Great Stone Viaduct Historical Education Society Receives EPA Award
BELLAIRE — Bellaire’s Great Stone Viaduct Historical Education Society received a regional award Thursday morning for its work redeveloping the former railroad yard surrounding the Great Stone Viaduct in the Ohio River community.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency presented the U.S. EPA Region 5 Award for Outstanding Contributions in Brownfield Redevelopment to the Great Stone Viaduct Historical Education Society at the Bellaire Public Library Thursday morning. Threatening inclement weather forced planners to move the presentation inside from the viaduct site.
Project coordinator for the Ohio Brownfield and voluntary action of Ohio EPA, Shelby Powell, welcomed organizations, partners and the public.
Project coordinator for the Ohio Brownfield and voluntary action of Ohio EPA, Shelby Powell welcomes organizations and partners to the presentation of the U.S. EPA Region 5 Award for Outstanding Contributions in Brownfield Redevelopment to the Great Stone Viaduct Historical Education Society. (Barnesville Area News photo)
“We’re here today to celebrate the Great Stone Viaduct Historical Education Society for its incredible work transforming the historic Great Stone Viaduct,” Powell said. “The Ohio EPA supported the project through environmental assessments over several years, which helped leverage nearly half a million dollars in cleanup funding through the Ohio Department of Development.”
It’s a great example of how local vision and state support can come together to create something for the community, Powell added.
The society’s work consisted of redeveloping the former rail yard that was restricted due to environmental contamination. The site that honors the history of the railroad and community is now an inviting public space.
The grant money, totaling $400,000, was spent on work including removing and replacing contaminated soil, grassing it over and, adding sidewalks.
Today,a 20-arch portion of the stone viaduct is open to the public with a walking trail, overlook and plaza.
The Region 5 Brownfield Award is presented every two years during the National Brownfields Training Conference, recognizing a project in each state across Region Five, which includes the states of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The Brownfield assessment program provides free environmental assessments to communities that are in need but lack resources. The environmental assessment is a sampling to figure out what contamination is on site, so funds can be sought at a later time to clean up the area.
The Ohio EPA worked with the Belomar Regional Council leveraging nearly $500,000 through the Ohio Department of Development Brownfield Remediation Program.
Supervisor of the Voluntary Action Program in the Brownfield program, Corin Fogle, shared the significance of the award.
“The award is meant to honor environmental progress, community vision and long term impact,” she said.
Chairperson of the Belmont County Land Land Reutilization Corporation and Belmont County Treasurer Kathy Kelich helped secure key grant funding that supported the project.
Chairperson of the Belmont County Land Land Reutilization Corporation and Belmont County Treasurer Kathy Kelich speaks about the U.S. EPA Region 5 Award for Outstanding Contributions in Brownfield Redevelopment presented to the Great Stone Viaduct Historical Education Society Thursday morning.(Barnesville Area News photo)
“We have to love and preserve our history or else it leaves us,” she said. “The viaduct, the train, the train yard, the railroad, all of that is vital to this area because that’s what we were at one point in time, so we need to make sure people see that”.
Executive director of the Community Improvement Corporation of Belmont County Crystal Lorimor said restoring the viaduct has been a project several years in the making.
In 2020, the CIC and the Ohio EPA did a vision plan for the village for an area from the high school to the Great Stone Viaduct, to determine how people wanted to use the area, how they currently use it and what they would like to see through a community survey. Since the original vision plan, the CIC has helped secure more than $200,000 for assessment and engineering work in project area.
Lorimor is currently working on a similar brownfield study for the Village of Barnesville that covers the downtown business district, depot yard and industrial sites including the former Watt Car and Wheel and sites along South Gardner and South Broadway streets.
“Today we’re celebrating the fact that we received a Brownfield grant to do the environmental mitigation on the property just north of the viaduct that will now open that up for recreation for the community,” said Ed Mowrer, chairperson for the Great Stone Viaduct Historical Education Society.
Ed Mowrer, chairperson for the Great Stone Viaduct Historical Education Society, shares his thoughts about receiving the U.S. EPA Region 5 Award for Outstanding Contributions in Brownfield Redevelopment. (Barnesville Area News photo)
Historical education society member Dan Frizzi shared that 15 years ago he had a vision. The property had been abandoned by the railroad and was covered with weeds and trees. The viaduct is an iconic symbol in the history of the Bellaire community. A group of individuals got together, created a board, and began planning for the future.
“I can’t say enough to thank all of you for the hard work that you put in,” he said. “I know there’s been many, many hours that you’ve spent on our behalf, and I want to thank you all, because this is a project that we can all be proud of.”
Significance of the Great Stone Viaduct
(Belmont County Tourism photos)
The Belmont County Tourism Council website notes that “few structures in Belmont County are as iconic as the Great Stone Viaduct. For over 150 years, the towering stone arches have greeted visitors to Bellaire, Ohio. On June 21, 1871, the first train traveled over the 43 stone arches connecting Ohio to West Virginia.
“The Great Stone Viaduct served as the western approach to the former Baltimore and Ohio railroad bridge spanning the Ohio River.
“The Great Stone Viaduct was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, and it attracts many tourists and railroad enthusiasts each year. The Viaduct is a visual reminder of the community’s past and rich railroad history as well as a display of strength and engineering.”
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