The City of Akron’s plan to demolish all of Firestone Plant #1, including its clock tower, runs afoul of a 2024 agreement the city made with Ohio’s State Historic Preservation Office — and the office is pushing back on Akron to ensure the clock tower can be preserved.
In a Nov. 24 letter to Mayor Shammas Malik that was recently made public, State Historic Preservation Officer Diana Welling said it had come to her attention that Akron might not be able to uphold the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding signed Aug. 8, 2024.
The agreement came as the city sought a waiver to demolish Firestone Plant #1, at 1200 Firestone Parkway, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The State Historic Preservation Office was required to grant a waiver before the building would be eligible for demolition, the agreement says…