Thursday, September 15, 2011
Old Firestone house rolls on to new location
Staff report
NORTH LIMA
Crews from Stein House Movers of Cortland, with assistance from Tom Ellison Excavating, moved a home once owned by the Firestone family.
The house was adjacent to the Firestone tire-testing facility on Lipply Road, just north of the Mahoning-Columbiana County line.
The Italianate-style building was propped up on balances and beams Wednesday as it was slowly pulled 900 feet east on Lipply Road. Ohio Edison crews disabled electric wires to enable the move.
Tom Ellison, the house’s new owner, purchased its new location, 5 acres on Lipply Road, through David A. LoGiudice, a real-estate broker and appraiser with Boardman-based David Realty.
“That’s really a mobile home now,” LoGiudice said, watching the structure lumber down the street.
The space where the house used to sit will be turned into a parking lot for visitors to the tire- testing center.
The Firestone company had maintained the house since the last occupant, a Firestone family friend, left about six years ago. A Firestone company representative said the house was used by Harvey S. Firestone’s relatives.
The actual Firestone Homestead, where Harvey S. Firestone was born and raised, was moved to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., in 1983.