May is Preservation Month
The National Trust for Historic Preservation focuses on May as Preservation Month. Here at Historic Yellow Springs, we practice preservation every day. It is our mission to preserve this unique village whose mineral springs date to 1722. We have a legacy of over 300 years!
PEOPLE SAVING PLACES has been the theme for Preservation Month and that includes all of you whether members, volunteers or visitors to Yellow Springs. Everyone contributes in ways big and small, and all support is welcome to preserve our unique history. Visiting Yellow Springs, you are sure to enjoy the glories of the past, but you will also learn the steps we continue to take moving forward into the future as we keep this unique village alive and breathing. We are all partners in this endeavor and you empower our work.
Historic Yellow Springs is on the National Register of Historic Places, a designation supported by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and managed by the National Park Service. It signifies that our site is worthy of preservation as well as community pride. It is a place to be treasured.
HYS founder Connie Fraley realized all this in 1974 when the property was purchased, and she worked diligently to preserve and reuse the historic buildings located here. It is important to note that all buildings in the village are original dating to 1900 but continue to be repurposed. HYS is recognized as a pioneer in repurposing its structures. Barns are now art studios and theatres; hotels are gallery/exhibition spaces and wedding venues; stone ruins serve as memorial sites.
Historian Nick Yetto wrote:
What do we do with glorious things that have outlived their original intent?
When we’re wise, we preserve them.
When we’re brilliant, we preserve and repurpose them.
HYS has been repurposing its structures since its founding and preserving all of them. Our work is never completed and continues. Let us share our current project which is Connie’s House on Art School Road. After founding HYS, the general store/post office had closed, and Connie purchased it to save it as part of the village history.
It has had a long life, beginning as a general store during the spa era. Mrs. Deery operated a millinery shop in the store offering ribbons, flowers and feathers of all variety for hats as well as cloaks for women. Storekeeper Anthony Olwine offered gingham and calicoes, hosiery as well as superfine and common cloths. In addition, he offered ironmongery in all varieties and mackerel by the barrel.
The Yellow Springs Post Office was added but the name was later changed to Chester Springs. It was here that the first telephone via switchboard was installed. Connie managed the house as a rental property and then she gifted it to the Chester Springs Studio. Plans are now on the drawing board to rehab the structure.