WATCH: Historic home in Fairfield demolished

The historic Cooper House was demolished Monday, which cleared the way for the expansion of Marsh Park.

City Council unanimously voted last week to demolish the structure, despite efforts by a community group to save the home built by one of the first settlers in the area now known as Fairfield.

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Fairfield Mayor Steve Miller said the money just wasn’t there to save the building.

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the wants,” he said after the April 23 City Council vote. Miller said the city would have to spend upwards of $1 million to fix and maintain the building, and the community group — Save the Cooper House committee — told city officials they’d secure funding, but no concrete plan had been submitted.

The city acquired the 3.3-acres of land known as the Muskpf property in 2016. The city purchased the land with an Ohio Public Works Commission grant. A barn was also on the property, but the city tore that down last year.

Fairfield City Engineer Ben Mann said some of the bricks from the home will be salvaged and reused for projects within Marsh Park. He also plans to give bricks to the Fairfield Historical Society and the Muskpf family, who sold the land to the city.

Mann said most of the trees on the property will be kept, but the honeysuckle bushes will be cleared to allow the lake to be viewed from River Road.

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