By Sue Hughes | For The Times-Post
PENDLETON — Jay Brown is a man on a mission — one he has been working on with others for years now; and he’s seeking help from the public to complete the task for the enjoyment of everyone in South Madison County and beyond.
The mission is to complete a building in Falls Park to display and store a covered wagon once owned by John Rogers, the first non-native settler in the Madison County area. Rogers brought the wagon to the Pendleton area from Pennsylvania in 1818.
“All of this work is going to take a lot of money,” Brown said. “We have already spent about $11,000 for shingles and the windows.”
Brown is working with Historic Fall Creek-Pendleton Settlement, Pendleton-Fall Creek Board of Parks and Recreation and Pendleton Historical Museum, which owns the wagon, on the building project.
South Madison Community Foundation manages a fund that accepts donations used to pay for project-related expenses.
The total cost of the building is expected to be about $20,000. The team must raise all the funds required to complete the building before construction can begin, Brown said.
“We have to have to be fully funded before we can start,” Brown said. “We need at least another $5,000.”
Brown said he’s hoping to raise enough funds during this year’s Heritage Fair, which is scheduled for Sept. 6 and 7.
“Last year … we had a person do a $1,000 challenge — if we could raise a $1,000, they would give us $1,000 — and we did it.”
Weather permitting, the wagon will be on display during the festival. There will be people available to answer questions about the project.
The wagon building will sit west of the log cabin at the north entrance to the park, to the west side of the nearby walking trail.
It will measure 12 feet wide, 24 feet long and about 15 feet tall, Brown said. It will have two 8-by-8-foot windows and one 6-by-8-foot window on each long sides. One end of the building will be solid, the other will have a roll up door.
Brown said it’s going to have gable ends that match the log cabin.
“The Sam Hosier family donated bents framework from an old barn,” Brown said. “That’s what holds everything upright and in place, including the roof.”
Brown is working on the construction with a team that includes Dave Hinchman, Hosier, Donnie Meyer, Steve Wills and Alex Pritchard.
Others, led by Sandi Butler, are involved in pursuing donations and grants.
Brown said he and Meyer, maintenance director of the park, hope to start preparing the building site in the next two weeks.
Brown led the effort to restore the wagon itself a few years ago. That took about a year and a half from start to finish, employing the skills of an Amish buggy builder.
People interested in donating to the building project can call South Madison Community Foundation at 765-778-8884 or stop by the wagon display at Heritage Fair.
