Mantua Restoration Society, Inc.

With COVID lockdowns lifted, life is resuming, although everyone is tryng to figure out what that means.

For Mantua Township and The Mantuia Restoration Society, Inc., it means in-person meetings and the hope of going ahead with work on getting the 1914 Mantua Township School building into use. (As a note, when the trustees refer to "the building," being used, they are referring almost exclusively to the annex.)

Thanks to the gesnerosity of MaRSI members and those who have attended our fund raisers, the restoration society has enough money to be able to restore one classroom on the main floor of the 1914 building.

Accordingly, at the July 1, 2021, trustees meeting, we submitted a proposal to do the following work in the north classroom:

1. Remove the carpet
2. Refinish the floor
3. Paint the walls and probably the ceiling

The total estimated cost of those refreshments to the room is $9900.

We also offered to replace the windows in the north classroom, although we did not expect that suggestion to be acceptable.* The cost of energy efficient, historically correct windows for that room would be $15,745.14.
Although some major restoration projects are done in stages and replace windows on one floor at a time, the trustees are on record as not wanting a "piecemeal" approach. Replacing windows in only one room would create that appearance.

At the August 5, 2021, Mantua Township Trustees meeting, the proposal was rejected, even though Chairman John Festa said it was good and professionally done.

We are getting news coverage again. THE PORTAGER, the fairly new on-line news source in Portage County, published extensive reports on the July 1 and August 5 trustees meetings. Reporter Lyndsey Brennan wrote an in-depth report on the history of the school since it was purchased by the Mantua Township trustees in 2004. At the August 5 meeting, she also asked several very pointed questions which the trustees either deflected or refused to answer.

Those reports are available at theportager.com. As this post is being keyboarded on August 16, they are shown as thumbnails at the top of The Portager home page. If you scroll through the items along the left side, the dates of the reports are August 4 and August 9.

Ben Wolford, publisher of The Portager, has given permission to use the reports and has also given a link to each of them. Take the time to click on each of the highlighted topics. Lyndsey Brennan has done a thorough, straighforward job in researching and writing them., She also included the text of the proposal, so you can see the details for yourself.

Here are The Portager links about these topics:

• Mantua Center School activists say it’s time to put the building to use
• Trustees rejected the Mantua Restoration Society’s proposal to renovate Center School first floor

We'd love to hear and share your Tales of Mantua Center School.  They can be about anything you remember: a favorite teacher, a prank, a snowball fight, (are kids still allowed to have those?) or almost anything else.  We'll try hard not to embarrass anyone, and you can always request to remain anonymous (although the statute of limitations has long since expired!).  Please tell your friends about this because we'd like to keep that page full and we see it as a possible way to reconnect with long-lost classmates from Mantua Center School days.

All stories can be submitted through our Contact Us page.