Dublin Life’s storyteller series focuses on the people who make Dublin great – people who have made improving the community a part of their life, people who have been able to call Dublin home for a long time and people who have watched Dublin evolve over the years. The Storyteller Series tells the history of Dublin through his or her eyes, and sheds light on what living in Dublin was like decades ago. With the help of these special people, Dublin has undoubtedly become a better place.
Jim Richards holds a book detailing his family history. Photos by Amanda DePerro
Of everyone in Dublin, perhaps the person with the most combined history in – and knowledge of – the City is none other than 86-year-old Jim Richards. Not only was Jim born and raised in Dublin, his family was a pioneer family of Dublin – Tuller Road is named after his great-great-grandfather Holcolmb Tuller – and Jim was on the first zoning board in the City. Jim married his high school sweetheart, Clara, and the pair were married for 68 years until Clara’s passing in December 2015. Jim and Clara Richards had one son, Dean Richards, a Vietnam veteran who passed away seven years ago; a grandson, Jonathan; and two great-granddaughters, Ailey and Samantha.
Although Jim says he never liked history classes in high school, to say he is passionate about the history of Dublin is a vast understatement. From the origin of the stone in the buildings in Historic Dublin to the number of outhouses that existed prior to Dublin’s establishment of plumbing and sewage, Jim knows it all, and continues to page through the Worthington and Dublin community libraries in search of more. Jim represents not only the contemporary Dublin but the original Dublin, the foundation upon which the Dublin of today has been built, as well.
Jim created the plaque commemorating the sesquicentennial of Dublin's beginnings in 1960. The plaque reads "Dublin, Ohio, June 20-25, Sesquicentennial Celebration"
My family was a pioneer family in Dublin. Holcomb Tuller, my great-great-grandfather, didn’t have an education or anything when he first came to Dublin – zero, nothing. But he was a very good businessman, and owned land clear up to where Tuller Road is now, which is named after him. When he died, he was one of the wealthiest people in Dublin, and back in the 1800s, his estate was worth $38,000. The great thing about him was that he made work for a lot of people here in Dublin.
My grandfather inherited our house on Bridge Street from his dad. My sister, Joyce, still lives there today. The house was built around 1840. Many people are surprised when I mention how poor Dublin was. Back then, Dublin was the very poorest town in Franklin County, and because we didn’t have running water and sewage, nothing developed.
Jim, a carpenter, created a replica of his childhood home's outhouse. He made a nearly identical version for Betty Weber, with a heart carved in the door instead. The outhouse reads "Tuller's Privy, 63 South High St., Dublin, Ohio, Replica by Jim Richards, Year 2000"
When I was growing up, there wasn’t running water; we had outhouses. The furniture, everything was different. Everything that happened back in those early days was completely different than it is today. My dad died in 1944 of a ruptured appendix, so we had to move in with my grandmother, who lived on Bridge Street. My grandmother had kerosene lights. We didn’t have electricity, so we had to do what everybody else did, which was go to the pumps to get our water.
Tom Holton, president of the Dublin Historical Society, always harasses me about outhouses. There were 68 outhouses in Dublin when I grew up. I can almost repeat all the family names of the people living in those houses: there were only about 200 people living in Dublin then. Five of those 68 outhouses are still standing today. Everybody would say, “What size of toilet do you have? You got a two-holer or a one-holer?” Clara and I, after we were married, lived in a log cabin. We had a three-holer over there.
When we were kids, we used to go fishing on the Scioto River and we would go sledding in the winter. We would tie a pocketbook to a string and put it on the brick sidewalks and hide, then pull it when somebody would bend over to grab it. The radio show Major Bowes Amateur Hour hosted a contest where you could win prizes if you sent in bottle caps, and Betty Weber – my cousin and Chi Weber’s wife – and I sent in bottle caps and won two pairs of roller skates. Betty was one of my favorite cousins.
My wife, Clara’s, family came to Dublin from West Virginia when she was in third grade. We were in the same grade in school, and graduated together from Dublin High School at the 1919 Building in 1947. Clara was my very best friend and was just a loving individual. We just had one son, Dean. When he went into the service, I told him, “You’re going to be drafted; your best bet is to go into the Air Force,” and he did. He was in the Vietnam War and he was fortunate that he wasn’t in combat. He served in Kerpen, Germany, and lived in Idaho, where his wife still lives.
A photo of Jim and Clara hangs above his mantle
Dublin has changed so much since my childhood. The first zoning law passed in 1954 by two votes – it was 86-84 – and that set the pattern for the development of the City of Dublin for the future. The very first development in the town of Dublin was River Forest. It was a good thing that zoning law passed. Hilliard voted on that precinct at the same time that Dublin did, but turned it down. If you go into Hilliard, there are a bunch of small houses stacked up against each other; because of that first zoning law, you don’t see that in Dublin.
One of the things that was really important in my life was to be involved in community activity. I became a scoutmaster when I was older, but when I was growing up, I was a Boy Scout in Troop 185. Eli Pinney was my scoutmaster. I’m still a member of the Dublin Historical Society and I’m of good faith. My mother taught my sister and me about Christianity from an early age, and although I was raised at the Dublin Community Church, Clara, Joyce and I joined the Dublin Baptist Church back in 2005.
I was a carpenter for 16 years and I worked for Carl Aschinger II for 25 years at the Columbus Show Case Company, now CSC Worldwide, where I traveled all over the United States. I never left Dublin, I never thought of leaving Dublin. Dublin has always been home to me, wherever I’ve been.
Amanda DePerro is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at hbealer@cityscenecoumbus.com.
RELATED READS
