SmartBanking Blog

Community Spotlight: Small Town Museum

Here at The Savings Bank, we love to feature all the wonderful people, places, and things that make our communities so much fun to be a part of! Today, we would like to put a spotlight on Ohio’s Small Town Museum in Ashville. Started by local people, made up of local artifacts, and fun for everyone, Ohio’s Small Town Museum is a truly unique experience. We spoke to Bob Hines to learn a little more about it.

First, can you tell people a little bit about yourself and your role at the museum?

My name is Bob Hines. I am the person that creates the wall-mounted displays in the museum. I currently serve as the chairperson for the Board of Trustees.

Can you speak a little bit about the opening of the museum and how it got started?

I went to Charlie Morrison's store in 1974 when I was a college student working on an urban planning degree. I noticed he had a small corner of the grocery that displayed local historic photographs. Ethel Siegle had given me a copy of the First Directory of Ashville- 1896 and I had an ice pick that advertised Ashville Ice on the handle.  We both wanted to see local history preserved so we started talking about making an instant museum. When others saw what we were doing they provided us with local artifacts to place in 2 ft. by 2 ft. and 2 ft. by 4 ft. stackable display cases. We convinced a group of like-minded people that our community had the wherewithal to create a historical society. Our first meeting was at Art and Ada Lou Deal's house. About the same time the N&W Railroad announced they wanted to tear down our vacant railway station or have it burned for firefighting practice. We felt that the building could be repurposed as a museum. In the process of renovating that building we found railroad artifacts from the Scioto Valley Railroad in the closed attic. It soon became apparent that the building would be better used as a meeting space and small railroad-oriented museum.  It so happened that the old Dreamland Theater that had been donated to the town was no longer in use. We petitioned the village council to allow our organization to turn it into a museum run by the Ashville Area Heritage Society. They agreed and the rest is history.

What tends to be the favorite exhibit at the museum? What is your personal favorite exhibit or the exhibit you think is the most unique?

Everybody loves watching Teddy Boor's traffic light do its thing.  I love all the displays that are based on local stories, but I am ecstatic to show visitors all the recordings, books, patents, graphic art, and movies that people from here participated in. To me the most unique display is the 17-star flag which is the first official flag representing the State of Ohio, but people who are rooted in this area definitely like looking at the high school graduation photographs of relatives.

What do you wish more people knew about the museum? How do you view your place in the Ashville community?

Travel writers from across the U.S. routinely tout our museum as a "gem" of small-town museum. Some call it the best small-town museum in America. We think that our museum helps all people who live here develop a sense of belonging --a sense of pride in community. For outsiders, we think our museum dispels urban misconceptions about small town life-especially the ones that view small towns as inconsequential.  Our museum demonstrates that small towns like ours are great incubators of talented individuals across the sciences, performing arts, politics, and more. We are connected to an astounding array of world and national events. We want to be a place where school children learn about their connections to history and be inspired by the achievements of current and former residents. 

Can you tell us a little about the current renovations to the pavilion in front of the museum?

We have just completed the internal upgrade of our museum to accommodate tour groups and to get more of our local artifacts out on display.  The renovation of the museum interior caused us to look at the degradation of our building exterior and the weed-infested Centennial Square.  Jim Welsh headed up this effort to re-envision how this space could be better used in conjunction with the museum. He has worked with local businesses and contractors who donated time and money to create a more active event-oriented space that will allow people to enjoy concerts, shows, conduct fund-raisers, eat outdoors, and have conversations with friends. We also received grants from the Pickaway County Community Foundation in support of this effort. The artifacts that were previously on view will continue to be a part of this space.

Lastly, when can people visit the museum? Do you have an online presence so they can interact with you?

Our regular hours are from 10 until 2, Tuesday through Friday, but we encourage people to call before coming--especially if they are bringing a group. This allows us to have a tour guide docent present. Our phone number is 740-983-9864. We have a website www.ohiosmalltownmuseum.org and we have a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OhiosSmallTownMuseum.

In Memory of Charles Morrison, Steven R. Clay, Charles Cordel, and Eleanor Chandler.