The city earlier this year sought proposals from people interested in rehabbing the cabin, which dated to the 1800s. But after receiving many inquiries, only one developer visited the cabin and after being inside decided not to pursue the opportunity. A city building official who was part of that visit to the cabin was so concerned with the building’s stability, he decided it should be demolished on an emergency basis.
“Realistically, I just don’t want them to sit in storage forever, especially because some of them are so big we didn’t have a place to store them indoors,” said Liz Hayden, Hamilton’s director of planning. “We’re open to any proposal, but in anticipation of having a lot of interest, I stated priorities.”
Hayden has extended the time Hamilton people can request the logs, which will be awarded to people whose projects meet as many of these city-ranked goals as possible, including: Used within Hamilton, help restore another historic property, used for a project the public can benefit from (within a park, museum, etc.), done by a Hamilton organization, business, or individual is submitting the proposal and designating part of any proceeds from the logs to benefit the non-profit Historic Hamilton.
A form to request one or more of the logs can be found at this link: Historic Log Cabin Logs.
Hamilton historian Brian Lenihan said he was disappointed the city didn’t do more to save the cabin: “Of course, I haven’t been inside it, but I think the city should have done more to try and save it.” “I have a deep appreciation for historic preservation,” Hayden said. “And there’s no doubt we could always do more, if we had unlimited resources.”
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