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A rusty pocketknife found on the side of a dirt road in Dover, Ohio, set Ernest Warther on the path to earning the title of the world’s master carver. He became renowned for his intricate carvings of steam engines that display their history from ancient Egypt till the end of their run in the mid-1900s.
“When you start to hear his life story … there’s an awe-inspiring sense behind all of his work,” says Kristen Harmon, director of the Ernest Warther Museum & Gardens and Warther’s great-grandchild.
Built on the site of the late carver and his wife Frieda’s 1912 home, the museum showcases 64 of Warther’s impressive steam engines, along with other work. It also features Frieda’s 73,000-plus button collection and Alpine-style ornamental gardens, which contain plantings like spring crocus and snowdrops done by Frieda herself.
Warther’s humble beginnings made his achievements especially profound. His dad died when he was 3, he was only educated through second grade, and he worked as a cattle herder starting at 5 years old and at the American Sheet and Tin Co. factory later on. Finding that knife helped him carve out a whittling hobby.
In 1913, the then-27-year-old created his now-famous plier tree, with 511 pairs of pliers made from 31,000 cuts into a single piece of walnut — and each pair is functional.
While walking to the steel mill, he passed railroad tracks in Dover and decided to carve models to tell the story of the evolution of the steam engine.
“At that point in our history, the steam engine symbolizes a lot of progress and industry,” Harmon says.
The astounding collection includes the sought-after nearly 7-foot-long model of former President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train. It’s made from gold ebony and a hippopotamus tooth and trimmed in iridescent mother of pearl with drapery carved out of walnut. Like all his trains, it’s mechanized.
“They have motion — all of the wheels do,” Harmon says. “The bell is going to be able to swing. The cab doors open and close. … He made these very authentic.”
Her favorite is an ebony New York Central Railroad 5200, known to family members as Warther’s “bank train” that used to sit on his mantel and hold his money.
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In 1923, New York Central caught wind of his collection. He traveled the country, showing it to millions and doing a two-year display in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. Henry Ford offered to house it in his Michigan museum, but Warther turned him down, opting to start a museum at his farmstead in Dover and drive tourism there. “He loved it here,” Harmon says.
While she was born after Warther’s death, her mom told stories of how her grandfather worked so hard on carvings that he even worked on one — his longest, an 11,000-piece, nearly 8-foot-long Empire State Express train — during their Christmas Eve party, finally declaring he was done after a year and four days.
Warther produced pieces from ages 20 to 86, and Harmon hopes the museum sends the message that it took lots of hard work, time and discipline for him to master carving.
“I like to make sure that people realize the hours and dedication that he has put into his art,” she says. “We all have talents. We all can achieve anything we want.”
331 Karl Ave., Dover, thewarthermuseum.com
