Barney-Fisk-Stearns Property

The Barney-Fisk-Stearns property was the site of the stately Victorian home of Roderick Barney and his family. Barney served as mayor of Wyoming from 1886 to 1896 and was instrumental in establishing Wyoming’s water works department and the citywide tree planting program. In his own yard, he bought and planted a number of tree species, both native and exotic, and although he died in 1912, many of those trees continued to flourish. Barney’s daughter Clara Barney married James Fisk in 1923, and they made the house their home. Clara loved and cared for cats, and by the time of her death in 1965, nearly 100 cats were in the house. Because of the condition of the structure, the Wyoming Fire Department destroyed it as a training exercise. Evans Foster Steans, Sr., a neighbor and friend, bought the property in 1959, and after the death of his son, Edwin Russell Stearns III, in 1999, it was donated to the City of Wyoming. That generous gift is known today as Stearns Woods.

Wyoming, Ohio · United States