CONNERSVILLE —“Historic Connersville Home Needs a Hero.”

That was the headline back in May for a story written by the Indiana Landmarks organization, regarding the city’s renowned and revered Newkirk Mansion, after one of the city’s most historic yet woefully neglected structures ended up on the organization’s “10 Most Endangered” landmark list.

The mansion at 321 Western Ave., on which construction began in 1880 and was completed in 1883 by William Newkirk, owner of the Indiana Furniture Company, has long been one of the most marveled-at residences by both locals and visitors since that time.

But, over the past several years it had fallen into disrepair, prompting Indiana Landmarks to essentially put out an all-points-bulletin to save the structure.

“That building is probably one of the most important residences in Connersville due to the builder and architectural style,” J.P. Hall, director of Indiana Landmarks Eastern Region, told the News-Examiner in May. “You don’t come across these great buildings everyday, but it is highly threatened and it needs a lot of help and a lot of money and something has to happen now.”

This week, the organization’s wishes – and the wishes of many throughout the local community who have a soft spot for the structure and its history – have been granted.

After having the property turned over to it last week, Indiana Landmarks and lifelong Fayette County residents Mike and Jenny Sparks have closed on the sale of the home, bringing to fruition an effort by the Sparks which had been ongoing since May, when the mansion was listed on the “10 Most Endangered” list.

Mike Sparks, as many know, helped spearhead the Connersville Bicentennial effort in 2013, serving as chair of the committee. He also served two years on the Connersville/Fayette County Tourism Board and was a charter three-year member of the Connersville Historic Preservation committee.

And, it turns out, he and his wife are also previous owners of Newkirk themselves, having owned the property from 1987 to 1992, when they sold it. The couple and their family lived in it between 1987 to 1990.

Not only did they wonder at the mansion, much as other locals, the Sparks family had that personal connection to it – which made seeing it deteriorate over the years even more painful.

“That’s been part of the agony for us,” Sparks told the News-Examiner Tuesday at Newkirk. “We bought it on a contract from a lady in 1987. We already lived in (our brick home on Hawkinsville Road) but we moved to town and lived in it from fall of ‘87 to fall of ‘90.

“We loved the house,” he continued. “I’ve always thought and still believe it’s the ultimate old house left in this town. The setting up on the hill is so imposing.”

But a move back to the country, and their existing Hawkinsville Road residence in 1990, led to the Sparks renting the residence out for a few years, then selling it.

What it’s become since had saddened them, and this past May, they began working on a proposal to Indiana Landmarks to obtain ownership of the property once again.

“It didn’t look like this back then,” Sparks said of Newkirk. “Fully liveable inside, furnaces worked, everything worked. It was dry, there were no leaks, no windows out. It’s got 20 years of, pretty much, abject neglect.”

The couple’s proposal included a biography about them, why the Newkirk Mansion should be saved – “No other home built in Connersville’s long history has the combination of local history, absolutely unique and outstanding architecture elements, and an unparalled commanding presence on the hill overlooking the city,” part of the proposal read. “These reasons alone are sufficient to warrant saving this outstanding example of Connersville’s industrial past.” – along with financial details and restoration plans.

It also include various examples of the couple’s work in restoring other historically significant homes since their marriage in 1975, whether it be their own homes – such as Hawkinsville Road – or others, like the notable Mitchell House north of Liberty.

Newkirk, without a doubt however, does pose the biggest challenge the couple has embarked on regarding their restoration projects.

“Structurally, it’s still as solid as ever,” Sparks said, citing the home’s foundation, its brick facade, and other features, such as a beautiful, hand-carved cherry staircase, the solid wooden cornices and door frames, walnut and cherry fireplace mantles, and other aspects of the home which – despite the years of neglect – have survived virtually intact. “Newkirk spared no expense when he had this thing built … it just needs a little TLC.”

Per covenants stipulated by Indiana Landmarks, any restoration the couple conducts will have to maintain the mansion’s original exterior appearance, but the Sparks even went a bit further than that.

They had some covenants added to protect three of the main features of the inside of the mansion as well.

“We’re thrilled that this house, pretty much for the first time in its history, now has full protection, forever, in terms of protecting the appearance of the outside. That’s part of the covenants of Indiana Landmarks,” Sparks said.

It’s something he and his wife spoke of back when they first owned Newkirk – having it declared a protected property – but at that time, they didn’t know how to go about it.

“If we had protected it back then, it should not have been able to get in this condition,” Sparks said. “(But now), the exterior of this house can never be altered from original. It’s always going to look like this. The stonework can never be removed and salvaged, things like that.

“The stairwell – the whole cherry staircase – the walnut mantle and the cherry mantle that has William Newkirk’s initials, we voluntarily had them added to the covenant,” Sparks continued. “The reason we did that is, we hope this stays in our estate for a long time. Someday, it will go out of our estate, who knows how far down the road, but we wanted the three main interior elements to be protected just as fully as the exterior. Our thinking is that the exterior is fully protected, if those three main elements inside are fully protected, that pretty well precludes anybody from thinking they can get a hold of this place and strip out useful parts, and then walk away. We want to leave this protected, so we volunteered to do that. Indiana Landmarks was happy to do that.”