A defunct jail house in Ellicott City, a stone barn in Mt. Hebron, and the remnants of Sykesville's original industrial hub have been added to a list of Howard County's most endangered historic sites, according to a group of preservationists.

Preservation Howard County, a nonprofit group that is dedicated to saving historic sites, is concerned that the jail and industrial buildings have fallen into disrepair and that the barn might be demolished to make way for new houses, said Fred Dorsey, vice president of the group.

The group's annual list highlights Howard County properties it considers to be in need of public support and preservation efforts.

This year's list also includes colonial homes such as Doughoregan Manor, in Ellicott City, and Belmont, in Elkridge, and other sites the group considers to be threatened by development, such as downtown Columbia's lakefront.

Jail dates from 1878

The Ellicott City jail, which also went by the names Emory jail and Willow Grove, is located adjacent to the Circuit Court in Ellicott City and was built in 1878.

According to information about the site from the Maryland Historical Trust, provided by Dorsey, executions by hanging took place between the courthouse and the jail prior to 1916.

The two-story granite building is used as offices and ancillary storage space by the county Sheriff's Department, said James Irvin, director of the county's Department of Public Works.

The preservation group hopes to see it converted into a space that is open to the public and added to tours of historic Ellicott City, Dorsey said.

Irvin said county officials have not considered such uses because of the building's antiquated state and lack of safety and public access upgrades.

The preservation group also has spotlighted a stone barn in Mt. Hebron that once was part of the 21,000-acre farm of Thomas Beale Dorsey.

Dorsey, who served as a judge in Annapolis in the early 1800s and played a role in Howard's becoming a county in 1851, was given the farm by his father, Col. John Worthington Dorsey, a Revolutionary War commander.

The barn "is either going to find its way into someone's caring hands or it's going to come down," said Fred Dorsey, who is not directly related to the Dorseys who owned the farm.

The Elm Street Development company has preliminary plans to build 12 houses there, said Kimberley Flowers, a deputy director of the county's Department of Planning and Zoning.

County planners are working with the developer to find a group or individual interested in buying and restoring the barn, Flowers said.

"We thought this was something really worthy of preserving and we wanted the developer to do everything possible to preserve it," she said, adding that the developer has drawn the proposed lots around the barn.

Aside from one potential buyer's idea of converting the barn into apartments, for which the zoning did not allow, the county has yet to find a buyer, Flowers said.

Russ Dickens, a regional partner at Elm Street Development, said his company hopes to start work on the site in the spring of 2009 and hopes to sell the barn by then.

"In many cases, there are people who want to take on these projects and refit them and restore them and convert them into residences," he said, adding that the cost of restoration and the placement of the barn on the last remaining undeveloped eight acres in the Mt. Hebron neighborhood might not be conducive to finding a buyer to preserve it.

"We're certainly flexible and we're open to suggestions," he said. "We would leave that door open as long as we can."

Dorsey said his group urges the owners of historic buildings to distinguish them from newer development. About four years ago, the group worked with county officials to include voluntary guidelines in building regulations that address the treatment of historic buildings amid new development, he said.

The Sykesville site includes a stone house, a brick warehouse and a pump house that were part of the original town on the southern bank of the Patapsco River. A flood in the late 1800s forced the town to relocate to higher ground on the northern side of the river, in Carroll County, Dorsey said.

The preservation group hopes the county will pursue adaptive uses for the deteriorating site, including a potential partnership between Howard County and the town of Sykesville, Dorsey said.

For more information about the sites on the group's list, go to its Web site, www.preservationhowardcounty.org.

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