Maryhaven settlement costs taxpayers $700K
It will cost Warren County $700,000 to settle the fate of a dilapidated orphanage and a 145-year-old trust established to help orphans in the county.
In 1867, Mary Klingling willed $40,000 to Warren County to create an orphanage to assist children “of German parentage.” The money was used to construct the Maryhaven orphanage on a 53-acre parcel on the northwest corner of Ohio 63 and Markey Road in Lebanon.
Commissioners sued the state last year to be declared owners of the property and have the trust nullified because it had no money left.
The settlement calls for the county to pay $700,000 to a trust established to “financially assist private (nongovernmental) entities who provide services to troubled or at-risk juveniles living in Warren County.”
The new Klingling trust will be made up of five trustees; two appointed by the commissioners, two by the attorney general’s office and a fifth picked by the other four trustees. In exchange, the county is given ownership of the Mary Haven property. Commissioners said they plan to demolish the building, which has been condemned, in two to three months. earned a five-year state accreditation through April 30, 2017, the county agency announced.
The five-year accreditation follows a comprehensive review conducted by the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities.
The agency offers a wide variety of options, including early intervention, service coordination, family support, day services for adults, community employment, transportation and residential services, according to the local agency. For information, visit www.warrencountydd.com. County Historical Society’s Lunch & Learn program will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday.
It will feature the venerable Golden Lamb Inn and the 12 U.S. presidents who have stepped across its threshold. Local historian John Zimkus will discuss when and why these past, present and maybe future chief executives came to Lebanon and the Golden Lamb.
The program includes lunch, lecture and museum tour. Doors open at 10 a.m. for selfguided tours. A buffet lunch catered by the Golden Lamb Inn will be served at 11:30 a.m.
Tickets are $18 and must be purchased in advance. Call (513) 932-1817 for reservations. The Warren County Historical Society is at 105 S. Broadway St., Lebanon.