M. Chris Manning, executive director of the Overfield Tavern Museum, and Ben Sutherly, president of the museum’s board of trustees, represented the museum as one of 18 successful grant applicants on Statehood Day, March 1, 2022, at the Statehouse in Columbus. The museum will receive a $20,000 grant through the Ohio History Fund.
Courtesy photo
Workers from Midwest Maintenance of Piqua remove wood siding in fall 2021 to expose the original 1808 logs of the Overfield Tavern Museum, Troy’s oldest surviving building, original gathering place, and Miami County’s first courthouse. The structure remains on its original foundation.
Courtesy photo
For the Miami Valley Today
TROY – The Overfield Tavern Museum is pleased to announce that it has received a competitive matching grant of $20,000 through the Ohio History Fund – funding that will play a key role in ongoing restoration work at Troy’s oldest surviving building.
The grant was officially announced this morning at the Ohio Statehouse as part of Statehood Day activities. The museum was one of 37 applicants that applied for grants, 18 of which will receive funding.
“We are humbled and grateful that the Ohio History Connection review panel recognized the historic significance of the building that houses the Overfield Tavern Museum, as well as our educational mission,” said M. Chris Manning, the museum’s executive director. “This grant lifts us past the halfway point in raising about $350,000 for the museum’s ongoing restoration.”
Officials with the museum, located in downtown Troy at 201 E. Water St., will continue to work throughout 2022 to raise the remaining funds needed for the project, which includes replacement of the building’s roof, completed in 2020, and repairs to its exterior log walls, now underway. Restoration work will be historically accurate and return the building to its early 19th-century appearance, preserving as much of the original material as possible and ensuring the building will endure for the benefit of future generations.
Contributions to the Overfield Tavern Museum’s capital campaign can be mailed to the museum at 201 E. Water St., Troy, OH 45373.
In addition to local support, this project is made possible in part by the Ohio History Fund, a grant program of the Ohio History Connection. The Ohio History Fund is made possible by voluntary contributions of state income tax refunds, sales of Ohio History “mastodon” license plates, and other donations. For more information on the fund, visit www.ohiohistory.org/historyfund.
