Kiwanis Club’s 100th offers peek at piggery
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The Kiwanis Club of Barberton is inviting the community to celebrate its centennial 2-5 p.m. Sept. 22 and at the same time take a peek inside city founder O.C. Barber’s piggery at 248 E Robinson Ave.
By CHRISTINA McCUNE
BGNN managing editor
BARBERTON One of the iconic buildings in the city will be open to the public near the end of September as part of a fundraiser for a good cause and a milestone celebration. If that’s not enough to entice you, how about this: there’s ice cream involved.
The Kiwanis Club of Barberton is inviting the community to celebrate its centennial 2-5 p.m. Sept. 22 and at the same time take a peek inside city founder O.C. Barber’s piggery at 248 E Robinson Ave.
The lavish 300-foot barn with patriotic colors was built in 1912 as the last major barn completed on the Anna Dean Farm and was nicknamed the “Pork Palace,” according to www.annadeanfarm.com. The Piggery was used to house the Berkshire swine on the Anna Dean Farm until 1915. The Piggery barn boss and his family lived in a nice set of rooms that looked down on the herd in the two wings of the barn. Like all barns on the Anna Dean Farm the Piggery was always kept clean and fresh, the website notes.
After a case of cholera was detected in the herd, the Piggery was scrubbed down with bleach and sheep were moved into the structure. The swine herd was replenished, but they were moved to simple wooden “A” frame structures behind the Robinson Avenue greenhouses, according to the website. The sheep occupied the Piggery for only two years before Barber sold them because they killed the grass when they grazed. From 1917 until 1920, the next tenants in the Piggery were young calves and the barn was renamed the Calf Barn. Grass around the Piggery was replanted after the sheep were sold off, the website notes.
The inside of the historical building has been renovated and can be rented for special events.
This year, the Kiwanis Club of Barberton is celebrating 100 years. The club has always had an interest in history, said president Bob Snyder, so the collaboration seems fitting to have the benefit ice cream social in one of Barberton’s historical buildings.
The Kiwanis Club of Barberton, which has about 50 members and is one of a few Kiwanis clubs in the area, spearheaded the creation and installation of the bronze O.C. Barber statue by Lake Anna.
Snyder, who also is one of the founding members and president of the Barberton Historical Society, said during the ice cream social there will be a gallery of Anna Dean Farm pictures in one of the wings so people can browse and take a gallery tour.
Kiwanis Club members, friends of the club and historical society members will be at various posts talking about history. Snyder said some historical society books may be for sale. This year also happens to be the 50th anniversary of the historical society.
In the other wing, Skoops ice cream will do a fundraising benefit for Kiwanis Club charities and a portion will go toward Barberton Kiwanis scholarships and other projects the club does in the community. Membership chairman Bob Leasure will play piano and period music during the event. For information about membership in the club, call Leasure at 330-289-0984.
While the ice cream social is a fun way for the community to be involved in the celebration, the club will formally celebrate its 100th anniversary with a banquet Oct. 18 at St. George Church. Reservations may be made for the banquet.
Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers, according to the website. Kiwanians work to develop future generations of leaders and projects include revitalizing neighborhoods, organizing youth sports programs, tutoring, building playgrounds, and performing countless other projects to help children and communities.
For more information, visit www.barbertonkiwanis.org and find the club on Facebook. Email [email protected].
