ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Today only debris and piles of bricks remain from the former Belmont County Home, but the building had an extensive history as a landmark in the area.

The structure was built in 1872. During its long life, it served as a shelter for the poor, then the elderly, office space and finally the county records.

Cheryl Skinner of Belmont spent considerable time in the county home in 2005. She and Helen Stanford of the Belmont/Centerville area, who has since died, volunteered to clean and sanitize county records for removal.

“They were just letting them rot there, and we volunteered to clean them. We called ourselves Dusting off Memories,” she said.

Skinner said she found the deterioration and demolition of the building regrettable.

“We lost a part of history,” she said. “It was a beautiful building inside, with the wood and everything, going through the old kitchen because they had books stored down there, and the old morgue. Sometimes you could feel the people there. I know that sounds weird,” she said.

She said the building was home to many during their golden years.

“When my aunt worked there, it was a booming place. It was well taken care of,” she said.

“It’s part of history and now it’s gone,” she said. “It was a beautiful place at one time. The ground was kept up, and there used to be a flagpole in the front. The flag always flew.

“It was a nice building. It was a shame they had to take it down. The county let it sit there and rot,” she said.

Skinner said the county moved its records from the building to the former rehabilitation center. She recalled helping with the work.

“There were a lot of hazards, but we wore masks and surgical gloves,” she said. “People donated Shop Vacs to us, cleansers and even dollies. We had a lot of fun doing it, and a lot of aggravation, too. I enjoyed reading a lot of stuff that was in there.”

She said it was a lengthy process.

“It took a good long time. Each individual book at a time, and those books were huge. They weren’t light either. We designated different rooms to put the ones that we cleaned in. Clerk of courts and probation. We put them in separate rooms and had them categorized,” she said.

Skinner said the records were then moved to the former Mediterranean restaurant near Morristown, then to the hab center, then to a building on Oak View Road.

She said the process of reaching and organizing the records offered a look back into the passage of time. The records dated from almost the beginning of Ohio statehood, around 1800, and extended to the 1960s and ’70s. This had a particular interest for Skinner.

“I’m a genealogist, too. A lot of family history in a lot of those, and beautiful handwriting because they did everything by hand,” she said. “You saw wills. The different land grants. I found it interesting, and so did Helen.”

Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton has said there was no viable option to restore the county home after decades of neglect. The remaining debris is expected to be cleared away before Christmas.

The county is planning the construction of a new health department building and coroner’s office on the ground once occupied by the Belmont County Home.