The barge formerly home to Hornblowers Restaurant, and more recently, the office space of LeanDog and Arras Keathley, will soon serve as a year-round, floating nature center with STEM educational offerings for students with an emphasis on those from CMSD and Euclid, the Cleveland Metroparks announced last month.
After purchasing Bargen 225 for $1.25 million earlier this year, the Metroparks moved the vessel from its previous, longtime home just off the shore in downtown to Wildwood Marina in the Euclid Creek reservation.
The transformation to a nature center is made possible in part from a $750,000 grant from KeyBank, a $250,000 contribution from the Jones Day Foundation, and future fundraising efforts.
“This investment by KeyBank will bring to life an unprecedented opportunity to connect youth to Lake Erie and the natural world through nature-based education.” Cleveland Metroparks CEO Brian Zimmerman said in statement.
Public programming will include "interactive interpretive exhibits, classroom spaces, community spaces, and a wet lab."
Starting life as the Steamship Kearsage in 1894, the barge has led many lives over the last century, including, and most notably, as the Hornblower's restaurant.
Designed by Washington Irving Babcock, the Kearsage operated as a charter boat for the Western Transit Company before being sold in 1907 to the Canada-Atlantic Transit Company.
She was idle from the late 1930s until after World War II, when the boat was scrapped, with the hull landing in the hands of Sabadish Brothers Dredging Company and the stern being converted into a barge. She debuted as Hornblower's Barge and Grill in 1992, which closed in 2006.
Earlier this year, as former owners Jon Stahl and Jim Hickey pondered the vessel's future, the Metroparks came calling. It was a natural fit, and they immediately saw the intriguing possibilities that could arise from a parks stewardship.
"It'll be in the public eye, something unique to enjoy, instead of being a law firm or something," Stahl told Scene at the time of the sale.
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Metroparks Will Open Floating Nature Center on Barge 225, Recently Moved to Wildwood Marina in Euclid
"An unprecedented opportunity to connect youth to Lake Erie and the natural world through nature-based education"
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About The Author
Vince Grzegorek
Vince Grzegorek has been with Scene since 2007 and editor-in-chief since 2012. He previously worked at Discount Drug Mart and Texas Roadhouse.
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