West Chester approves lease for historic VOA building

WEST CHESTER TWP., Ohio - West Chester Township officials have approved a lease agreement with a private group for the historic Voice of America Bethany Relay Station on Tylersville Road.

Township trustees approved the lease Nov. 4 with the nonprofit group that wants to convert the facility into the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting.

During the past few years, the Voice of America facility has benefitted from $1.5 million in restoration through grants from the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission. Trustees hope the lease will boost the volunteer museum board’s efforts to  is poised to create a fully functioning museum at the site.

On the National Register of Historic Places, the Tylersville Road facility housed the first radio transmitters capable of delivering the Voice of America broadcasts around the world.

Bethany Station was the work of radio pioneer Powel Crosley, who responded to a call for service from President Franklin Roosevelt. The transmitters were engineered and constructed in response to Adolf Hitler’s extensive use of radio to deliver propaganda to the people of Europe.

The Voice of America building was decommissioned in the 1990s and given to West Chester Township for historic monument purposes. The building, however, had suffered significant decay over the years requiring replacement of the block façade, windows, roof and more to make it usable.