Mount Hope: The Baldwin-Reynolds House Museum

Henry Baldwin (January 14, 1780 – April 21, 1844) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from January 6, 1830, to April 21, 1844. Baldwin’s career began as a successful Pittsburgh attorney, but his investments in iron furnaces sparked a move to Crawford County, Pennsylvania where he was elected the newly formed jurisdiction's first district attorney from 1799 to 1801. Here the widowed Baldwin would marry his second wife, Sally Ellicott, daughter of Washington’s Surveyor General, Andrew Ellicott.

Baldwin’s political career quickly excelled with his election to Congress in 1816 where he gained favor with future president, Andrew Jackson who he later helped to elect. In response, President Jackson appointed Baldwin to a seat on the Supreme Court, a post he held until his death in 1844.

In 1842, an aging Baldwin and his wife decided to settle closer to family and friends in Meadville where they stayed when court was not in session. During a visit to his son in Tennessee, Baldwin, fell in love with a home there known as “Hunter Hill,” and it became the inspiration for the home he was to build on a 24 ½ acre estate along Terrace Street referred to as Mount Hope.

Upon their deaths in 1911, William and Julia left their home to their youngest child, John Earle Reynolds. A bachelor until his 50s, John married his longtime love, Katherine Shryock only months after his parents’ passing. After a year-long honeymoon to Europe and Asia, the couple returned, adorning their home with items that are still on display in the museum today.  

John followed in his father’s footsteps, serving as Meadville’s mayor for three terms. Katherine was very active in the American Red Cross and was a charter member of the Meadville Garden Club. As a couple, they were the ideal socialites in Meadville and examples of true elegance. 

After John’s death in 1947, Katherine remained in the house until her death in 1963, willing the house to be put on market for public sale. With the generous support of the Talon Zipper Company and others in the community, the Crawford County Historical Society purchased the property in 1963. Soon after, it was transformed into a house museum, displaying much of the Baldwin and Reynolds family furnishings as well as many artifacts representing the history of Crawford County.