308 South Main Street
For over 160 years this stately structure with its wide lawn, majestic trees, and a commanding view of Yellow Creek has stood in the center of the Village of Poland, Ohio. It is not surprising that it was chosen as the headquarters for the local government and the location where music lovers gather on summer evenings. Twice a month the Poland Village Council meets in its remodeled parlor. Banners of up-coming civic events are often hung on the wrought iron fence fronting Main Street and local gardeners dig in the flower beds behind the building. Few communities in the Western Reserve can boast of facilities as elegant as Poland’s Town Hall.
In 1845 Mr. Liddle built a house on 8.7 acres of land fronting on Main Street in the style then common in the Western Reserve. The cast iron porch balustrades are original, as are the marble fireplaces in the North and South front parlors. The center stairway leads to a second floor with many spacious rooms. Mr. Liddle did not live in the house, but sold it to the Stoddards who then owned a tannery on the other side of Yellow Creek. Until 1920 the old Jonathan Fowler grist mill occupied a corner of the property. A historical marker at the northwest abutment of the Main Street Bridge indicates the location of the old mill. It is reported that the Stoddards owned a circus which had its winter quarters in a large carriage house that was once located near the rear of the house.
In 1923, Judge James B. Kennedy purchased the property from Margaret Stoddard and modernized the house, adding the current rear wing. In 1934 he sold 5.33 acres to the Poland Board of Education for the construction of Baird Mitchell Stadium and another 1.12 acres to the American Legion for their headquarters. Many changes were made in the house in the early 1960s when the Poland Forest Foundation spearheaded the purchase of the building to be used as a Village Hall. The original Poland jail cell, purchased in 1861 from the Van Dom Iron Works Co., Cleveland, Ohio, stood in the alcove where it served as a detaining cell. In 1994 the alcove was converted to a handicapped access bathroom. On the Village Hall grounds is a handsome octagon-shaped gazebo built in 1981. It is the band shelter for the weekly summer music concerts. Behind the Village Hall are the Centennial Gardens. Within the gardens are a pergola and the original grist mill stone, salvaged from the creek near Fowler's mill location.