The feeling around Myerstown is that no one wants to see the George D. Coover Mansion at 301 S. Railroad St.meet an ignominious end by the wrecker’s ball.
Originally, that end was expected to come on July 5 when the house was scheduled for demolition if a buyer had not come forward by June 26. The mansionhas already dodged the wrecking ball three times, but time is running out.
“It should be restored and preserved,” said Barry Ludwig, assistant borough manager, on a recent tour of the three-story building that dates back to the 1860s.
Diane Krammes, who works in the borough but lives in the Pine Grove area, was instrumental in stirring up interest to save the Coover Mansion through coverage of the mansion in the May edition of “This Old House Magazine” in its “Save This Old House” section.
“I contacted them and they published a story and photos of the house,” Krammes said, adding that the story has generated some interest where there was hardly any before.
She said, “I’m concerned about the house because I work in the borough, and want to see my taxes put to good use.”
“Diane called This Old House and they approached us,” said Borough Council President Bryan L. Rittle of the opportunity for national exposure. “We’ve gotten 16 people interested in the property.”
Those 16 include queries from New York, Texasand Illinois.
Of those 16, Rittle says four parties, including two from the area, have expressed serious interest with letters of intent.
These developments have resulted in a stay of execution for the mansion.
“We won’t meet that July 5 demolition date,” Rittle said.
The demolition date has been pushed back to mid- to late July to meet legal requirements of the Sunshine Law. Once the new date is established, it will be advertised in local newspapers, Rittle said.
In the interim, the borough will formally prepare an agreement of sale with deed restrictions which will be sent to the four parties, thus buying extra time for the mansion.
The restrictions include:
• The buyer must keep the building as a single-family residence.
• An extension at the back of the building constructed in the 1950s must be torn down.
• It must be renovated to the style of what the house once was.
“We don’t want it turned into apartments,” Rittle said of the deed restrictions. “We want it restored as a historical property.”
Then there is the cost of renovation and restoration. Rittle estimates that it could take as much as $250,000 to do the job.
“The interested parties have been made aware of the cost,” he added.
Deadline for queries was June 26. Bidding will decide a buyer.
Today the Coover Mansion may have a broken heart, but its soul can still be felt even though the house has fallen into disrepair and neglect.
Signs of its Queen Anne and Second Empire architectural styles such as its symmetrical windows, rectangular front tower, a pocket door or two, a curved elongated bannister, a sealed-off fireplace, 12-feet-high ceilings, and curved doorway casings in the entry vestibule point to its once proud past as the home of newspaper publisher George D. Coover. Aging vinyl siding covers the mansion’s red brick walls.
In May of 1894, Coover and J. H. Bassler became owners of the Myerstown Enterprise, the borough’s first English language weekly newspaper published every Friday.
During the Civil War, Bassler formed the 149th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers with himself as captain. They became known as the Second Bucktail Regiment and fought at the Battle of Gettysburg where Bassler was severely wounded.
When Bassler retired in 1896, Coover took over as the paper’s publisher. He kept the Enterprise running until its last edition on Dec. 20, 1918, citing that newsprint had become scarce and costly during World War I.
According to the Aug. 23, 1926 edition of The Lebanon Semi-Weekly News, Coover was considered “most successful” and had considerable real estate holdings. In that same year, he was approached to run for Lebanon County Commissioner on the Republican ticket. Coover also was president of Myerstown’s Good Will Fire Company and active in Lebanon County’s Firemen’s Association.
He died in 1934 and willed his mansion to his wife Lizzie.
On April 6, 1953, Lizzie sold the house to John F. Danner, a funeral director in Womelsdorf, for $18,500. Danner sold it in 1959 for $34,500 to a group that turned it into the Twin Spruce Convalescent Home.
Since then, the mansion has gone through three owners, the last of whom, David C. Whitten and his wife Cheryl, allegedly ran it as a foster home.
Rittle saidthe Whittensdisappeared from Myerstown when the borough was made aware of the shoddy and deteriorating condition of the house.
On Jan. 15, 2014 a near knockout blow was aimed at the mansion when the building was declared unsafe and unfit for human occupancy or use under Section 403.84 of the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code.
Now the Coover Mansion with its windows and doors boarded up, utilities non-existent, is barely on life support. Weather-beaten strings of Christmas lights dangle from the second floor. Wind chimes hang motionless over the front porch.
The Myerstown Borough acquired the structure for back taxes in June of last year, and has been maintaining its grounds ever since.
According to records of the Lebanon County Sheriff’s Office, the property went to Sheriff’s Sale on April 12, 2016. No bids were received, and the property reverted to Myerstown Borough for $8,522, the amount of back taxes owed on the property. The transaction was entered and filed at the sheriff’s office on June 27, 2016.
Since it was the plaintiff in the failed sale, Myerstown Borough cannot file the property for another sheriff’s sale.
“Yes, it would be a nice thing to have it preserved,” said Myerstown Mayor Gloria R. Ebling, of the Coover Mansion, “to make it a beautiful building again.”
However, Ebling addedthe borough does not have the funds to undertake such a project, and that demolition is its last resort.
“We can’t afford it,” Rittle said of the mansion. “If private citizens can do it, and save its historical value, that would be great.”
Brenda Phillips, a State Farm Insurance agent in Lebanon who grew up in Myerstown, recalls visiting the mansion with her Girl Scout troop to sing holiday carols for its residents. At that time it was known as the Twin Spruce Convalescent Home.
“When I belonged to the Myerstown Junior Women’s Club,” Phillips continued, “we would go over there to have birthday and Christmas parties for the residents.”
Phillips, who has done extensive research on the building, saidthe mansion is unique to Myerstown.
“As far as its style, it’s not a typical colonial,” she said of the need to preserve the mansion. “It needs to return to its place and proper integrity in Myerstown’s history. Hopefully the building has another chapter, and this is not the end of its story.”
For information on the bidding process, interested parties can contact the Myerstown Borough at 717-866-5038.
