80-year-old legacy family barn destroyed by fire in Jackson Township
A family-owned barn, built long before I-270 cut through its hundred-acre farmland, burned to the ground Saturday in a massive fire that spread through the structure within five minutes. (Courtesy: Scarlet Pelegrin)
JACKSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WSYX/WTTE) — A family-owned barn, built long before I-270 cut through its hundred-acre farmland, burned to the ground Saturday in a massive fire that spread through the structure within five minutes.
Jackson Township firefighters are still unsure what caused the blaze, which broke out around noontime on Demorest Road near the township border with Grove City. Flames were caught on camera bursting through the roof within moments of the first report.
Firefighting operations saved the nearby farmhouse and several neighboring homes on Demorest Highlands Lane. No people or animals were injured.
The barn, built in the early 1940s by farmer George Ruoff, had originally served as storage and shelter for crops and livestock. The Ruoff family, according to several family members at the fire scene, owned farmland across much of modern-day Grove City and Jackson Township.
Later, Ruoff passed the farm onto younger family members Jack and Louellen McNabb (nee Ruoff).
"We had racehorses," Louellen said on Saturday. "We brought them over here, put up fences, built stalls in the barn, and we trained horses for many, many years."
Louellen and Jack still live on the farm, now reduced to 15 acres by eminent domain, land sales, and neighboring housing developments. The barn had since been retrofitted with a second-floor basketball court, and their 1940s vintage Ferguson farm tractor was still stored inside and ran for lawnmowing and garden tilling on the property.
Louellen's grandson Jerry Sowers now inhabits the farmhouse on the property.
"I don't know how many weddings have been held in this barn, but it's been many," said Jerry. "Many family gatherings, many parties; many good times."
"The good thing is that those memories will always last. We're never going to lose those," he said.
A 75-year-old "mobile voting booth" with metal wagon wheels still sits next to the barn and was relatively unscathed in Saturday's inferno. The trailer was towed around Grove City and Jackson Township for voters to use in the 1940s and 1950s, according to the family. They will now consider donating the trailer to an historical preservation group.
Insurance will cover damages to the main barn structure, which firefighters characterized as a total loss.
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