Ohio's Small Town Museum in Ashville, Ohio

Most Popular PlacesRandom PlaceListsItinerariesAdd a PlaceDownload the App Allen County Historical Society and Museum Ohio's Small Town Museum Abandoned Bugatti Factory Exchange Palace (Tőzsdepalota) Cryptid Tourism: The Best Museums, Destinations & Festivals Across America 8 days ago All the United States Ohio Ashville Ohio's Small Town Museum It's a fantastical local history museum with real stories -- including the first, and longest operating, traffic signal. Turbo, the escape-artist piglet. wummewenders / Atlas Obscura User Another oddity at the Ohio Small Town Museum wummewenders / Atlas Obscura User The longest serving traffic light in America. wummewenders / Atlas Obscura User Turbo, the escape-artist piglet. wummewenders / Atlas Obscura User Another oddity at the Ohio Small Town Museum wummewenders / Atlas Obscura User The longest serving traffic light in America. wummewenders / Atlas Obscura User Turbo, the escape-artist piglet. wummewenders / Atlas Obscura User Another oddity at the Ohio Small Town Museum wummewenders / Atlas Obscura User The longest serving traffic light in America. wummewenders / Atlas Obscura User Turbo, the escape-artist piglet. wummewenders / Atlas Obscura User Another oddity at the Ohio Small Town Museum wummewenders / Atlas Obscura User The longest serving traffic light in America. wummewenders / Atlas Obscura User With travel nonexistent, the summer of 2020 was devastating for tiny institutions which usually operate on an ever-shrinking budget, rely on donations or grants to stay afloat, and run with a skeleton crew of volunteers. Some literally have trouble leaving the lights on.

But each of these museums, no matter how spartan, tells the story of that particular community. They're vital to the survival of specific histories. They represent a sense of place.

These sites also serve as important reminders of our beatific and ugly past, and in their survival it’s important for current and future curators to rethink what they are tasked to preserve and display. Ohio’s Small Town Museum in Ashville has just about everything one could want from these museums under one roof. There is culture, innovation, controversy, myth and oddities of the onetime boomtown turned forgotten outpost in Pickaway County’s rural expanse.

There are lots of these types of museums all over the country, but nothing is quite like this collection in Ashville. By 1975 the railroad depot had closed, there was no newspaper, no industry, and a University of Cincinnati study showed that Ashville had one of the lowest community identity scores in Ohio. At that point, a dedicated group of locals vowed to dig deep into all that remained to preserve the social history of bygone times.

John Swingle, a retired Ashville postman, spends his free time manning the door of Ohio's Small Town Museum. Most days you’ll need to pound on the door a bit to get his attention. A good rule of thumb is to sign the guestbook and drop a five dollar bill in the donation box.

Most museum volunteers are a wealth of knowledge, and Swingle was no exception. He is eager to introduce you to the treasures that were tacked to the walls, hung from the ceiling, under glass, reproduced or taxidermied. The museum's main attraction is Teddy Boor’s patented motorized traffic light.