What is the current ownership status and pending legal case against the Captain Scott House? During the construction of the new 161 freeway, this house was moved from 161 to the Kurtz Brothers gravel pit at the very edge of Alexandria. Last reports in the Advocate stated that Kurtz Brothers was suing the now defunct Alexandria Community Council (not to be confused with Alexandria Village Council) and one other now defunct entity; there have been no public updates for over a year. Any updated information you can present would be appreciated.
— Naomi C.
Driving through Alexandria and St. Albans Township, I found myself wondering the same thing: ‘Whose house is that?’
Originally, the Scott House belonged to Capt. Joseph M. Scott, a prominent Civil War veteran.
Scott was born in Utica on Jan. 9, 1830, before settling in Alexandria and St. Albans Township for the next 50 years.
Around 1870, Scott built his home on 40 acres of land in Alexandria, near what is now the intersection of Ohio 161 and Ohio 37, which came to be known as Scott’s Corners.
Before the Civil War, much of the southern part of St. Albans Township was involved in the Underground Railroad, helping runaway slaves on their journey to Canada. The Harrison Chapel Wesleyan Methodist Church, which Scott attended, included multiple members who actively participated in these efforts.
Scott enlisted in the Union Army on Oct. 9, 1861. As a captain, he led Company B of the 76th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His troops saw action at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, the Siege of Corinth and the Battle of Milliken’s Bend.
After the war, Scott returned to the area, prospered in the wool industry, and published a pamphlet in 1873, “Our Early Times – Historical Sketch of St. Albans Township.” The pamphlet gives a detailed glimpse into the history of the people who settled in the area.
He later served as justice of the peace in Licking County and ran unsuccessfully for state representative three times under the Prohibition Party, as well as once for lieutenant governor.
Scott died on Dec. 16, 1919. He and his wife, Emily M. Eastman, are buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Alexandria, which sits down the street from the current location of the Scott house.
The house was slated for demolition during construction on Ohio Rt. 161 in 2006. However, local residents intervened to save it. On April 22, 2007, the structure was moved to its new location on the west edge of Alexandria, next to the Kurtz Bros. Mulch & Soil site.
It has remained there for the past 18 years.
More than a year ago, the Kurtz Bros. Mulch & Soil filed for the property’s title in court and were awarded legal possession of the Scott House.
In a written statement, Jerry Bennett, operations manager for Kurtz Bros., wrote that Kurtz Bros. “were awarded possession of the House a little over a year ago, and we are looking into different options on what to do with the house.”
St. Albans Township Trustee Randy Almendinger called the current state of the Scott House “demoralizing.”
“You’ll see a couple windows are broken out. You’ve got those vines grown all through it. It’s kind of a mess,” Almendinger said. “I feel badly for it since I’m a trustee of that community for 16 years. It bothers me to see it do what it’s doing, but I don’t know at this point how to rectify the problems.”
Amendinger, along with the Friends of Captain Scott Committee, had previously worked to ensure the house was not destroyed during the Ohio Rt. 161 expansion.
“I used to have meetings with county commissioners and the Kurtz and everything else to try to make it work,” he said. “But we couldn’t come to an agreement. So [the Kurtz] said it’s their house because of where the property sits …So we just went, ‘okay, it’s yours.’ And then we had two or three people who had quite a bit of money and donations and stuff, and they all just kind of stepped away.”
The Scott House remains unoccupied today, with only birds nesting in the circular openings of its 155-year-old wooden exterior.
Thanks for asking away!
Tyler Thompson writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.