Westerville 250th Murals - Treats From the Past - Artist Jackie Jeromin
Westerville’s Fun Makers: Treats from the Past
Treats from the Past celebrates a playful side of Westerville’s industrial history. For much of the first half of the 20th century, local companies produced toys, games, vending machines, and recreation equipment that reached far beyond the community.
Artist Jackie Jeromin brings that history together through the image of a gumball machine. Colorful gumballs spill outward, each holding a scene from Westerville’s past. One shows a bowling ball striking pins. Others feature a Kilgore toy truck, dollhouse furniture, a child riding a GoCycle, and the E-Z-Fly kite produced by Kilgore Manufacturing in 1929. The many gumballs still inside the machine suggest that these objects represent only part of Westerville’s long history of making toys and creating fun.
Hance Manufacturing began producing GoCycles in 1912. These wooden scooters could be fitted with special skate attachments for packed snow and ice, and more than 200,000 were sold within a few years. The company also manufactured gumball and peanut vending machines.
Kilgore Manufacturing became known for dollhouse furniture, toy trucks, cap guns, and other products. By the 1930s, it was producing thousands of toy pistols and large quantities of caps each day. During World War II, the company shifted part of its production to military goods, including signal flares and bombs.
Westerville also played a role in the history of bowling. Inventor Sanders Frye received patents in 1945 and 1946 for improvements to automatic pinsetting technology. His work later helped form the basis for machines used at AMF bowling centers across the country.
Jeromin, an Ohio-based artist, works in styles ranging from realism to surrealism, often bringing color and whimsy to her paintings and murals. Treats from the Past is located at Roush Hardware, 609 S. State St., on the Schrock Road side of the building.
As part of the Westerville 250 Mural Project, the mural offers a bright reminder that Westerville’s manufacturing history was not only practical. It was also inventive, playful, and closely tied to the ways people relaxed, competed, and had fun.
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The Westerville News is a reader-supported publication by Gary Gardiner, a lifelong journalist who believes hyper-local reporting is the future of news. This publication focuses exclusively on Westerville—its local news, influence on Central Ohio, and how surrounding areas shape the community.
