FREDERICKTOWN — After more than three decades in its home on East Sandusky Street, the Fredericktown Historical Society has officially settled into a new chapter — one housed inside the former Snyder’s Funeral Home building.
The Knox County Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday to celebrate.
The move to 33 E. College St., completed last year, gives the organization significantly more room to showcase local history and reorganize its growing collection.
“We were up at 11 E. Sandusky St. It was an old Methodist church,” historical society president Jim Wagner said. “When the Methodist church moved out, it was made into a library by the village. Then when they built the new library, that building became available. That was in 1992.”
Wagner estimates the new location gives the historical society one-and-a-half times the space it previously had. It also offers a more structured layout.
“Up there it was an open area, so everything was jammed into an open area. Here it’s divided off into rooms,” Wagner said.
A room for every story
The former funeral home’s layout allows the society to divide its exhibits into themed rooms — a major improvement over the single-room setup at the old site. The new museum includes:
- Tuttle Room, named for SS Tuttle, who built the house in 1846
- Research Room
- Merchants Room
- School Room
- Military Room
- Victorian Parlor
The upstairs features the Kids’ Room, Ladies’ Room and Technology Room.
“It allows you to categorize [displays] a little bit more, organize it a little bit better,” Wagner said of the larger space.
Wagner said the society rotates exhibits as much as it can.
“We have a small room in the back where we keep things, and as time allows us, we can move things around and keep things fresh,” he said.
The society has first option on a storage building that Snyder still owns. As Wagner said, “I could really use that storage space.”
A debt-free move made possible by local benefactors
The historical society paid $170,000 in July 2025 for the building. Unlike many nonprofit expansions, the organization’s move required no fundraising campaign. Instead, it was made possible by two major benefactors with deep ties to Fredericktown.
One was Frank Zieg of Zieg Manufacturing, a longtime supporter of the society.
“They owned the old furniture factory over on the west end of town, and he had donated money to the historical society,” Wagner explained.
The other was the late Helen and Dick Scarborough, who left a significant estate that was divided among four local organizations, including the historical society.
Wagner said that while the building is in good shape overall, the society plans some upgrades.
“Our front porch is old and needs to be repaired, so we’re looking at getting that done right now,” he said. “… I’d like to get that started as soon as possible.”
The roof, he added, is solid for another 10 to 15 years.
“Snyder’s left us a very nice building when we bought it off them,” he said. “There’s not a whole lot we need to do — mostly cosmetic things we want to fix.”
The new location sits slightly off the main path, but Wagner is not concerned.
“I’ll be curious to see what we see during this year’s Tomato Show,” he said. “Over the years, our membership had gotten so small that it was getting difficult for us to do as much as we wanted to.
“We used to be open every night for the Tomato Show, but we got to where there just wasn’t enough of us to cover it anymore, so we only opened it up for one day.”
However, he noted the society is usually busy during the festival. Museum staff plan to have signage on Main Street directing visitors to the new location.
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