Located on the southwest corner of West Walnut Street and Claremont Avenue, the Harris House was most currently used as the Ashland County Bureau of Motor Vehicles and AAA. Now in contract, the question remains...who is interested? A fast food restaurant that will knock it down? Ashland University, which the president doesn't feel that historic buildings merit saving? This story is yet to unfold. Only the realtors know at this point.
F.E. Harris worked for the F.E. Myers and Bros Company for about 50 years. Mr. Harris had the house built at 502 Claremont in 1916. By the 1950s the home began to be used as office space and that is when the three car carriage house was torn down to make way for parking.
Since the BMV recently relocated, the home now sits empty. When the Harris House was built, every corner of West Walnut Street and Claremont Avenue had a grand home. Now it stands as the only home left at that intersection. Will this home suffer the same fate as the other mansions on Claremont and be torn down to make way for a fast food restaurant or gas station? Will it be chopped up further inside and out, past the point of recongition of a single family residence? For these reasons, the Harris House was #9 on my list of the top 10 endangered historic properties in Ashland County last August.
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