Landmarks Series: Sycamore Creek Barn Demolished

At the time of its demolition the barn contained random construction debris from other park projects including the cement parking spot barriers that were removed when the lot by the pond was resurfaced. *Photo by Heath Scofield*

This article is the first in a series discussing plans for Violet Township landmarks while also looking back at the history of the structures.

Upcoming stories will include the Sycamore Creek Park covered bridge, the Wigwam and the two corner gas stations in Pickerington Village.

February 19, 2023
By Rachel Scofield

On February 5, heavy equipment rolled into Sycamore Creek Park and leveled the white Ohio Bicentennial barn. Community members took to social media to mourn the loss and to chastise the city of Pickerington for its destruction.

Council member Kevin Kemper defended the city’s decision.

“Over the last couple of years, the city has been investigating what to do about the barn,” Kemper said. “I joined council in 2022 and it was a discussion point back then.”

Much of the lumber had rotted and the concrete foundation was crumbling. City officials feared for the safety of local teenagers who would break into the locked building to explore. *Photo by Heath Scofield*

“Many may not have realized, but the barn was in a serious state of disrepair. While outwardly it did not look too bad, multiple sections of the barn, its foundation, pillars, et cetera, were rotting. A professional evaluation of the barn by American Structure Point found it was structurally deficient and unsafe for any type of use.”

The evaluation’s findings included major structural issues such as the crumbling cement foundation and crushed load-bearing beams.

“Additionally,” Kemper said, “the barn had in recent years become a magnet for juveniles attempting to sneak in, explore it and vandalize it, despite it being locked. As a parent, I naturally think of worst-case scenarios when I see my kids doing anything even remotely dangerous. In this case, it doesn’t take much to envision how that barn could have been the scene of a horrible accident given its condition. It was a disaster waiting to happen.”

The barn reflected in the pond in the Summer of 2022. *Photo by Toby Scofield*

There had been discussions in council and committee meetings about the feasibility of saving the building.

“The city consulted with barn restoration companies and learned that any kind of restoration would have been extremely expensive, and very difficult.

Additionally, the Pickerington Historical Society confirmed that while the barn had been in place for decades, it had no historical community significance.” (See below.)

Even the citizen-run Pickerington Parks and Recreation Board (Kemper is the city council representative to that board) recommended that the barn be torn down because the barn’s disrepair and the fact that the city and the parks department were not able to utilize it.

“Removal opens up land in the park that can be repurposed for either a new building or some other facility that will benefit city residents,” Kemper said.

The barn photographed after the snowfall on January 19, 2024. *Photo by Heath Scofield*

At this time, Pickerington Parks and Recreation is still considering options for the continuation of Friday Night Flicks.

BSA Troops 256 and 7256 which had used the barn for storage have found alternative accommodations as has The Shaffer Team/Howard Hannah Realtors which used the barn to store equipment for Pickerington’s Annual Youth Fishing Derby.

The Barn’s History

In February 1977, the Village of Pickerington bought the 40-acre farm near Lockville Road from the John Vasko family for $120,000. The village paid $60,000 and secured a matching $60,000 grant, Over the years more land was acquired to bring the total acreage to 52.

Many of the local service groups held “work Saturdays” to help clear land, clean the water’s edge, remove fences and prepare land for use by athletic groups and recreation activities.

The village incorporated the property and developed it into a second park. The first park, “Pickerington Park” would be renamed “Victory”, and the new acquisition would be named “Sycamore Creek”. *

Although the property had been a farm for centuries, Mike Vasko (whose grandparents sold the property to the Village), said that the barn was built in the 1960s by the Ralph Smurr family.

Ralph Smurr with Marjorie outside the barn.
*Image from the* Lancaster Eagle Gazette July 19, 1968

For Ohio’s bicentennial in 2003, the state employed 19-year-old artist Scott Hagan to paint an official emblem on the side of a “highly visible historic barn” in each of Ohio’s 88 counties. According to OhioHistory.org, Hagan “traveled 65,000 miles and used 650 gallons of paint”.

For Fairfield County, the chosen barn was found at 4867 Lancaster-Kirkersville Road off State Route 158 in Lancaster. The city of Pickerington contracted a different artist to paint the same emblem on the barn in Sycamore Park.

(All but one of the 88 official bicentennial barns are still standing; the Ottawa county barn owned by Albert Apling was destroyed by a tornado in 1998. A listing of each location can be found on barnartist.com.)

*The information regarding the Village’s purchase of Sycamore Park was compiled for the Pickerington-Violet Township Historical Society by Cherie Kallenberg.

Thank you to the Pickerington-Violet Historical Society for the help with this article as well as Susan Fetters. Please check back at Pickerington Online for more articles in this series. Also, you may enjoy this look back at the Wetherell Dairy.