THE KELTON FAMILY STORY
A Home That Holds Generations of History
Built in 1852, the Kelton House at 586 East Town Street offers a remarkable window into generations of life in Columbus.
For more than a century, the house remained connected to the Kelton family, preserving not only the home itself but an extraordinary collection of furnishings, photographs, letters, artwork, textiles, business records, china, and personal belongings dating from 1760 to 1975.
Approximately 80 percent of the furnishings in Kelton House originated with the family, creating an unusually complete record of multiple generations and the changing lives of the people who called the house home.
Today, the Kelton House Museum & Garden preserves these stories and provides a place to explore family life, abolition and the Underground Railroad, decorative arts, historic preservation, and the changing story of Columbus.
The First Generation | Fernando & Sophia Kelton
In 1852, Fernando Cortez Kelton built the home where he and his wife, Sophia Stone Kelton, would raise their family.
Fernando was a prominent Columbus businessman involved in the mercantile trade and became the city’s first wholesale dry goods merchant. Sophia managed the household and developed a passion for decorative arts, particularly china painting. Her granddaughter Grace later recalled that Sophia even had a kiln in the carriage house where she fired her painted pieces.
Their home would become connected to events and movements extending far beyond East Town Street.
A Connection to Abraham Lincoln
Following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in April 1865, his funeral train traveled across the country on its journey to Springfield, Illinois.
When Lincoln’s funeral procession reached Columbus, Fernando Kelton participated in the city’s observances as a pallbearer.
Items connected to that historic occasion, including a ribbon worn by Fernando and a piece of his mourning armband, became part of the Kelton family’s collection and help connect the story of one Columbus family to a defining moment in American history.
A House That Offered Refuge
Fernando and Sophia Kelton held strong antislavery beliefs, and their home became connected to the Underground Railroad.
In 1864, sisters Martha and Pearl Hartway arrived at the Kelton home after escaping slavery in Powhatan County, Virginia. The Keltons provided the young freedom seekers with shelter.
Pearl eventually continued her journey north toward Canada. Martha, who was ill when she arrived, remained in Columbus and was raised in the Kelton household.
Their story became an important part of the history preserved at Kelton House and, generations later, inspired educational programming designed to help students better understand slavery, abolition, the Underground Railroad, and the individuals whose choices and courage shaped this history.
The Next Generation
The story of Kelton House continued through the family’s next generation.
Following Sophia Kelton’s death, Edwin “Ned” Kelton and Laura Brace Kelton made 586 East Town Street their home. Their daughters Ella, Laura, Louise, Grace, and Lucy were raised within its walls.
Family photographs, correspondence, furnishings, and personal belongings preserved through the generations provide an intimate look at their lives and the ways the house evolved over time.
Grace Kelton | Preserving a Family Legacy
Grace Bird Kelton would ultimately become the final member of the Kelton family to call 586 East Town Street home.
Grace grew up in the house with her four sisters and remained deeply connected to the property throughout her life. She especially loved its gardens and enjoyed bringing freshly cut flowers into the home.
For many years, the house belonged to her aunt, Isabelle “Belle” Coit Kelton, and Grace paid rent to continue living there. Following Belle’s death in 1956 at the age of 101, Grace purchased the property from her estate.
Grace became the caretaker of more than a house.
She preserved generations of family photographs, letters, furnishings, artwork, documents, and personal belongings. Because so much remained together, the collection would eventually provide an extraordinary record of the Kelton family and life in Columbus across generations.
When Grace died on December 25, 1975, she entrusted the property to The Columbus Foundation with the stipulation that her family home be preserved and used for educational purposes.
Her decision ensured that the history held within 586 East Town Street would not disappear with the final generation of the Kelton family.
Instead, it would be shared.
From Family Home to Museum
Grace’s vision opened the door to a new chapter for Kelton House.
In 1976, the Junior League of Columbus embraced the challenge of preserving the property and began the extensive work of restoring the house and gardens.
Junior League Members worked alongside preservation professionals while raising funds, cataloguing artifacts, researching the Kelton family, restoring furnishings, caring for the grounds, and preparing the property to serve the community.
What had been a private family home began its transformation into the Kelton House Museum & Garden.
For the next five decades, generations of Junior League members would continue the responsibility Grace entrusted to the community: preserving the house and using it to educate others.
Explore the Kelton House Collection
One of the things that makes Kelton House remarkable is how much of the family’s story remains within the collection.
Approximately 80 percent of the furnishings originated with the Kelton family. Together with photographs, correspondence, artwork, textiles, decorative arts, business records, china, and personal objects, these pieces allow us to understand the people who lived here through the things they used, created, saved, and valued.
Each object has a story.