By the late 1800s Ohio Columbus Barber had established a name for himself as a prominent Akron industrialist, considered by many to be Akron’s wealthiest. In 1890 Barber and several of his business partners, who comprised the Barberton Land and Improvement Company, purchased 550 acres of farmland southwest of Akron. Though establishing a town in his name was perhaps not the original intent, “town booming,” as it was known, proved a popular and potentially lucrative endeavor. With the canal and railroad lines already in place, Barberton held great promise for industrial development. Economic woes of the late nineteenth century threatened the budding community, but the relocation of Barber’s Diamond Match Company from Akron to Barberton, as well as other industrial ventures, provided solid employment opportunities and enticed outside businesses to the community. Despite a slow start, the city’s burgeoning industrial presence and rapid population growth earned Barberton the title “Magic City.”
Amidst the great success of his Barberton ventures, Barber began construction on a 3,500 acre estate named in honor of his daughter just outside the city limits of Barberton. The Anna Dean Farm, with a daily operating expense of nearly $1,000, consisted of 12 acres of greenhouses, herds of top-quality livestock, several large barns, a piggery, poultry house, flour mill, concrete factory, brick works, creamery and 40 acre park. On the highest part of the farm overlooking Barberton laid the 52 room, 50,000 square foot French Renaissance Revival mansion, reportedly described by the New York Times as the “finest mansion between New York and Chicago.” Fully completed in 1910, the mansion alone cost over $400,000 and required 18 months to finish.
Barber only enjoyed the grandness of the mansion for a short time, dying in 1920 after contracting influenza. The estate, appraised at $5 million at the time of Barber’s death, passed to his daughter Anna. Though Barber had intended for the farm to become part of Western Reserve College, the property was sold in parts, not the least of which, the mansion, became the residence of A.O. Austin in 1926. Austin, for whom Austin Estates is named, lived in the mansion for 38 years. After his death in 1964, the cost of upkeep and taxes for the mansion, which one account estimated to be around $3,000 a month, proved more than surviving members of the Austin family cared to take on. Unable to reach an agreement with the City to purchase the mansion, plans were initiated to raze the building. Despite the action of numerous members of the community and the “Save the Mansion Committee,” the mansion was demolished in 1965
View images of the Anna Dean Farm and Mansion at SummitMemory.org