THOMAS-FULLER HOME
Amelia, Ohio

Capt. Thomas, the owner of Thomas Art Manufacturing, built his Victorian home on a 27-acre lot at 119 West Main Street, Amelia in 1898. Three-quarters of the house was built of Oak. The library was made of Walnut.

The second owner (1913) was Harvey Fuller who worked in the lumber business in Amelia. The house has a hidden closet/room, hidden shelves and cabinets which have lead to the legend that the house was a speakeasy during the Prohibition Era of the 1920’s and 1930’s. The house at one time had a basement garage and a tennis court on the east lawn.

The house had many owners/tenants over the year. In the 1950s Amelia Mayor Robert Groh took up residents. The McGill and Smith, Engineers and Architects, called the building home for a long period time. In the 1990s it became the Werline Studios, the studio for several artist. The Clermont Leadership Institute’s offices were in the building.

Much fanfare and excitement is in the news regarding the announcement that “Jungle Jim’s” of Fairfield opened a second location in Eastgate at the site of the former Bigg’s Place mall. To us oldsters, it doesn’t seem that long ago that Bigg’s opened, but in fact, it was 1984, a rather historic occurrence due to it being the first Hyper-Market or Superstore in the United States.