140-year-old piece of Marysville history defaced

Someone defaced a nearly 140-year-old piece of Marysville history and members of the community are doing what they can to make sure it does not happen again.

The Gehl Home is a historical landmark for Marysville. It was built in 1884 and is one of Marysville’s oldest pieces of history, said Peter Condyles, the Vice President of the Marysville Historical Society.

In 1984, crews moved the home to Jennings Memorial Park, he said.

For decades, it has been a staple in the community for many families.

"It’s been there since before I was a kid," said Shelece Jensen while she watched her kids play at the park.

Condyles says for the most part, the Gehl Home is mostly still original. However, that changed when someone added an unwanted paint job to two of the historical home’s walls.

"It’s sad to us. Because we were excited to bring this crown jewel back to town this summer, and this kind of puts a dark cloud over it for us," said Condyles.

He says when the Historical Society found out someone defaced the 140-year-old structure, they called police, but there have not been answers on who or why someone would do this.

"We value it, and I think most of the community, the people in the park today, they value it. And it’s sad to us that there is somebody out there that doesn’t look at this and understand the value that it has," he said.

Crews have to be careful as they worked to clean the vandalism off the century-plus old wood. It took two days, but the graffiti is gone now.

Condyles says they plan to raise funds to install cameras at the Gehl Home to prevent this from happening again.

He says he hopes sharing this story will show how significant this landmark is for the people in Marysville.

"It’s very upsetting and very sad to hear about it. I’d hope that people can show a little bit more self-control than that," said Jensen.

For more information on the Gehl Home or the Marysville Historical Society click here.

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