MANSFIELD -- Visitors touring the Mansfield Blockhouse in South Park this summer will enjoy a new courtroom setting.
The benches were made by students in the Mansfield City Schools' IMAC -- Interactive Media and Construction Academy program -- at the Ocie Hill Neighborhood Center.
The blockhouse, a link to the city's pioneer history, will be open June 1. It was one of the focal points of Mansfield's bicentennial celebration in 2008.
Early settlers used the blockhouse, built in 1812, as a fortress against American Indian attacks and as a courthouse and jail. It was built where Central Park stands, and moved a century ago to South Park. Restoration began in 2007, with heating and electricity installed.
Local painter Brian Dormaier made sure students had materials for the project. Dormaier, on the Blockhouse Completion Committee, said students made the benches from wood he salvaged from a farmhouse dating to 1851 on Painter Road. The benches reassemble those in the former courthouse.
"They did excellent work," Dormaier said of the IMAC students. "The students used period-dated historic wood to build benches for the historic blockhouse."
Instructor Chuck Chiow said his students worked hard on the project. He thanked Dormaier for donating materials and time. "Brian was in the building taking a class and heard saws running and he came to ask us if we would like help," Chiow said. Students Taylor Wittig, Jeff Davis, Antoine Boyd and Jasmine Estes spent hours on the project.
Davis, who works for Sallie's Wholesale Supply, said he wants to work in the construction industry.
Boyd said he enjoyed the fellowship of working on the project.
"We have the best teacher, and he brought all of us together and taught me maturity and discipline," Boyd said Friday.
Volunteers are needed to staff the blockhouse this summer. For information, call 419-524-0924.
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