As a student of Ohio University, I am disappointed in the pending destruction of Building #26, known as the tuberculosis ward located at The Ridges. I believe that the university should preserve this building for a number of reasons.
First of all, if the university preserved the building, they could use it to educate people on the history of The Ridges. A lot of historical events took place here, and it should be used to teach people about the infamous mental hospital located in Athens. I have lived in Athens for three years now, and I loved learning about the history of The Ridges, and it’s one of the many things I love about Athens: its history. If this building were used to educate people about this historical place, then more people would appreciate and remember the lives that were changed here.
Next, the TB ward means a lot to the people of Athens and the Athens culture. I personally love hiking and exploring The Ridges, and it would be devastating to Athens and its citizens to see this historical building demolished. This quote in The Athens Messenger on Sept. 14 by Sara Brumfield sums up how much this building means to the community:
“The structures and the grounds of the old asylum are a treasured part of our county’s history and much loved by the community. There is a lot of public interest in the Asylum and the structures; the loss of any building there will be felt well beyond the boundaries of Athens County.”
According to Thomas Raabe’s article on Sept. 30 in The Athens News, it will take $300,000 to tear down Building #26. I think this is a ridiculous amount of money to put into a building to just tear it down. I propose that the university put this money toward restoring the building into a museum to teach the history of what took place there. After restoring the building, Ohio University could charge a small fee to enter the building so the university ultimately would be making money on this building that was just going to be destroyed.
Lastly, as of now, the university is spending a great deal of money to keep unwanted explorers out of this “unsafe” building. In the cited article above, Raabe said that the university is spending $45,000 to keep trespassers out. You know the saying “you always want what you can’t have?” Well, if this building weren’t off limits to curious people, then there wouldn’t be such a need to explore it.
These reasons that I have stated are for the best to preserve the history of The Ridges and the culture of Athens. If the TB ward were torn down, Athens would lose a part of its culture and uniqueness that this building brings it. We should change this building into an opportunity to educate people about this historical part of Athens.
Michelle McConkey is a junior studying adolescent-young adult mathematics education.
