YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – At the bend on Glenwood Avenue in Youngstown, next to Conroy’s Party Shop, sits a house bought in June by the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation (YNDC) for $25,000.

Until recently, most people wouldn’t have known this house existed. The front was overgrown with trees and weeds, blocking its 175 years of existence. But now, one of Youngstown’s oldest houses has been saved and is in the process of being put back into productive use.

“It’s not the oldest building in the city but it’s definitely one of the oldest. We don’t know exactly the year of construction but we know the time period — 1840s, 1850s,” said Ian Beniston, executive director of YNDC.

Beniston and Tiffany Sokol — housing director for YNDC — walked us through the inside of the house, pointing out what was original.

“Well, we’re standing on the original wood floor here which we will try to preserve. As you look around, you can see a lot of original woodwork — the structural beams. Obviously, these are hand-hewn beams that originally were here when they built the property,” Sokol said.

The fireplace was also original, albeit well-used.

“Yeah. Frequently, very frequently and probably not safely,” Sokol laughed.

Not everything, though, dates to the time of the original construction.

“So the house has gone through many owners. There have been a lot of DIY projects done in that house, certainly over the past 100-plus years,” Sokol said.

Outside, the foundation is original and the wood siding appears to be, too, though it’ll eventually be covered with vinyl.

The house was built by John Althaus on what was then 96 acres. Now, 175 years later, there’s a tentative plan on how to repurpose it.

“Our intention is to create some commercial space so we can kind of build off what we’ve been doing here and bring a little more energy to this section of Glenwood,” Beniston said.

The plan is to have it ready to be occupied by this time next year.

If the house was built in the 1840s, it would be the fourth oldest house in Youngstown. The oldest is at 3538 McGuffey Road on the East Side, built in 1802. Also on the East Side, on Atkinson Avenue, is a house built in 1807. There’s also one on McCollum Road on the West Side that was built in 1813.