Mahoning courthouse renovation wraps up in July

By JUSTIN DENNIS

jdennis@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Restoration work to the exterior of the Mahoning County courthouse is proceeding ahead of schedule and could set the stage for a second centennial celebration, said James Fortunato, county purchasing department director.

Renovators’ scaffolding has towered beside the 1910-built courthouse for weeks as workers cleaned bird droppings from the stone, repainted railing and refreshed windows.

Fortunato said workers still need to replace grout and install netting to deter pigeons from roosting. He said he expects the courthouse will be fully refreshed by the end of July.

This second phase of the nearly $7 million courthouse restoration project is expected to cost $528,040, said Audrey Tillis, executive director for the commissioners board.

The county borrowed about $8 million before work began in 2008 and may use remaining funds to assess the structural integrity of a tunnel in an alleyway behind the courthouse that links it to the county administration building, she said.

The first phase included restoration of the courthouse roof, its ornamental terra cotta – for which more than 100 custom molds were made by a New York company – light window wells and the copper statues atop the county seat, named Justice, Strength & Authority and Law.

“If you think about it, it’s been over 100 years. We’ve brought back the courthouse to its original elegance,” Fortunato said. “It was just a unique thing to try to get skilled craftspeople to duplicate what was done over 100 years ago, and they did it. It came together as a puzzle.”

The county contracted MS Consultants of Youngstown as project manager and brought in Taylor Consulting of Hartville to ensure the work was done to historical preservation standards, so the courthouse could remain on the National Register of Historic Places, he said.

Priceless paintings hanging inside courtrooms also are being restored after sustaining water damage before the courthouse roof replacement, Fortunato said.

Commissioners plan to meet this week to consider plans for a new ribbon-cutting celebration and a reopening of Mahoning County’s time capsule – first stowed in 1910 inside one granite cornerstone facing the Market and Boardman street intersection – as well as packing a new time capsule.

Since its first opening in 2010, Mahoning County Historical Society has preserved the capsule’s contents – which included a Youngstown city directory, The Rayen School record from 1908 and a photo book of area landmarks – at its Tyler History Center along West Federal Street, but commissioners have been considering putting some of the items on display inside the courthouse rotunda, Fortunato said.

Fortunato told commissioners late last year the restoration is a project he’s been “proud to do.”

“This is the heart of [county] government,” he said.