General Reasin Beall Homestead / Wayne County Historical Society

Side A: Built in 1816 by General Reasin Beall and his wife Rebecca Johnston Beall, the homestead is recognized as the oldest existing residence in the City of Wooster. Born in 1769 in Maryland, Reasin Beall came to Ohio in 1801. In the War of 1812, he was promoted to brigadier general of the Ohio militia. After the war, Beall served one term as a Republican to the Thirteenth Congress and ten years as a register of the land offices at Canton and Wooster. After Beall died in 1843, his daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law Joseph Stibbs II received his house. Side B: Established in 1904 with support from Andrew Carnegie, the Wayne County Library housed the original Wooster Museum that formed through donations from Wooster residents George Schwartz, C.C. Parsons, Dr. Joseph Todd and James Mullins. Schwartz served as museum curator from 1905 to 1925 followed by Alvin Rich. In 1954, the Wayne County Histoical Society of Ohio was incorporated. In 1957, the College of Wooster donated the Beall-Stibbs house, which had been converted into a dormatory named Bowman Hall, to the society. That same year, the Wooster Museum and the society merged and all collections were moved to this 546 E. Bowman Street site.