Galva woman opens B and B

Historic home was relocated in 1982

Friday, December 22, 2006

By CAROL TOWNSEND

The Register-Mail

GALVA - Galva has a new bed and breakfast, set to open next week. Chink and Dale's Bed and Breakfast, located at 912 W. Division, will open for business Wednesday.

The home was bought about Oct. 1 by Ruth Anderson of Galva. She has named the business after her late father-in-law, Chink Anderson, and her late husband, Dale Anderson.

The 10-room home is large, with four bedrooms, two stairways, a fireplace, parlor, sitting room and dining room. It is furnished with Anderson family antiques.

Each of the four bedrooms can be rented for $59 a night. A continental breakfast will be served each morning.

Anderson will also rent the downstairs (including the kitchen) for anniversaries, birthday parties, showers and other engagements for $20 an hour.

For reservations, call Anderson at (309) 525-0078.

Anderson has painted the interior, and all hardwood floors have been sanded and re-varnished.

The home has an interesting history. It originally sat east of the present Bob Evans Farms plant on the west edge of Galva. It was moved to its present location Sept. 14, 1982. Charles Balagna and Sons of Farmington moved the large structure. The house started down Southwest 10th Avenue at 8 a.m. and was on its new foundation by 4 p.m.

According to the George Swank in his Galvaland Magazine, Lewis Matteson built the home for his wife Elizabeth in the early 1900s. It was one of Galva's finest homes, Swank wrote.

The Matteson family only lived in the home a short time before tragedy struck. While starting a fire in the kitchen stove, Elizabeth Matteson caught her clothes on fire; she died of the burns at age 52.

Mr. Matteson operated a meat market on Exchange Street, was Galva Township supervisor and served on the Galva City Council. The couple had five children.