The Crowell Hilaka Historic District 

The Crowell Hilaka Historic District was entered onto the National Register of Historic Places in February 2020

Kelly Clark contacted the State Office of Historic Preservation, The Ohio History Connection (OHC), with a preliminary inquiry in 2015. Kelly then assigned the application process to FoCH.  After getting the OHC's enthusiastic approval for the project,  FoCH historian Lynn Richardson was assigned by RJRD to apply for the OHC's pipeline grant to hire researchers to complete the intensive documentation needed for the final application.  After receiving the full amount of the grant for $12,000.00, the RJRD selected writer/ research team Marcia Moll and Rick Sicha.  

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 Friends of Crowell Hilaka (FoCH), a nonprofit advocacy group partnering with the Richfield Joint Recreation District to preserve, protect, enhance, and promote Richfield Heritage Preserve (formerly Crowell Hilaka),  is pleased to relate that the 336-acre public park, once the location of the Girl Scout Camp Crowell Hilaka, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as “The Crowell Hilaka Historic District”. FoCH played a key role in this accomplishment.  Several eras of history are represented at the park (located at 4374 Broadview Road in Richfield) but when the Ohio History Connection was first approached about placing it on the register, they decided that the period of significance was 1937-1969 -- the time it served as a Girl Scout camp where thousands of girls and young women ventured into a world frequently described as “magic”. The listing doesn’t affect the park’s name or its marketing but it does certify the site as officially historic and bestows valuable recognition upon it.
FoCH plans to restore well-known inventor Jim Kirby’s iconic mill workshop – with its experimental hydroelectric generator designed to create power for his home and workshop (both located in the northern section of the park).  Kirby constructed a working model of a grist mill while he was still in school, indicating an early interest in water-powered machinery. His waterwheel was the first of its kind. Designed to work with a low flow stream, the hub of the water wheel is balanced on ball bearings and the wheel oriented for the most efficient energy transfer. The rebuilt mill will showcase the technology of energy production. Restoration work on the mill, which was originally built in 1922 and had already been listed as an individual entity on the National Register of Historic Places, will be completed in stages as funds are brought in.  To date, nearly $75,000 has been raised toward the $500,000 goal. When the mill is fully rehabilitated and the waterwheel again turning, it will become a tourist attraction as well as a picturesque site to learn about science and engineering -- bringing people from all over Northeast Ohio to Ohio’s Hidden TreasurerTM Richfield Heritage Preserve.
For more information, go to www.friendsofcrowellhilaka.org. 



 Contact:  Karen Smik
                                                                                                                330-659-4750
                                                                                                                [email protected]