A house built in 1832 just along the Ohio River south of the Willow Island Lock and Dams is seeing its last days.

“We out here in the Newport area would like to see it saved,” said Jack Haessly, whose lumber company is just south of the home on Ohio 7. “Before the dam went in, (Ohio) 7 passed in front of that building. That’s why the front of the home faces the river, it’s where the road was. And for a long time the Hensler family lived there and had their market there.”

But before the Henslers the home stood as a legacy of the Barker family in Washington County.

The Judge Joseph Barker. Jr. House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was built by Col. Joseph Barker for his son. It was placed on the register due more to the ties of Col. Barker’s other architectural contributions– including the second Washington County Courthouse and the Blennerhassett mansion– and his documentation of pioneer life in Marietta, than any significant events at the home itself.

“Joseph Barker lived this pioneer history. Better still for later generations, he recorded it, that the spirit of the times would not sink into oblivion,” wrote George Blazier, a librarian and archivist for Marietta College in 1958.

Rodney Parker, an archeologist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the building was converted into office space for the corps in the 1960s when the Willow Island Lock and Dams were under construction and the house has remained the property of the corps thereafter.

“But since it’s been been vacated it’s degraded due to neglect and weathering,” said Parker. “The derecho storm (in 2012) really impacted the integrity of the house.”

Now more than 40 years after the completion of the Willow Island project, the white brick two-story Flemish-style structure that is five bays wide with many windows, a metal roof and sandstone foundation are to be demolished.

“We did have some discussions as recently as 2013 to relocating the home,” said Parker, who mentioned that the 2013 meeting had 15 local residents and historic preservation representatives in attendance. “But we had difficulty identifying candidates when looking at the cost of rehabilitation. We believe that demolition is the most cost-efficient way to mitigate the decline.”

Further reasons for the demolition will be discussed at a public informational meeting at 6 p.m. Aug. 31 at the Washington County Public Library, 615 Fifth St., Marietta.

“We had a public meeting in 2013 to look at alternatives, namely relocation, finding a lessee, leaving it as is or demolition,” said Parker. “We’re going to go into the cost of those alternatives and how we have reached our numbers at the coming meeting.”

Local historian Scott Britton said the younger Barker was not only a judge in Washington County Common Pleas Court until his death but had also served as a lawmaker in the 1830s in the Ohio General Assembly.

“He was a state representative,” said Britton. “He grew up in the Barker house out in the Devola area which is also on the register. There’s not a whole lot of historical register homes in our county though so it’s always sad to see those lost.”

Linda Showalter, Special Collections librarian for Marietta College, said Barker Jr. was also a senator in the Ohio General Assembly and was well-known in town for riveting speaking engagements and being a role model for young men. Judge Barker died Jan. 6 1860 at 69 as the oldest white native of Ohio born after the 1787 organization of the Northwest Territory.

While the home and its one-time occupants are notable, there doesn’t appear to be a use for it any longer, said Eric Richendollar, a librarian for the genealogy branch of the county library.

“Of course we want to save as much as we can, but if it’s not being used and no one has come up with a good idea for the use of it like the Armory, then because it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere I don’t know what could be done,” said Richendollar.

If you go

¯ What: Public Meeting about Barker House Demolition.

¯ When: 6 to 7:30 p.m. Aug. 31.

¯ Where: Washington County Public Library, 615 Fifth St., Marietta.

Source: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.