FAIRMOUNT - For collectors of James Dean memorabilia, next month's James Dean Fest offers a chance to pick up a unique piece of his history - one of the homes he grew up in as a child.
During the three-day event, the home at 322 E. Washington St. will be one of about 50 items up for sale at an auction to be conducted at the Marion Municipal Airport, the site of the Dean Fest.
Dean's father, Winton, bought the home in 1933 for $600, and sold it two years later for $750, according to the property's abstract. Dean was born in Marion in 1931, then moved with his parents to California in 1935.
Current residents Paula and Mark Johnson say they were clueless about their home's connection to Dean until after they'd moved in nearly a decade ago.
"We had no idea," Paula Johnson said. "After we bought the house, I was sitting on the side porch with my uncle, and some woman walked up and said 'You know, James Dean used to live here.'"
Specialty Auction Services is coordinating the auction at the Dean Fest. Jimmy Wainscott, a partner in the Indianapolis-based firm, said the home will be the premier item for sale at the auction, now tentatively scheduled for June 4.
"I think this is a wonderful undiscovered treasure for Grant County," he said of the home. "This would make a great bed and breakfast or a private getaway for people to come out to Fairmount."
The final auction list isn't finalized, but Wainscott said some items expected to become available are a yearbook owned by Dean's drama teacher, Adeline Nall, vintage movie posters and drawings done of Dean.
Although the auction will be held at the Dean Fest, Wainscott said a walk-through likely will be scheduled for the home prior to the auction. Photographs of the home also will be available at the auction at online auction site eBay (www. ebay.com), where Internet participants also can bid on any of the items up for sale, including the house.
"This is going to have a worldwide audience," Wainscott said.
The Johnsons had considered selling the house in an auction themselves at September's Museum Days festivities in Fairmount, but eventually got connected with Warner Bros. through Jennifer Seybold, coordinator of the local Dean Fest office and wife of Marion Mayor Wayne Seybold.
Paula Johnson said she wasn't eager to move at first, but said she was willing to take the chance to capitalize on the 50th anniversary of Dean's death.
"It's not that I wanted to move. But timing is everything," she said.
