Hooked on History: Eclectic Taylor Collection goes on display in New Philadelphia

A small piece of the immense assortment of New Philadelphia artifacts acquired by former Mayor Michael Taylor is now on exhibit on the second floor of the John Knisely Municipal Center in New Philadelphia.

Three display cases mounted on the wall showcase penny banks from local financial institutions; advertising fans distributed by area businesses, such as the Linn-Hert Co. and the former Kaserman-Naylor Funeral Home from the 1930s to the 1960s; and drug store items, including a hand-written prescription from Dr. Sidney Brister in 1901. The objects will be shown for the next several months.

Taylor, a former banker, realtor, and antique dealer, gathered thousands of artifacts throughout the years that had some relation to New Philadelphia. Some were obtained from all sections of Ohio. Others were presented as gifts.

The collection is eclectic, to say the least. There are more than 300 pencils that have something to do with New Philadelphia. Some of the larger pieces include a three-quarter-inch-thick square manhole with raised lettering proclaiming, “City of New Philadelphia.” Another is a ticket registry from the former Union Opera House. The opera house, which was in existence from 1897 to 1957, was located on Ashwood Lane, behind the historic Reeves Hotel on North Broadway Street. The registration box is a wooden box that opens and has spaces for the different seats in the theater.

Taylor, who no longer lives in New Philadelphia, began looking for an organization to handle his collection approximately a year ago.

“He had a buyer for it, but he truly wanted it to stay in the county, preferably New Philadelphia. He wants a group to take it over,” said Tom Strickling, a member of the Tuscarawas County Heritage Home Association.

The Tuscarawas County Historical Society did not have space to store and display the objects, so the Heritage Home Association stepped in to take the collection.

Strickling drove to Gallipolis, where Taylor was living at the time, to recover the items. “I took a cargo trailer down, approximately a 14-foot cargo trailer, and it was 3 feet of boxes. He had everything packed and boxed. There was quite a bit. Then we had to go into town to his home to pick up four or five other goods he had at home.” Taylor has subsequently moved to South Carolina.

Another Heritage Home member, Liz Hipp, then took on the chore of sorting through the more than 3,000 objects to arrange comparable things together. Then she and George Laurence, owner of Museum Acrylics in New Philadelphia, determined which items would be on exhibit first at the municipal building. Laurence built the three display cases.

“We determined something that would be fascinating, kind of entertaining, and different, and it had to fit in the area. And the mayor (Joel Day) was generous enough to say, Yes, let’s do that,” Laurence remarked.

He commented, “This is so fresh for us. It’s a matter of just going into the boxes and finding what’s there. We’ve merely scratched the surface and started a few months ago.”

His favorite piece from the collection? A 1970s rocket ship bank from the former Reeves Banking & Trust Co., which was located on the courthouse square in New Philadelphia.

Because there are so many objects in the Taylor collection, the Heritage Home Association will be exploring alternative sites to display them.