Revival Wheeler Mansion’s photo retake

This photo was taken in October 1925 at the opening of the Eastern Star Rest Home, formerly the Wheeler Mansion. The event attracted more than 1,000 people. Cynthia Butler, current owner of the mansion, is hoping to recreate the 1925 photo.

This photo was taken in October 1925 at the opening of the Eastern Star Rest Home, formerly the Wheeler Mansion. The event attracted more than 1,000 people. Cynthia Butler, current owner of the mansion, is hoping to recreate the 1925 photo. PHOTO COURTESY OF ORANGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

CARLA CHARTER

CARLA CHARTER

By CARLA CHARTER

Published: 03-24-2024 12:01 PM

On April 1, Cynthia Butler, owner of the Revival Wheeler Mansion, is hoping to recreate a photo taken on the building’s front lawn on October 1925, when it reopened as the Eastern Star Rest Home.

Butler hopes the new photo will serve as a marker of the mansion’s reopening.

The Revival Wheeler Mansion was originally built by John Wheeler, then-president of New Home Sewing Machine Co. in Orange, and was completed in 1903. Construction of the mansion at that time cost $200,000, equivalent to approximately $6 million in today’s economy, according to Butler.

John Wheeler and his wife, Almira, lived at the mansion until he died in 1910, according to Butler.

In the same year after his death, Almira left the mansion and moved to Lake Pleasant in Montague. The mansion was then rented, serving several purposes over the years.

Almira, an Eastern Star member, died in 1920 and deeded the mansion to the Eastern Star organization. After extensive renovations — during which the original four-bedroom home became a 20-bedroom rest home — it opened as the Eastern Star Rest Home in 1925 and remained so until its closing in 1990.

The women who lived at the home were all members of the Order of the Eastern Star as well.

“It was very similar to an assisted living facility, but it was specific to Eastern Star members,” Butler said.

Residents, she continued, came from across the country as well as overseas. One of the oldest residents of Massachusetts at the time, Althea Halberg, lived at the home, and died at 108, Butler said.

In her renovations, Butler has recognized the history of the mansion as an Eastern Star home. All of the bedrooms at the new bed and breakfast bear the names of women who lived at the home. A garden in the backyard has been named the Garden of the Eastern Star and includes a hedge maze with a large star in the center as homage to the property’s Eastern Star heritage. Butler has been renovating the mansion since 2020.

“It’s been a full-time job renovating,” she said. “It was expensive to do but it was worth it. The building was completely worthy of my time, and I am very attached to it.”

As for surprises during renovations, Butler said that when she climbed up into the third-floor attic, she saw the dome ceiling and became curious as to why it was there. After investigating further, she discovered an article at the Orange Historical Society that talked about John Wheeler’s billiard room on the third floor.

During the renovations, “I took out some of the bedrooms and revealed the original billiard room on the third floor, which is now a billiard room again,” she said.

The ribbon cutting for the Revival Wheeler Mansion bed and breakfast will be held on April 1 at 4 p.m. The ground floor will be open and garden tours will be free during the event.

“I would love to recreate the photo from 1925,” Butler said. “I am hoping to have both photos hanging in the mansion.”

For more information on the mansion, visit revivalwheelermansion.com.

Carla Charter is a freelance writer from Phillipston. Her writing focuses on the history of the North Quabbin area. Contact her at cjfreelancewriter@earthlink.net.