CENTURY VILLAGE

Development of Century Village

Did Gantz Farmhouse Spark an Interest in Historic Preservation?

Some residents might say the idea for local history and preservation efforts started as early as 1980 but the first discussion of preserving the Orders Road School dates to December 1995. The Grove City Historical Society was in existence then, but its single focus was preserving the history of the city’s original Park Street School, once located at Park Street and Arbutus Avenue.

The planned destruction of the Gantz farmhouse in 1980 to create a park was a spark that ignited interest and a movement toward historical preservation. Originally Mayor Cheryl Grossman asked city council to appropriate $100,000 for Gantz restoration but the request was met by opposition when one member of council said a new building could be built for that much money. Estimates were calculated and a $35,000 fundraising effort started to restore the 1840 era farmhouse. Eventual restoration was $31,000. Karen Gunderman was a member of that original group which pressured city officials to preserve the structure and not tear the house down. She also spearheaded the fund-raising effort which was fruitful. Barry Babbert, director of Grove City Parks and Recreation, took the lead on behalf of the city.

After the project was completed, a group working with the Grove City Area Chamber of Commerce held an annual event there beginning in 1983 known as Maifest Also called Springfest for a period of time, Grove City also made references to the event as Pioneer Week. Maifest was the first time Civil War re-enactors camped and drilled in Grove City.

Gantz Park and its herb gardens was Grove City’s centerpiece part of the international garden show, AmeriFlora’92. That event was held at Franklin Park in Columbus. Gantz had a record attendance that year.

Eight years after the planned destruction of the Gantz farmhouse, the city purchased a large tract of land on Orders Road for another much larger municipal park.

At the time, only one building faced Orders Road. It was an old brick schoolhouse that had shut down around 1928.

“The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 mandated public education for children. The school appears on township records 92 years later in 1879 when the land was gifted to the township by the Orders family. However, the building might be considerably older,” according to Steve Jackson.

“The brick mason working on the building told me he would bet that the structure dated to the 1850s or 60s, based on the brick work. That is possible as families often would provide a building; the township would provide the teacher. In 1879, Mr. and Mrs. Orders were at an age where they would probably not want that responsibility,” Jackson said.

As interest began to grow about the project, Mayor Cheryl Grossman and Ray “Pudge” Eesley had numerous meetings considering various options for the old school but restoration was always the goal.

As the school project moved forward, a volunteer group organized. Members included Eesley, Marilyn and Max Gibboney, Steve Jackson, Don Kientz and Louie and Joan Eyerman. As interest in the project increased, others joined the effort.

Joan spoke by phone with Southwest Franklin County Historical Society President Marilyn Gibboney and the they decided the two groups should meet and consider joining forces. An agreement was made and a School House Subcommittee of the historical society was formed.

The old structure had a major structural problem. A large portion of the building had been removed to allow farm equipment to be parked inside. The first task of restoration was to repair that hole with matching brick; easier said than done. A large collection of bricks on skids was uncovered at a Columbus business on Harmon Avenue but the owner wasn’t interested in selling his brick.

At one point, Eessley and others almost gave up on the project because matching bricks couldn’t be found.

The old Walnut Grove School building where Joan Eyerman’s father, Alva Taylor, attended was on property belonging to her sister, Marilyn Wright. The school was torn down and volunteers cleaned more than 13,000 of those bricks so the restoration project could begin. Bricks not needed were sold.

One day when volunteers were working at the school, a motorist stopped and questioned what was happening. The area then was referred to as Historical Park. The motorist told the volunteers they needed a sign so people driving by would have an idea of the project. As a result of that motorist, the name Century Village was suggested, adopted and a sign erected. The person who suggested the name isn’t known.

The school project was just the first phase of what would become a massive undertaking.

In 1997, a log house, built around 1840, was donated to the historical society by Don Kientz. It had been the home of William Kegg on Beatty Road as early as 1860. In 1915, the land and house were purchased from the Kegg family by the Ruoff family. In 1960, it was sold to the Kientz family.

The structure was made from logs cut from the forest that once covered Jackson Township. In 1998, the house was dismantled under the supervision of Carl Green. Logs were stored in a barn on the property of Don and Juanita Kientz for nearly six years. Carl had marked each log with a slip of paper showing how to reconstruct the structure. Unfortunately, when it came time to reassemble, the identifying slips of paper were missing; they had been eaten by mice.

With the instructions missing, the logs for the cabin were moved to the Grove City Lumber Yard. While there, photographs of the building were used by Mike Boso, Louis Eyerman and Carl Green to reassemble the cabin inside the barn. The timbers were remarked before being moved to Century Village. Before leaving the lumber yard, the logs were also treated for insects.

The endeavor became a community project. Grove City Boy Scout Troops 392, 385, 623 and 275, coordinated by Ben Brace, helped move logs, saw away damaged or rotten wood and other tasks. A total of 64 boys and men camped one weekend at Century Village in 2002 helping raise the cabin.

Students from the Paul C. Hayes Vocational School also worked on the project. They built the furniture in the building to the same style and design as it would have been in the mid-1800s. A decision was also made to restore the interior to its original look and that task of plastering the four walls was left to Jim Martin.

The reassembly was completed in 2003 and a public open house was held in May.

With a new historic park came the need for a new event. The Eyerman’s, in 2000, created an event first identified as The Annual Historic Time Line Re-Enactment. This included re-enactors from the Civil War era and other re-enactment groups, such as His Majesty’s 4th Regiment of Foot Loyalists who fought against George Washington during the American Revolution.

Dr. David McMahon, a real-life surgeon and a Civil War surgical re-enactor, was one of the first to register. McMahon was familiar with Grove City; he had also demonstrated his Civil War medical collection in 2000 at one of the first Maifest events at Gantz Park. This event at Century Village provided an important place for reenactment groups to meet, camp, recruit and drill. Regular cannon fire was also popular at many of the events but disturbing to some nearby neighbors.

At the suggestion of James Hale, the event’s name was shortened to The Encampment making it much easier to promote in advertising. Hale helped promote the historical events through the Grove City Area Visitors and Convention Bureau.

Today, the event has been renamed again and is known as the Heritage Celebration at Century Village. The Southwest Franklin County Historical Society sponsors another public event in the fall known as Old Time Harvest Day which became a regularly scheduled event a year after the Kegg-Kientz log house dedication.

“I had a few historical skills for people to watch at the dedication,” according to Joan Eyerman. “Everyone enjoyed it so the historical society decided to do it again and it became an annual event.”