In memory of J.E. Reeves: Reeves Museum adds new displays
The Reeves Home Museum features a wrap-around porch on the front of the mansion.
July 11 marked the 100th anniversary of the death of Jeremiah E. Reeves, the Dover industrialist whose legacy continues today. The Reeves Museum, located at the former home of Reeves, will mark the occasion in two ways.
“Our displays in the house will be with that in mind,” said Shelagh Pruni, museum director. “There are black Victorian mourning clothes in different rooms to commemorate the anniversary.”
A new display in the carriage house will celebrate the life’s work of J.E. Reeves.
“We want to do more than just commemorating the 100 years since his death,” Pruni said. “We want to celebrate his legacy because we are honored to have this house.”
The home stands as a testament to a man who was an immigrant from a poor family.
“He’s completely self-made; he ventured into many businesses,” Pruni said. “I wish we could go back in time and count how many people he employed. We know in WWII the mill was the biggest employer in the county.”
Reeves was a very courageous business man and tried many different businesses including a bank, a hotel, a coal mine and a lumber yard in addition to being involved in the railroad. He also was on the Dover School Board for a time and was a member of the electoral college in 1908. Visitors should look for a photograph of the electoral college in the study of the mansion.
“It’s really amazing what he accomplished,” Pruni said.
Reeves was known as a very generous man who was good to his employees. He donated land for the first Union Hospital and Tuscora Park.
“There is so much he did to benefit the county and help the people,” Pruni said. “We know WJER was named after him by his middle daughter, Agnes, and that the Reeve’s Foundation that was started by his grandson continues to benefit the county.”
The J.E. Reeves Victorian Home and Carriage House Museum is owned and operated by the Dover Historical Society. While the museum features 95% of the furnishings that were in the home when Reeves lived there and focuses on the family history, the carriage house features many interesting displays on Dover history including the old Dover post office.
The house was originally built in the 1870s by local farmer Valentine Wills. Mr. Reeves purchased the home and 400 acres at the turn of the century and transformed it from an eight-room farm house to a 17-room mansion.
With COVID-19 there are a few changes to keep everyone safe. The first was that the summer season for the museum, which usually begins June 1, didn’t begin until July 15 this year.
“We’ve been staying in tune and paying attention to what the governor’s requests are for the safety of everyone in the state and the staff and our guests,” Pruni said.
A barrier was installed around the welcome desk where guests pay admission, and hand sanitizer is available in multiple locations around the carriage house and in the mansion.
“We’ve also covered all of the hand railings so they can be more easily sanitized because the wood in that house is original,” Pruni said. “It wouldn’t be good for it to be wiped down with some chemical bleach mix all the time. We covered them so they can be more sanitized.”
The staff will wear masks. Guests are asked to wear masks inside the museum, not just for the safety of the other visitors and staff.
“Being a museum where 95% of our belongings are original, our policies have always been that guests are not supposed to touch anything. In that respect we are asking our guests to wear masks because if someone coughs or sneezes, we can’t really clean or sanitize a couch that is 125 years old,” Pruni said. “We want to keep these in as good of shape as we can so that visitors can see them 100 years from now.”
The use of chemicals on historic objects can damage them and ruin their integrity. Due to close proximity, the pantry and icebox will be closed for the remainder of the 2020 season.
The Reeves Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. The first hour (noon to 1 p.m.) will be reserved for those who are high risk. Guests are encouraged to call and make reservations. The museum will limit tour-group sizes so they can guarantee more space between people. Tours last about one hour. Call the office at 330-343-7040 to make reservations.
“We ask that as people come in, please be patient. We are excited to open, but things are limited,” said Kami Stanley, office assistant and social-media coordinator.
The pandemic did have one silver lining for the staff at the museum.
“When we were closed, we made 28 videos, and we now have our own YouTube channel,” Pruni said. “Kami Stanley, our social-media coordinator, is the one who put all the information together, but it was a group effort between the staff, which includes Tamara Benson, our assistant curator, and the tour guides.”
The staff also did virtual tours of the house one room at a time in conjunction with other local museums and the Tuscarawas County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“We each had one day a week where we would release one new video, so that kept us very busy during quarantine and was a great opportunity,” Pruni said. “We did a lot of research that we can’t normally do when we are open, so that is really great. We all enjoyed that very much, and then some of that became videos.”
Visitors can step back in time at the Reeves Museum and enjoy finding something they love from the past.
“As much as we have turned into an electronic society, there is nothing like seeing it in person,” Pruni said. “Everybody finds something cool here.”