Historic Ohio church building with Episcopal, AA ties gets short-term demolition reprieve

The structure that had been the home of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Akron, Ohio, until 1952 and has ties to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous and noted citizens of the city, was slated for demolition in June until the owner received a 90-day reprieve. Photo: Google map street view

[Episcopal News Service] An Akron, Ohio, building that formerly housed the congregation of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and has ties to the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous as well as the city’s noted citizens, was given a 90-day demolition reprieve, seven years after the stone structure was badly damaged in a fire.

The congregation of St. Paul’s was formed in 1835, just 10 years after the city of Akron was founded. It built a church in 1847, which was replaced by  a new church and Sunday school space built in 1884, as well as worship space built next to it in 1907.

Congregation worshipped in the structure now targeted for demolition until 1952, when it built a new building about three miles to the northwest on land donated by the family of Harvey Firestone. The Firestone family also gave money to the University of Akron so it could purchase the former church building, which then was renamed the Firestone Conservatory of Music.

During the time St. Paul’s worshiped in its former building, members included U.S. Rep. George W. Crouse and Harvey S. Firestone, president of Firestone Tire & Rubber Company. The building also was the site of the 1947 wedding of Firestone’s granddaughter Martha to William Clay Ford, grandson of the late Henry Ford.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

According to the Akron Beacon Journal, the building served as the Firestone Conservatory of Music from 1952 until 1976. In 1976 the University of Akron’s Ballet Center was housed there, until it moved to a new space on campus in 2006.

The Akron Signal, a local nonprofit news site, reported that the building, which has been vacant since 2006 and was badly damaged by fire in 2018.

Tony Troppe then purchased the building from the university in 2021 for about $100,000, the Beacon Journal noted. This year, Akron Vacant Building Board agreed in June to allow Troppe more time to comply with a list of requirements for the structure, including securing the building, getting city inspections and producing initial plans for the building. Otherwise, the remaining structure could face demolition.

Alcoholics Anonymous began in 1935 in Akron, Ohio, the outcome of a meeting between Bill W., a New York stockbroker, and Dr. Bob S., an Akron surgeon. Dr. Bob S. was Dr. Robert Smith, and according to an online network devoted to the history of AA, Smith was part of several area churches before attending St. Paul’s.

Along with Bill Wilson, Smith is considered a co-founder of AA, and Smith’s Akron home is a National Park Service site.

The Akron Signal also noted that the Rev. Walter Tunks, St. Paul’s rector from 1930 to 1953, hosted meetings at the church that were “a forerunner of Alcoholics Anonymous.”

— Melodie Woerman is an Episcopal News Service freelance reporter based in Kansas.