GALION – It was meant to be. A homecoming of sorts.
Tim and Connie Musselman are living in the historic Howard House, a Galion landmark at the corner of S. Boston and W. Atwood streets. It’s the iconic home Musselman remembers as a kid and now, after sitting vacant for 50 years, he’s proud to call it home.
“You kind of get used to it, but every once and a while you just sit back and appreciate it,” Musselman said of the Victorian-style mansion, built in 1898 by Adam Howard, the founder of Adam Howard Buggy Works. “And you’re always learning different things history wise.”
Musselman and the Howard House have their own storied history, which goes back decades. He grew up on Grand Street, just around the corner, and walked by every day on his way home from school. He even went trick-or-treating there as a youngster.
The three-story brick home cost between $50,000 and $75,000 to build back in the day. Howard and his wife, Sara, raised three children there. The last family member, daughter Ida Barr, was still a resident when she died in 1969.
Musselman attended her funeral.
The home was bought a year later by Richard Fulton of Mansfield, who invested in a major restoration, both inside and out. Although he never lived there, the house with its third-floor ballroom was often used for wedding receptions and other special events.
In 2010, it went up for public auction, along with the contents. Musselman attended, but it wasn’t until a second auction in 2015 that he had the winning bid, giving up two classic cars – a 1955 Ford and a 1956 Thunderbird – for the down payment.
“It was almost like this was meant to take place,” said Musselman, a 1973 Galion High School graduate who called Bucyrus home before moving back. “I guess it’s just the fact that I grew up in a tiny house not very far away and I was always in awe of this house.”
Boasting 7,200 square feet, the Musselman’s dub it their “upsized” home. Grand in every sense with massive pillars on the front porch, a golden oak vestibule and carved stairs leading to the circular balustrade and ballroom, all illuminated by a stained-glass skylight.
In the last four years the couple have converted two of the five bedrooms into a master suite and bath. With practicality in mind, they also updated the kitchen with modern appliances, but kept the original gas stove manufactured in Galion by the Born Range Co.
Connie Musselman, a Victorian-era buff, loves scouting for furnishings with her husband at antique stores and flea markets, far and wide. One “find” was a solid walnut organ made by the Empire Organ Co. in Galion, which now decorates the ballroom.
The two are still enamored with the home’s ornate woodwork and appreciate the beauty of its craftsmanship – quarter sawn sycamore in one of the living rooms, cherry in the library. Ionic columns, corbels and fleur-de-lis motif in nearly every room.
“It’s been fun finding something from that era and learning more about the house,” said Musselman, who is currently restoring a downstairs bathroom. “All the stuff has names I never even thought about before, even the pie crust table in the foyer.”
The couple, who have joined a Facebook group called “Old House,” love to show off the home and its unique features, including the old icebox and gold-plated chandeliers, which convert to gas or electric. Frequently it’s the backdrop for area high school prom pictures.
Because the Howard House, after all these years, is truly like no other.
“I think what I value the most is when people first walk in and it just takes their breath away,” Connie Musselman said with a sigh. “I always tell young people, ‘don’t build, buy an old house and fix it up.’ I would really love to see this carry on.”
