Bristol Public Library
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The Hollister House Museum
This pamphlet was written several years ago by Leah Hubbard, a long time resident of Bristol Township and wife of the late Dr. Marshall Hubbard, DVM. She is a member of the Bristol Township Historical Society and is the historian for the Bristolville United Methodist Church.
The Hollister House in Bristolville, Ohio was built in 1879 for newlyweds Holmes (1846-1904) and Charlotte (Lottie) (1851-1932) Hollister. Here they raised three sons, Jason D. (1879-1960); Lynn (1882-1946) and Frank. Jay and Lynn never married and spent their entire lives at the home. Frank moved away as a young man and married three times . . . "once for each brother," Jay used to say.
Jay helped with the chores, the maple sugar bush and dealt in antiques, Indian artifacts and coins. He remained near home.
Lynn traveled out West. He was mechanically gifted. He established the shoe repair and gunsmith shop. You may visit this place on the museum grounds. Lynn was Bristolville's first Ford mechanic at the local Ford Garage. He was probably responsible for the fact that the Hollister house had the first electric lights in Bristolville. The building that housed the Delco System still stands next to the shoe repair shop. Electricity was used for just part of each evening.
After the death of their good neighbor of eight years, Jay Hollister, the house and "residue" (a legal term) were purchased on the Trumbull County Courthouse steps in 1961 by Dr. and Mrs. Hubbard. Half came from the state of Ohio and half from Frank's widow.
The rest of the story has been an ongoing adventure. After several years of cleaning and sorting the "residue" Marshall and Leah Hubbard used the old house as a camp-out place for their son, Mark, and his friends.
Through the years it has been a Halloween Party Place for goblins of all ages.
Gradually, it has become a museum of local history from about the 1830's through the 1940's. Not only Hollister memorabilia is there, but the names Hubbard, Landfear, Benninghoff, McMillan, Wilkinson, Roninger, Wunderlin and Bickhart come to mind.
In 1978 buried treasure was found! During the violent winter of 1977 the north wall of the mudfloored, low-ceilinged basement collapsed inward. It was then that the Hubbards decided that since repairs had to be made, they would also dig the cellar deeper so the six-foot, one-inch Dr. Hubbard could stand up in it. A footer was needed for the new wall. Soil was removed from the north side of the house so that a back-hoe could be used. As the back-hoe dug into the basement proper, buried treasure spilled from crocks and fruit jars. There were Indian artifacts, coins of great interest from the 1800's into the 1950's, false teeth and sea shells! You won't find beautiful antiques of great value at the Hollister House Museum, but you may find some interesting ones. Here are some things to look for:
In the Children's Room. . . Upstairs East:
Doll with cloth legs and arms (1878) Mary Wilkinson
Chandler Acrobats (1867) Dan McLeod
Graf Zeppelin (1929) Leah Benninghoff Hubbard
Hubbard cradle (1818) brought by cart from Colebrook, Conn.
Little boy's pants (1894) William Hubbard
Parasol (1878) Mary Wilkinson (nee Roninger)
Baby blanket (1899) Robert Benninghoff
Orphan Annie stove and Sandy (first time around -- 1932) Marion Hubbard BabbittIn the Kitchen:
Tooth extractor
Travis mouse trap
Speils for tapping maple trees
Spills for moving fire
"Nest egg," (once flowered) made by glass blower to inspire hens to lay
Sausage stuffer
Pot scrubber (original chore girl??)
Soap stone foot warmer for use in the carriage
Hattie Hammon's hat (kleptomaniac)
Old Jay's trademark: basket, flashlight, towelIn the Living Room:
Paisley shawl -- library table cover
Clay pipes -- dug from mud in basement
Mr. Hollister's picture
"Ira Gardner" -- 1833 (Dr. Hubbard's invention)
Lincoln period law office furniture
Dish from Hollister General Store (premium)
Larkins desk (premium)In the Master Bedroom . . . Upstairs West:
Godey print . . . fashion book 1856
Indian artifacts and fossils from buried treasure
Imploded pepper can from North Bloomfield explosion, Labor Day, 1973
Quilt with some Civil War reunion ribbons included
1918 undergarrments . . . made at a French convent for Jessie June Hubbard, W.W.I nurse
Medicine cup
Purse . . . Reticule
Crimper, 1877
Black jet trimmed coat and blouse (Beele Johnson, Warrensville Heights, 1880's)
Picture of Lottie Hollister, mother of the three boys
Picture of the Jaysters meeting place, by Leigh Lenney
Table made at the Bristol Table Factory . . . (gift from Dr. and Mrs. Phil Mahan)
Pioneer dress and bonnet . . . Leah Wunderlin, 1830'sIn the Basement:
Pennsylvania fern fossils (six million years)
Dalton point (6000 B.C. to 9000 B.C. near glacial melt)
Discoidal (part of a game still played by Indians in Peru and Ecuador
Atatl weight
Erie points (used until 1654)
Archaic points (2500 B.C. to 1500 B.C.)
Goods for trading with Indians . . . before 1790
Plummet . . . Adena . . . 1000 B.C. to 700 A.D.
Gorgets
Pipes
Banner stone
CeltsIn the Shoe Repair Shop
1916, 1917 license plates
Picture of huge bear . . . Lynn Hollister, Jack Horch, 1927 . . . displayed at school yard and in the Park
Rare cigar boxes and cigarette tins
Pot-bellied stove . . . popular gathering place for town's men in the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's
Forge
Chicken crates used by Almer Williams
Sliding window (S.E. corner) used by Lynn Hollister to sight-in guns worked on in his shop
Note string for packaging shoes (ball hidden in drawer below)
Shoe repair window overlooks wildflower garden each spring
Hens by Isabel Calendine
Prepared by: The Bristol
Public Library Bristolville, Ohio
Contact the Webmaster at bristol@oplin.org
08/26/03