Inside Neil Armstrong’s boyhood home, at the top of a creaky stairway, sits his bedroom where he launched model airplanes out of the rear window to measure how far they’d fly.
Hanging in the room now are autographed photos of astronauts who’ve visited the privately kept house to see where Armstrong’s first steps to the moon began.
Owned by a retired history teacher devoted to preserving its past and charming character, the home is for sale for the first time in nearly 40 years. What will become of it remains uncertain.
All over Armstrong’s hometown of Wapakoneta, there are reminders of his history-making moonwalk. But few places played a bigger role early in his journey than 601 W. Benton St. — the house where the Armstrong family settled in western Ohio when he was a young teenager.
It’s where Armstrong built planes out of balsa wood and glue in the dining room and constructed a basement wind tunnel to test his models. He’d often pedal his bike from home to take flying lessons at an airstrip.
