Name/Title
Newspaper article - "Purman House on North Morris Street Succumbed to College Demolition"Entry/Object ID
2018.1.20Scope and Content
"Purman House on North Morris Street Succumbed to College Demolition" newspaper clipping, newspaper unidentified, no date.
Transcribed by Linda (Widdup) Moon, 2019.
"Purman House on North Morris Street Succumbed to College Demolition
Since the 1960's Waynesburg College has systematically dismantled the architectural heritage of Waynesburg. Ivyhurst, one of our communities most beautiful mansions, was donated to the college by a faithful alumni but after only 30 years in the college's care was razed to make room for a gas station. The home of Prexie Stewart, one of the College's most respected presidents, was allowed to deteriorate empty for years, doors open to vandals, until it too fell to the bulldozer. North Ward School, with its deep historical roots dating to 1863 and used as the first High School in Greene County, was torn down in 1972 to expand the college's intramural facilities. On this $42,000 lot, those facilities now include 2 basketball hoops! The Huffman house on West Wayne Street was the home of the Delta Sigma Phi Fraternity since 1951. It along with Sayers Manor (former home of A.B. Miller and his wife Margaret Bell) were destroyed for the gym expansion.
Why these particular homes? Why not the less significant frame homes behind the gym on Franklin Street? Also, was Sayers Manor really necessary for the gym expansion? Its land now sits empty, a lot and a half away from the gym.
Most recently, the Purman house on North Morris Street succumbed to the college's demolition crew as the list of large stately homes in Waynesburg dwindles. This 3 story brick fortress hardly seemed to need demolished in our town full of other half deteriorated rental properties.
Yet, Waynesburg College needed another parking lot! The existing lot adjoining the Purman property is always empty. Why build a new one? Students instead park on the streets of our neighborhood, blocking residents homes and driveways. Several years ago, in an attempt to alleviate this problem, the Waynesburg Zoning Board requested that students be issued parking permits and then be required to park in a specific existing lot. The college refused.
If a parking lot is needed for Waynesburg College, why not next to the gym? Parking for basketball games has always been non-existent, while there is an empty lot next door.
We have wondered why the College would buy then purposely destroy these unique structures. The answers have always been the same: the cost of restoration would make the building impractical to sell or refurbish. Then without putting these properties up for sale (and on the tax rolls), or allowing citizens to purchase salvage, the college secretly calls the demolition crews.
Is money the most important issue here? We think not. Even at a cost of $700,000 to restore the Purman house to a usable state, the completed project would enhance the college and the neighborhood more than another unpaved, unlandscaped parking lot.
What a shame, that in an era when other cities, towns, and neighborhoods can see the lasting value of such properties and go to great lengths to preserve them, an institution of higher learning whose own history is so closely entwined with these very buildings has little concern for preserving them and the town that has supported it since 1850.
Friends, Neighbors and Alumni of the North Side"Collection
Candice Lynn Buchanan CollectionLexicon
Search Terms
Huffman family, Miller family, Purman family, Sayers family, Waynesburg (Pa.)--Houses, Waynesburg (Pa.)--Streets--Morris StreetOther Names and Numbers
Other Number
CAND-AN011-0004-0012Relationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Huffman, Thomas Riley [1866-1949], Miller, Alfred Brashear [1829-1902], Bell, Margaret Kerr [1826-1874]Provenance
Provenance Detail
Hoskinson Series - Candice Lynn Buchanan Collection, Baily Subseries - Hoskinson Series - Candice Lynn Buchanan CollectionNotes
The Hoskinson Series was originally owned by Nella Sophia (Hoskinson) Baily [1893-1975] - wife of Ralford Baily-Purman, daughter of Robert Luther Hoskinson and Margaret Rozella Smith. Nella passed the items to her daughter, Peggy Louise Baily, who later gave them to her friend, Karen Maset. Karen donated the items to Glenn Toothman and Candice Lynn Buchanan for the Greene Connections: Greene County, Pennsylvania Archives Project in 2016-2018. After digitization, the Hoskinson Series was donated to the Greene County Historical Society for preservation.
Source Citation: Newspaper article - "Purman House on North Morris Street Succumbed to College Demolition", item no. CAND-AN011-0004-0012, Hoskinson Series donated by Karen Maset, Candice Lynn Buchanan Collection, Greene Connections Archives Project (www.GreeneConnections.com).