Before astronaut Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the moon, he was running around his boyhood home in western Ohio.
For decades, the Wapakoneta residence was privately owned. But, recently, the local historical society decided to take a giant leap and buy the $400,000 home, with a donation from a retired military fighter pilot.
The Auglaize County Historical Society plans to restore the two-story home back to what it would have looked like when Armstrong was growing up.
Director Rachel Barber said it will allow the small Ohio community to share an often overlooked chapter of the famed astronaut’s life with the public.
“It was here at this time when Neil learned to fly a plane, really developed his curiosity for all that was related to air,” Barber said. “There's so many connections with this really pivotal chapter in Neil's life.”
The home’s history
Armstrong’s family moved around a lot during his childhood. It wasn’t until 1944, when Armstrong was 13, that they found a more permanent home in Ohio.
It was at 601 W. Benton St. that Neil became obsessed with flying. He launched model airplanes out the second-story window and even built a wind tunnel in the basement of the 1,500-square-foot residence to test aerodynamics.
Local history teacher Karen Mikesell bought the home in 1988, collecting Armstrong memorabilia in his former childhood bedroom.
In an interview with the New York Times, Mikesell said the home became a sort of pilgrimage site for astronauts: Buzz Aldrin, Gregory H. Johnson, and Suni Williams all visited.
Barber said it’s just one landmark of many in Wapakoneta tied to Armstrong’s life.
“There's also the church that he attended, the school that he attended… the drug store where he worked, and of course, the remains of the field where he learned to fly,” Barber said. “So this is just another very, very important component of that storytelling.”
Restoring the home
The historical society is working with the family to restore the home back to how it appeared from the 1940s through the ‘60s. Barber said they will use photographs to match the Armstrong family’s furnishings, wallpaper and appliances.
“Match all of those things to something that Neil would recognize if he walked back in the house," she said.
Barber estimates the process of renovation and fundraising will take three years, with the goal of opening to the public by 2030 – in time for the 100th anniversary of Armstrong’s birth.
She hopes by opening the house to public tours, community members will come away with a better understanding of Armstrong’s teenage years and the setting that shaped his life.
“We can imagine what it was like for a family, parents and three children living there, just going about their daily lives,” Barber said, “never really knowing what the future had in store, especially for one of them.”
