Freida Warther spent her life button collecting and amassed over 100,000 while creating a unique display of 73,282 buttons on the walls and ceilings of her button house in Dover, OH.
Freida began button collecting at the age of 10 and collected for the next 83 years. She collected about every type of button including: hand-painted ceramic buttons, Goodyear rubber buttons, pearl buttons, brass military buttons, celluloid buttons, calico buttons and even a button from Mrs. Lincoln's Inaugural Dress.
After her children were grown, Freida started laying her buttons out in her own unique designs and quilt patterns. Once the buttons were laid out, she sewed all the buttons onto the boards by hand.
Freida Warther - button collecting
Freida was an artist in her own right. In addition to creating all the button designs, she also loved to do flower arranging with the flowers she grew in her own Swiss flower gardens. She also created elaborate Christmas wreaths of pine cones, ribbons, and various holiday decorations. Freida helped many young girls in the area get started with their own flower arranging, button collecting, gardening, or wreath making project.
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