Mary Alice Reporting –
New Philadelphia is the recipient of a grant that will transform two of the four downtown quadrants.
Awarded to 12 counties, funding totaled $152 million, from Ohio’s Wonderful Waterfronts Initiative, to expand access to local waterways, revitalize historic riverfront downtown, and create new tourism and recreational opportunities.
For the city, they received just shy of $3 million, explains Service Director Ron McAbier.
“The gazebo will be removed. We’ll have a flat surface there with some steps around it, some seating. That will be level. There will be some grass areas. The Gavin’s quadrant kind of the same type of thing. That area will have some grass areas, some swings in there.”
McAbier envisions the House of Stone’s quadrant to have renewed landscape pavers, or paved or etched concrete.
Four metal arches are also planned to span the entrances to welcome visitors to the downtown quadrant area.
“South Broadway at Front, on North Broadway at Fair, and also on High Street at 2nd and 2nd Street. When you come into town it’ll say City of New Philadelphia and underneath say Established 1804.”
McAbier hopes to begin the project in spring 2025 and it would take an estimated six months for completion.
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