Vacant Conneaut landmark demolished

CONNEAUT – Conneaut City Manager Nick Sanford warned city council back in October that the demolition of the Carnegie Library building was possible.
That possibility became a reality as demolition of the building began on Monday, March 23.
“I mentioned in October that it was a potential threat,” Sanford said. “I didn’t know anything concrete was going to happen until Friday while I was on vacation when I heard a demolition permit was pulled.”
The Carnegie Library property, 282 State St., was purchased in 1905 for $4,000. The library was built through a library tax levy passed in 1905, community fundraising efforts and a $25,000 donation from Andrew Carnegie, owner of Carnegie Steel.
Carnegie Library opened on May 3, 1909, with inaugural librarian Marie T. Brown overseeing 12,000 books.
Conneaut Public Library opened on May 17, 1998, and the Carnegie Library was sold to the first in a line of private owners.
“First and foremost, the City of Conneaut, as council is well aware, has never, in the 128-year history of the building’s existence, has never owned the property or the building,” Sanford said. “The building was transferred out of the ownership of the board of the Carnegie Public Library at the time in 1998. It was transferred again several times between then and now, and it sat vacant for a considerable amount of time.”
The building fell deeper into in disrepair as the building sat vacant over the years.
“It was extremely frustrating, for myself, personally, to see the state of disrepair that the building has sat in for an extended period of time, for the lack of vision by outside property owners who chose to do nothing with the building,” Sanford said. “As such, a piece of Conneaut history and a landmark that was very prominent for an exceptionally long period of time is no more. That’s all that really can be said about it.”
The lack of care by the building’s owners is directly in conflict with the initial intentions of the Carnegie board.
“The philosophy of the Carnegie board 120 years ago was these endowments nurtured and maintained by the communities they were conveyed to,” Sanford said. “That’s not been the case for the last 28 years. It was no longer a library, but it was certainly a landmark.”
Sanford did point out that the current ownership was not the only guilty party in the building’s long history.
“It’s been every owner since it was initially conveyed by the original library board,” Sanford said.
Hughes Excavating commenced demolition of Carnegie Library on Monday under the direction of Dave McGrath, owner of Sunset Transportation and Rentals.
“I come back from a week away with a little bit of disappointment, as we see today, demolition has begun and is well underway on the former Carnegie Public Library building,” Sanford said.
In an email, McGrath expressed that the conversations to save Carnegie Library came too late.
“I appreciate you reaching out and advocating for the preservation of the Carnegie building,” McGrath wrote. “I wish this conversation would have come together over the last couple of years. Over the past two years especially, there were opportunities where we absolutely would have sat down, collaborated, and explored every possible path to preserve it.”
Mounting costs and building deterioration forced McGrath’s hand.
“One of the biggest challenges we’ve faced, though, is just how long the building has been sitting vacant,” McGrath wrote. “Since 1998, nearly three decades, it has been unoccupied and steadily deteriorating. After almost 30 years of vacancy, the condition of the structure declined far beyond what most people realize from the outside.”
“Between those 28 years of vacancy, continuous exposure to the elements, mounting vacant property fees, increasing taxes, safety concerns raised by the fire department, and our own assessments, it became clear the building was in far worse shape than originally thought,” McGrath continued.
Sanford was adamant the demolition of the building was not ordered by the City of Conneaut.
“Let me be clear, there were no orders of any kind to have that building demolished,” Sanford said. “I reached out to Mr. McGrath as kind of a last-chance conversation saying we’ll get it on the National Historic Registry. I got a boilerplate response with vague references to vacant property fees.”
Though it appeared to be in bad shape, Carnegie Library possible could have been saved.
“The building is structurally fine,” Sanford said. “It needed a new roof. If we got somebody with a real strategy, we could have prevented this. It fell victim to empty ambition, somebody with money and a big idea but ultimately came back and said it fell through.”
McGrath hopes that a new landmark might take the place of Carnegie Library.
“At this point, with the process already underway, my hope is that removing a building that has sat vacant for nearly 30 years will allow for new life to be brought into that space,” McGrath wrote. “Whether through Sunset or another developer, the goal is to create something safe, useful, and positive for the Conneaut community moving forward.”
McGrath told Sanford future communication is welcome earlier in the process.
“If anything like this comes up in the future, please don’t hesitate to call me directly,” McGrath wrote. “I’d always welcome the opportunity to work together earlier in the process, maybe even a new use for the property, as well, as it is a prime location for the city.”
Currently, there are no plans for the property on file with the city.
“I am not aware of any future plans for the property at this time, and I’m exceptionally disappointed with the outcome in an age where adaptive reuse is a viable concept in private development,” Sanford said.
The demolition of the building is upsetting for members of the community as well as their leader.
“I am certainly upset on behalf of the citizens, but also for myself,” Sanford said. “Those of us who grew up here watched it decay. One could say that much of downtown could follow suit if it’s not carefully watched.”
The problem stems from property owners who choose not to upgrade their buildings for modern uses, he believes.
“We have individuals who tend to hoard property and do nothing with it despite multiple attempts to reach them and incentivized efforts to find adaptive uses,” Sanford said.
At-Large Councilwoman Mariana Branch acknowledged the feelings of those upset by the demolition of the building.
“I just want to make a comment, as well, on our library building that, unfortunately, was in such disrepair that it had to come down,” Branch said. “It’s really difficult for a lot of people to see, not only people who grew up with that building here, or people outside of here, who have an appreciation for the Carnegie Library.”
Branch then suggested that the energy from the anger being directed at the demolition be directed toward a more positive end.
“Maybe we can take a little bit of time and reflect on what has happened and use some of that energy in a very positive way to look at the other buildings that we have in our community that are beautiful, and we do want to have them remain here and keep them in good condition so they can be here for umpteen years,” Branch said. “We have a building in Conneaut that’s on the National Registry of Historic Places. Let’s move forward and think positively about how we can ensure that this doesn’t happen again.”
Sanford pointed to a neighboring city and a building that had much the same history as Carnegie Library as an example of what is possible when the right people with the right ideas take action.
“Shea’s Theater in Ashtabula is soon-to-be great example of what can happen when the right minds are put into action,” Sanford said.