Mansfield parties 1800s style

By Amanda Rogers

Mansfield Record

The Man House went back to the 1800s on Saturday, with children competing in sack races, dipping candles and playing checkers while their parents and grandparents shopped for handmade pottery and pass-along plants at the inaugural Founders’ Day Festival.

“We’re delighted about how the day went for our first time having an event at this facility,” said Jessica Baber, manager of the Mansfield Historical Museum & Heritage Center.  “The community really turned out. There’s obviously an interest in history.”

Shuttles buzzed up and down West Broad Street, delivering visitors to the 1865-era home of Ralph Man, one of the city’s founders. The city purchased the home and put it through an extensive renovation to bring it back to the 1930s, renaming it the Man House Museum.

The renovation was completed last year, but the city couldn’t have a party to celebrate due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saturday’s event showed that the community is ready to see the new museum and to party 1800s style. Quilters, a blacksmith, soap maker, potter and candle maker showed off their skills on the museum grounds.

Baber and the city hope the festival, which marked Mansfield’s 131st birthday on Aug. 23, will become an annual event.

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