City Schools' Canal Warehouse October 2005

Warehouse to be Auctioned 29 October

The last canal warehouse at Water and Walnut, the building at 125 West Water Street, owned by the Chillicothe City Schools. The short building to its left is a former city trolley shed, and is part of the school facility. (Photo summer 2004) (The moisture pattern around the chimney in the brick side wall implies puddling on the roof.)

It's official. The "Chillicothe City Schools Maintenance Warehouse," better described as the last canal warehouse at the corner of Water and Walnut, will go to the auction block at the end of October.

Price Real Estate & Auction will conduct the sale at the city schools' administration building at 235 Cherry Street. A Public notice of the sale was in the Gazette September 26th.

So what will become of it? Will it be bought by someone who wants to develop a neglected historic building into a downtown asset - businesswise as well as visually - or will it become another unneeded asphalt desert to accent the poor planning and destructive tendencies of some in Chillicothe?

Price Auction Has Pix & Info 13 October 2005

On page C5 of October 13th's Gazette is the ad for the auction, with more information and photos on the building's webpage in the Price Real Estate & Auction Service website.

The website labels it a "Historic Warehouse." The Gazette ad notes that "specialty properties like this are very seldom available. Extraordinary building in a great commercial location -- with parking!" (Note the use of the "P" word.)

Canal / Clinton Corner

The Chillicothe City School District owns the last canal warehouse remaining from the charismatic grouping at West Water Street and North Walnut Street. The school system is in the process of (or is done with) vacating the facility as a part of their building consolidation plans. They will probably sell the property soon.

I have been told of a rumor that a nearby property owner thinks the building should be demolished for more parking.

	A view of the lost warehouses from the roof of the Clinton Hotel. As I snapped this image, I thought I would get this view only because of the aesthetic feel of the angle. I wouldn't need to photograph the buildings to record them - because who in their right minds would tear them down? (Photo late winter c1991)

If that happens, that would be yet another in a string of senseless, wasteful destructions at this intersection that will further erode the irreplaceable character of the downtown.

Already lost are the three adjacent canal warehouses; the huge Clinton Hotel; two small commercial buildings beside it; houses and a small commercial building just up the street from it; and a large commercial building beside it on Walnut Street - most all from the 1850s and earlier! And with all those losses, we are left with two squat buildings - only one with any character - and several expanses of desert parking lot.

The city has argued that this area is not within the historic district, even though most of it is clearly within the Chillicothe downtown National Register District. But even so, when the Design Review Board has exerted itself in this area, it has derelicted its purpose to protect such buildings and areas.

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Warehouse & Trolley Shed

Although I've heard that the property is emptied of school storage materials, a look in the front and back windows reveals that there is still plenty left inside, though it appears to be leftover junk and trash instead of just sloppy storage.

The Trolley Shed on the west side of the canal warehouse, at about 129 W. Water St., appears to be in the worst condition (after being maintened by a public entitiy with public funds for years). Though the school board has implied that the problems are with the brick canal warehouse - when they stated that the facility "is an eyesore" (see below), and has puddles on the floor while people are working with electrical equipment - it appears that this later, lighter-built, far less historically significant Trolley Shed addition is the most neglected part and that the warehouse is in fairly good shape.

Looking though one of the front windows of the Trolley Shed, one sees some trash strewn across the concrete floor, and a puddle of water. (Photo 5/29/05)

	Looking though one of the back windows of the Trolley Shed, the view is little better. (Photo 6/3/05)

The soffit of the Trolley Shed with one pigeon perched on the gutter, and its mate apparently nesting inside the gaping hole of the soffit. (Photo 5/29/05)

The trolley system's snowplow and street cleaner on rails sit on its tracks in front of the trolley shed about 1925. From Images of America: Chillicothe, Ohio by G. Richard Peck.

Before the school's ownership - at least from the 1930s to the 1960s - the property was owned by the Columbus & Southern Ohio Electric Company. It probably came in C&SOE's ownership because the trolley system ran on electricity, and many trolley systems became electric companies.

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