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The famed East Tp. landmark, the Cox Mansion,
mysteriously burned early Saturday morning, despite efforts of the
Augusta Volunteer Fire Department to save the structure.
Carroll County Sheriff's deputies received an alarm that the 20-room
mansion, located on Tp. Rd. 260, was in flames about 6 a.m.
Saturday. Augusta firemen rushed to the scene but estimated
that the fire had been burning since shortly after midnight and that
it had been completely destroyed, except for the homemade brick
walls which encased the building.
The walls, constructed from the bricks baked in four kilns in 1887
on the farm and hauled to the construction by oxcart, remained
standing as in the picture at right but the high, gabled roof was
completely destroyed.
Also lost was the 37-stepped spiral staircase which wound up three
floors and was at one time lined with solid black walnut banisters.
The home was built by
Isaac Cox
while Isaac Grumm of Hanoverton was architect for the structure and
Owen Stackhouse
of Minerva was the carpentry contractor. Construction required
a year of labor and included plumbing in each of the bedrooms --
nearly an unknown luxury in those days -- and utilized steam heating
in contrast to the pot-bellied stove.
Upon its completion, the mansion was a popular gathering place for
society but in more recent years it had been vandalized with as many
as 136 windows broken and the elegant interior smashed.
The mansion became a traditional "haunted house" and was the subject
of numerous feature articles in area newspapers and magazines,
particularly at Halloween. Ghosts were reportedly inhabiting
the dwelling which was positioned atop one of the highest elevations
in the county and provided an eery silhouette against an
evening sky.
A number of its many owners announced intentions to rebuild
the building to its 1800 simp___ but none of them ever completed
the task.
The present owner of the ______ 4 acre estate is Andrew McKinnon
of 1067 Lincoln Ave., Cuyahoga Falls who purchased the
property in 1964. That was just one of the three
occasions ____ the property was sold during the 1960s and
even at the time of the fire there was another ______
interested in purchasing the estate.
Photos by Fox Studio and The Carroll Journal.
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