by Dave O'Brien

Record-Courier staff writer

Streetsboro -- In what was called an "historic moment," Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Dec. 1 donated $65,000 to the Streetsboro Heritage Foundation to help put the historic Singletary House back on a foundation two years after it was moved to accommodate new development in the city.

"This is an historic moment," said Delbert Stewart, treasurer of the Streetsboro Heritage Foundation, which was formed to help save the house. Through the "graciousness" of Wal-Mart, he said, the organization can now "get the Singletary House on a foundation."

Built in 1828 by Col. John Singletary, the Singletary House is the second-oldest wood frame structure in Portage County, he said. It also features, as its front entrance, the last remaining archway of its kind in the Western Reserve, according to Stewart.

It is the second time Wal-Mart has donated money to save the house. In 2006, Wal-Mart and developers The Woodmont Co. donated $80,000 to the cost of moving the house 800 feet from Route 14 to a place atop a trailer behind the Supercenter, next to Defer Tire.

The house has remained on the trailer since that time, awaiting funding to help it find a new home. Stewart said the Wal-Mart donation would enable the foundation to hire a mason for the foundation work.

The house was Streetsboro's original post office, its first telephone exchange, a tavern and stagecoach stop for those moving "from east to west," Stewart said. The Defer family later moved the house from Streetsboro's town square up Route 14 in 1971 to save it from demolition.

"We are deeply grateful. Without Wal-Mart, we couldn't have done it," said Betty Defer, vice president of the Streetsboro Heritage Foundation and a former resident and owner of the Singletary House. "It means a lot to us to help save it."

The entrance archway is important, Stewart noted, because it "makes a statement as to who, you, the owner are" and acted as a "gateway to progress" for the city. The archway is prominently featured on the seal of the city of Streetsboro.

Stewart said a basement for the house will be dug starting March 1. He said he hopes the house will be on its new foundation by May 1.

Defer said the foundation has considered renovating the interior of the structure as a museum.

Braving the cold and some snow flurries, state Rep. Kathleen Chandler and state Sen. Tom Sawyer also praised Wal-Mart and the foundation for their work to save the house.

"It's one more example of Wal-Mart's commitment to this community," Chandler said.

Sawyer praised Defer and the Streetsboro Heritage Foundation for all their hard work.

"You weren't going to give up" on the Singletary House, he told Defer. Stewart also noted that one of Sawyer's predecessors as mayor of Akron was John Singletary Jr., the city's second mayor and son of Col. Singletary.

Mayor Tom Wagner said the donation was an example of Wal-Mart "stepping up to the plate" to help the city and its residents.

"They are, as always, a good corporate neighbor," he said.