Federal legislation introduced this week concerning the Joseph Barker Jr. House outside of Newport has signaled a united front and reversed previous condemnation.

The nearly 200-year-old house south of the Willow Island Lock and Dam was scheduled for demolition in the fall of 2018 by the present owners, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

But after two years of organizing, along with a private purchase of land as an option to move the property and political lobbying that execution was stayed and now U.S. Senators Rob Portman, R-OH, and Sherrod Brown, D-OH, and U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-OH, have introduced coinciding bills in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to convey ownership of the property to the nonprofit Friends of the Barker House.

Senate Bill 3335 and House Bill 5960 each ask the nation’s legislators to require the Secretary of the Army “to convey certain Federal property in the State of Ohio to the Friends of Barker House.”

“I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation to preserve an important piece of history of the Northwest Territories and my home state of Ohio,” said Portman in a press release. “The Barker House dates back almost 200 years and has a rich history that will now be enjoyed by future generations.”

The work to convey property ownership is a significant, but preliminary step in preservation, noted Wes Clarke, a local archaeologist and the Friends of The Barker House vice president for development.

“We’ll want to have the property surveyed, including for any hazardous waste before we take ownership, but assuming the bill is passed and the property transfer takes place in some ways this is just the beginning of the process to save the structure,” he said. “Even a year ago though, I don’t think any of us could have predicted this outcome that we could potentially keep the structure in its original location.”

In 2018, Friends of the Barker House President Jack Haessly purchased property across Ohio 7 from his family business as a potential relocation spot for the house if it could be moved. However, after Preservation Ohio recognized the site on its most endangered list for 2018 in August of that year and Portman visited the Corps property in September 2018 additional weight was thrown behind preservation advocacy.

“The Friends of the Joseph Barker Jr. House are grateful to Senators Portman and Brown and Representative Johnson for their efforts to preserve this significant structure and prepare the conveyance legislation,” said Haessly. “We now look forward to the next tasks for restoration and program development.”

The house was last used in the 1960s by the Corps as office space while the dam was under construction.

“The brick structure we believe was original, though there are some wooden additions we’re not sure can be salvaged,” noted Clarke. “But our general intention is to restore the brick and the interior in a historically sensitive way. We intend to continue operating under the advice and guidance from the state historic preservation office.”

The Ohio Department of Transportation has also been involved in the preservation discussions in the last year, fielding options for additional road access to the house from Ohio 7 under the direction of Director Jack Marchbanks, who noted in the summer of 2019 that technical designs to add an intersection and potential driveway were under development beginning northeast of the house.

Also by last summer talks concerning turning over land and the structure were more favorable.

“If you’ve read David McCullough’s latest book, ‘The Pioneers,’ the name of Joseph Barker sounds very familiar… (the house) is an important part of both national and local history,” said Johnson. “Everyone involved came to the table with a can-do bipartisan spirit, determined to find a solution that will save this historic home, and we’re on the right track.”

Senators Brown and Portman are co-sponsors on Senate Bill 3335 and Johnson is the sole listed sponsor of House Bill 5960.

According to Congress.Gov, the bills have been referred to committee. To track the coinciding bills visit bit.ly/SB3335 and bit.ly/HB-5960 for developments and amendments.

Janelle Patterson can be reached at jpatterson@mariettatimes.com.

At a glance:

• The Joseph Barker Jr. House was built around 1828 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

• Preservation Ohio recognized the site on its most endangered list for 2018 in August of that year.

• U.S. Sen. Rob Portman first visited the house in September 2018.

• In July 2019, negotiations to remove demolition from the U.S. Army Corps schedule for the structure combined the resources of the Friends of the Barker House nonprofit, the Ohio Department of Transportation, Preservation Ohio and federal legislators.

• Portman delivered remarks on the Senate floor in November highlighting the house and its significance to Southeast Ohio and national history.

• On Tuesday, U.S. Senate Bill 3335 and U.S. House Bill 5960 were introduced before the federal legislative bodies.

Source: Times research.