By Justin McClelland, Staff WriterUpdated 1:04 AM Tuesday, June 29, 2010 TURTLECREEK TWP. — Lynn “Popcorn” Weber sat on discarded rubble on the side of Ohio 741, today, June 28, watching a backhoe tear through the walls and floors of a place he once called home.
“I lived on the first floor,” Weber recalled. “My room was in the back. We had the run of the place, so every room had a memory.”
Others drove or walked by, many stopping for a few moments to watch the demolition, but Weber and his brother David Weber said they would stay throughout the day, watching the final hurrah of Bethany Hall at Otterbein Retirement Community near Lebanon.
Nearly half of the 166-year-old building built by the Shakers, a mysterious and nearly extinct religious sect, lay in rubble by the end of the day. Demolition on the building began Friday, June 25, by Otterbein officials, who will replace it with a senior life enrichment center. The building had sat vacant for years prior to its demolition.
The Webers stayed at Bethany Hall between 1959 and 1964, when the building was used as a children’s home. David brought his grandson Ashton, 6, to watch the demolition.
“I was my grandson’s age when I was here,” David said. “I used to cry at night because I wanted to go home.”
“I didn’t think I’d ever see it get torn down,” Lynn said.
Otterbein Homes president and CEO Jill Hreben said the cost of refurbishing Bethany for useful purposes would have been more than $6 million and it would have cost $15,000 a year just to keep the building standing unoccupied. Hreben said the board of trustees had explored several options for Bethany including turning it into an arts center
Pamela Gilchrist, spokeswoman for Otterbein, said there had been no major protests against the building’s demolition in recent months.
“It’s been really quiet,” Gilchrist said. “A lot of different organizations were looking to preserve the building but I think ultimately everybody feels comfortably with what is happening.”
Gilchrist said the residents of Otterbein were looking forward to the Enrichment Center and most of their questions centered along the timeline for the new building’s construction.
Gilchrist said Otterbein would preserve the bricks handmade by the Shaker Community but was unsure in what new capacity they would be used.
Bethany Hall was built in 1844 by the Shakers, a 19th century strict religious sect that lived in isolated communities and were widely renowned for their skills at craftsmanship and building. One Shaker constructed building, Marble Hall, is still standing on the Otterbein grounds. The Shakers themselves are almost completely extinct today, due in large part to the sect’s strict demands of abstinence.
“We were the last kids here,” David said. “We learned a lot about the history of the place and helped work in the farms out back.”