Eds: Updates with additional details
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A nonprofit group received ownership of a home and garage near the boyhood house of an American World War I pilot.
The city of Columbus transferred the house next to the Eddie Rickenbacker house to the Rickenbacker-Woods Technology Museum and Historic Park group, The Columbus Dispatch reported (http://bit.ly/1e2sSlQ). The group also received the garage behind the Rickenbacker house.
Columbus City Council approved the transfers for $1 on Monday.
The house will be used as a leasing office for dozens of lease-to-own homes being built in the neighborhood. The garage will be converted into a community center.
The Rickenbacker house is in good shape, but needs to be painted, said Michael Aaron, executive director of the Rickenbacker-Woods group. His group is working with the Ohio Historic Preservation Society to register and store items found near the house, such as buttons and pieces of china. They plan to turn the house into a museum.
The city also is giving the Rickenbacker-Woods group more than $46,000 to restore the garage, said John Turner, the city’s land bank administrator. The city owns the Rickenbacker house and maintains it with the group.
The Rickenbacker house is one of three buildings in Columbus designated as a National Historic Landmark.
Rickenbacker was born in Columbus in 1890 and his family moved to the house in 1893.
He shot down 26 German aircraft during World War I. Later, he owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500, and led Eastern Airlines.
___
Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com