and upkeep in projects right now that the Strock house needs,” Pritchard said.

Since 1993, the Austintown Historical Society has maintained the home, at 7171 Mahoning Ave., by providing furnishing and interior decorations, and offering public tours the first Sunday of each month.

Atty. Matt Blair, MVSD president, said the board would like the society to continue its operation.

“We are not asking them to leave the premises,” Blair said. “We plan to contact them immediately.”

The Strock Stone House, built in 1831 by William Strock from blocks of sandstone, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Just before and during the Civil War, the house served as a safe haven for runaway slaves as part of the Underground Railroad.

The MVSD, which provides water for Youngstown, Niles and other areas, took possession of the home, which sits on 200 acres near the Meander Reservoir, when the dictrict was created in the early 1930s. For years, the Strock house served as residence for the MVSD chief engineer until it was leased to Austintown.

The township and MVSD agree that the furnace and roof are the most in need of repair. Pritchard earlier estimated that the furnace could cost up to $10,000.

Joyce Pogany, president of the Austintown Historical Society, said that her organization has spent more than $20,000 in its 15 years of operating the historic site, but it, too, cannot afford the entire cost of preservation.

MVSD Chief Engineer Tom Holloway said he plans to apply for grants from the National Park Service “and whatever else [is] out there” in the first quarter of 2009 to cover repairs. Holloway was unable to estimate what the total cost to fix up the property might be.

He explained that the park service will only approve grant applications from the owners of historic sites, which is why the MVSD chose to terminate the lease since Austintown was ineligible to apply.

In another item during Wednesday’s board meeting, Holloway said that an energy firm he has contacted would charge $21,000 to provide the expertise to supervise the MVSD, should it go ahead with plans to build its own natural-gas well.

“The well would cost between $300,000 and $400,000, but last year alone our natural-gas heating bill was $250,000,” Holloway said.

The board may seek estimates from other consultants. It has not decided whether to go forward with the project, but Blair indicated he supports the idea.

“We could recoup in two years what the well costs,” the board president said.