MANSFIELD — Imagine a warm summer evening spent watching the Mansfield Shakespeare Company perform in an outdoor setting with the historic Oak Hill Cottage in the background.
Or perhaps gathering to watch the downtown Mansfield fireworks on New Year’s Eve at midnight from the hill there that overlooks the city.
How about just a family picnic?
Those and a myriad of other possibilities will be available when the Richland County Historical Society undertakes its $500,000 “Restoring the View” project by completing the Oak Hill Terrace plan.
About Oak Hill Cottage
Oak Hill is a project of the Richland County Historical Society that is open to the public during regularly scheduled tour hours and by appointment for group tours.
The term cottage today means a small dwelling. But Oak Hill was built at a time when the term included large country cottage-villas, and many visitors today are surprised by its size.
It would be difficult to find a better documented mid-nineteenth century house than Oak Hill. It was featured with interior and exterior photos in an 1896 county atlas and was the focal point of Louis Bromfield’s first novel, The Green Bay Tree.
John Riley Robinson built the house for his family in 1847. Robinson was a railroad builder, mine engineer, and all-around capitalist. He situated his home beside an ancient oak tree on a hill overlooking the town.
Dr. Johannes Jones and his heirs purchased Oak Hill in 1864 and lived there until 1965 when the Historical Society purchased it and opened it as a house museum. Dr. Jones traveled city to city in his medical practice, advertising ahead of his arrivals and charging enormous fees for his cures. All the furnishings and artifacts throughout the house belonged to the Jones family, including clothing, photographs, furniture, and personal belongings from Victorian times.
— Source: Richland County Historical Society
The Richland County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday agreed to spend $100,000 from capital funds on the plan, the final dollars needed to fully finance the project across the street from the cottage just off Springmill Street on the city’s near north side.
Other funds are coming from: $125,000 from the Richland County Foundation, $125,000 from the Milliron Foundation, $125,000 from the Richland County Historical Society and $25,000 from other private community donors.
“It’s been confirmed to us that this is a historic site in the county and (funds) are for the preservation and restoration of a historic building,” Richland County administrator Andrew Keller said. “That is an acceptable expenditure for the commissioners.”
The approval came during a meeting with Blair McClenathan and Jennifer Kime, representing the historical society.
The county owns Oak Hill Cottage and the nearby carriage house. The historical society bought the building directly south of the cottage in 2012 for $30,000, a two-story structure that had been used for light manufacturing.
McClenathan said the first floor was being used by the society for workshops and storage.
The second floor has been removed and will become a terrace area that could be used for various outdoor events.
“Part of the long-term goal is to make Oak Hill more accessible to the public, a place that people could come have a picnic … see an outdoor theater event… things like that,” McClenathan said.
“We want to keep it open to many possibilities.”
Part of the project will include vacating the short street that connects Springmill Street and Oak Hill Place between the cottage and the planned terrace.
That work, if approved by Mansfield City Council, would be done around the time as a new signalization project where Springmill Street bends to turn northwest.
“The idea is to create more of a sense of place for it, instead of now where it’s this beautiful cottage that is cut off by roads and industrial,” Kime said.
“I was sort of surprised when we started (removing the second floor) how many residents were contacting us and asking what was going on. They were excited.”
(Below are photos taken Tuesday morning around Oak Hill Cottage, showing the planned location for a new terrace south of the building.)
“We have talked about like tea parties and things like that. There’s always people who want to do those types of things at the cottage and the space is limited,” Kime said.
“We have had groups interested in doing things … community-based events, fundraisers, things like that could happen here, too.”
Richland County Commissioner Cliff Mears said he had many questions when he first heard of the financial request.
“I had a whole series of questions and I didn’t think it was a good idea (initially),” Mears said. “I put together a long list … and then I decided just to go take a look at it. Seeing it answered all of my questions.
“Seeing it on paper was so different from actually going out there. I was pretty enthusiastic once I did see it.”
Commissioner Tony Vero also praised the idea.
“I think this is great. We have talked about investment in the north end. We talked about driving traffic to events, which is also good for the cottage, right?” Vero said. “As more people come out, it will benefit the cottage. So it makes sense.”
McClenathan said plans are also underway to improve parking around the property
The project will likely be done by 2026, though Kime said there may be things that be done in the space perhaps by Christmas of this year.