Stengel, True collection preserves Marion’s past
LOOKING BACK - December 21, 1978
This article was first published in the Marion Commentator. The photographs were taken by the newspaper’s photographer, Gregory Harrison.
Marion is a changing city, but a part of its past is securely preserved through the labor of Henry A. True, past president of Marion County Bank, and Dr. Frederick A. Stengel, Marion optometrist.
Stengel, who died in 1954, and True, who died 10 years later, were close friends with a strong common interest: Each possessed an abiding respect for the past of America and of Marion.
Through their efforts, the Stengel True Historical Museum, located at the corner of Washington Avenue and South State Street, and the True home, on the southwest corner of Church and State Streets, present a solid cross section of Americana.
Built in 1848, the True home possesses ‘the elegance of bygone days.’ In this house, Henry True was born and lived his entire life.
The Museum was the Victorian home of Judge Ozias Bowen, True’s grandfather, built in 1864 at a cost of $20,000.
‘Henry (True) hated to see an old building come down,’ says Harry Copeland, Jr., curator and a trustee of the True Trust with Joe Donithen, president of Marion County Bank, and Marion attorney John Bartram.
The Museum has been a lifelong labor for Harry Copeland. ‘The first work I ever did for Henry was build bookshelves. He had a great collection of books, particularly historical. Soon, I was stripping and refinishing furniture.
‘Henry never said it, but I believe that he and Fred (Stengel) had this idea all along to preserve what they could of this area’s heritage.’
Harry, better known as Sonny, followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Both worked as caretakers for the True family.
It was Sonny’s major task before and after True’s death to catalog, sort, clean and set up displays. A visit through the Museum and through the True home provides evidence that Sonny Copeland did his work well.
The first item a visitor sees in the museum’s entrance foyer is a maple stand-up desk. This piece of furniture was in use in the old Marion County Bank on South State Street. Portraits of Stengel and True are placed above the desk.
In the hallway is a cabinet displaying items from the Victorian era. Past the cabinet is an immense table zither, a stringed instrument, and a Regina music box.
Mrs. Warren G. Harding’s piano is the first item on the right as one enters the music room and front parlor. Two paintings of the John Miller family, dated 1799, are displayed on the wall by the piano.
Clocks and music boxes decorate the fireplaces. Every room in the mansion contains a fireplace with marble mantles and fronts.
Fred Stengel’s interest in firearms resulted in the gun room. Local Indian artifacts are also displayed here.
The early American room contains pewter, copper, silver and tinware items as well as a cobbler’s bench and a flax wheel.
The clock room contains a large selection of timepieces in all sizes and types along with a Warren G. Harding memorabilia collection, canes, spectacles, snuff boxes and toys. Local historian D.A. Brown provides the picture collection of early Marion County displayed in this room.
A curving stairway leads to the second and third floors. ‘It was necessary to use 99 rolls of wallpaper to do the hallway to the top,’ says Sonny. ‘The small domed room above the third floor, the cupalo, was originally used to oversee the surrounding farmland.’
‘The biggest part of the collection comes from Fred Stengel,’ Sonny recalls. ‘He collected everything. Henry did some collecting, but most of the items that come from him were passed down through his family.’
Sonny shrugs off the suggestion that the set-up of the Museum is largely his accomplishment. ‘It takes a combined effort. Myrtle Lowe is fantastic. Every two and one-half months, we remove everything from the cases and clean – every single item. Also, the Trinity Baptist Church handles museum guests. Joe Donithen and John Bartram have been very helpful. When it comes down to checking for historical accuracy, Dave Brown is the best local historian there is. I can’t take credit. It takes many dedicated people to help keep it running.’
Yet it appears that Henry and Sonny Copeland had much more than an employee-employer relationship and that, perhaps, Henry always had Sonny in mind as the energy behind the set-up of the Museum.
‘Henry was a wonderful fellow, despite that stern look he had,’ says Sonny, pointing at a portrait of True, adding, ‘He got that look from his grandfather, a Methodist minister, but, seriously, Henry was a fine man in every way.’
‘I was never ordered to do this or that, but Henry’s way was to mention that when I had the time he had something I could do. And he was the greatest in the world to travel with. He knew every railroad and every town. Too, he used to bicycle quite a bit. He used to say that you have to bicycle or walk or you’ll never see the country.’
I traveled with him several times to New York and other places. I sometime regret leaving school at an early age,’ adds Sonny, ‘but I received a real education with Henry.’
Sonny recalls that Henry kept his automobiles in a garage, a converted livery stable behind the Ohio Theatre. ‘Every two years, he would buy a car that would be for my use. But, if he had cause to use it, he always asked me.’
Sonny believes that both Fred Stengel and Henry True were men cut from the same cloth. ‘Each hated to see old structures torn down and each wanted to preserve what they could of the beauty of the past. I think they did a damned good job.’
The Museum and the True home are, in one way, monuments to Marion’s past where a visitor can, for a few moments, transport himself to an earlier time. Too, the homes symbolize the spirit and industry of two of Marion’s best friends.
