๐—š๐—ฅ๐—œ๐—™๐—™๐—œ๐—ง๐—› ๐—›๐—œ๐—š๐—› ๐—ง๐—จ๐—ฅ๐—ก๐—ฆ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ!

๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿซ๐Ÿ’› ๐—š๐—ฅ๐—œ๐—™๐—™๐—œ๐—ง๐—› ๐—›๐—œ๐—š๐—› ๐—ง๐—จ๐—ฅ๐—ก๐—ฆ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ! ๐Ÿ’›๐Ÿซ๐Ÿ–ค
๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™‚๐™ง๐™ž๐™›๐™›๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ƒ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ž๐™˜๐™–๐™ก ๐™Ž๐™ค๐™˜๐™ž๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฎ ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™˜๐™š๐™ก๐™š๐™—๐™ง๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ!!
๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ด, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ง๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ ๐˜ด๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ด ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฉ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ด.
๐„๐ง๐ฃ๐จ๐ฒ!

๐™ธ๐š ๐šœ๐šŠ๐š ๐š’๐š— ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š–๐š’๐š๐š๐š•๐šŽ ๐š˜๐š ๐šŠ ๐š๐š’๐šŽ๐š•๐š ๐š˜๐š ๐š๐š›๐šŠ๐šœ๐šœ, ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š’๐š–๐š™๐š›๐šŽ๐šœ๐šœ๐š’๐šŸ๐šŽ ๐…๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ค๐ฅ๐ข๐ง ๐’๐œ๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฅ ๐š๐š’๐š. ๐™ฑ๐šž๐š’๐š•๐š ๐š’๐š— ๐Ÿท๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿท๐Ÿท, ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šœ๐š–๐šŠ๐š•๐š• ๐š๐š˜๐š ๐š—โ€™๐šœ ๐š๐š’๐š›๐šœ๐š ๐š‹๐š’๐š ๐š™๐š›๐š˜๐š“๐šŽ๐šŒ๐š, ๐œ๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  $๐Ÿ—,๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ๐ŸŽ โ€” $๐Ÿธ๐Ÿผ๐Ÿผ,๐Ÿถ๐Ÿถ ๐š’๐š— ๐š๐š˜๐š๐šŠ๐šขโ€™๐šœ ๐š–๐š˜๐š—๐šŽ๐šข. ๐™ฑ๐š›๐š’๐šŒ๐š” ๐šœ๐š๐š›๐šž๐šŒ๐š๐šž๐š›๐šŽ, ๐š๐š˜๐šž๐š› ๐š›๐š˜๐š˜๐š–๐šœ, ๐š๐š ๐š˜ ๐šœ๐š๐š˜๐š›๐š’๐šŽ๐šœ. ๐™ฑ๐š’๐š ๐šŽ๐š—๐š˜๐šž๐š๐š‘ ๐š๐š˜๐š› ๐šŠ๐š•๐š• ๐™ถ๐š›๐š’๐š๐š๐š’๐š๐š‘ ๐šœ๐š๐šž๐š๐šŽ๐š—๐š๐šœ, ๐ ๐ซ๐š๐๐ž๐ฌ ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐จ ๐Ÿ–.
๐ˆ๐ญ ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ง ๐ก๐š๐ ๐š ๐›๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ!

๐šƒ๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š—๐šŽ๐šŠ๐š›๐šŽ๐šœ๐š ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐ฌ๐œ๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฅ ๐š ๐šŠ๐šœ ๐š’๐š— ๐‡๐š๐ฆ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐, ๐š›๐šŽ๐šš๐šž๐š’๐š›๐š’๐š—๐š ๐šœ๐š๐šž๐š๐šŽ๐š—๐š๐šœ ๐š๐š˜ ๐š๐šŠ๐š”๐šŽ ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š๐š›๐šŠ๐š’๐š— ๐šŽ๐šŠ๐šŒ๐š‘ ๐š๐šŠ๐šข.

๐šƒ๐š‘๐šŽ ๐š™๐š›๐š’๐š๐šŽ ๐š˜๐š ๐™ถ๐š›๐š’๐š๐š๐š’๐š๐š‘, ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐šœ๐šŒ๐š‘๐š˜๐š˜๐š• ๐š ๐šŠ๐šœ ๐šŠ๐š•๐šœ๐š˜ ๐šŠ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐œ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ž๐ซ, ๐š๐š‘๐šŽ ๐™ฟ๐šƒ๐™ฐ ๐š‘๐š˜๐š•๐š๐š’๐š—๐š ๐šŒ๐šŠ๐š›๐š ๐š™๐šŠ๐š›๐š๐š’๐šŽ๐šœ, ๐š๐šŠ๐š—๐šŒ๐šŽ๐šœ, ๐šŠ๐š—๐š ๐š˜๐š๐š‘๐šŽ๐š› ๐šŽ๐šŸ๐šŽ๐š—๐š๐šœ.

Tales of the Rails

In the olden days, a train equipped with a wedge plow in front of the engine cleared snow from the tracks. Clearing snow from around railroad depots, towers, and other outbuildings, like the Griffith watchmanโ€™s shanty shown here, was done by railroad workers with shovels, as in this photo.
In truth, most of what was done in the early days of railroading was done by hand. Tracks were all laid by hand. Heavy wooden ties and steel rails were carried by two men, using special equipment, and put into place on the trackbed. Then, the men used a spike maul, similar to a sledge-hammer, to attach the rail to the ties by driving huge nails, called spikes, into the wood.
Tunnels though mountains were built by hand, too, by men like John Henry, the legendary steel-driving man. A steel-driver pounded out holes in the mountain, into which blasting powder was poured and lit with a fuse. Not one of the tools any of these men used had an electrical cord at the end of them.

History Notes

In days gone by, putting up the townโ€™s Christmas decorations right after Thanksgiving was a yearly event in Griffith.
Members of the Community Spirit organization and the Griffith Fire Department are pictured here in the 100 block of South Broad Street. Lighted garlands were strung across Broad for several blocks.
It gave the town an especially festive holiday look, reminiscent, some folks said, of Bedford Falls, the town in the movie, โ€œIt’s a Wonderful Life.โ€

Santa in the Caboose!๐ŸŽ…๐Ÿšƒ

๐ŸŽ…๐—ฆ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—–๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐˜€๐—ฒ!๐Ÿšƒ

Join us!!

๐ŸŽ„Saturday, Dec 9 (10am – 4pm) & ๐ŸŽ„Sunday, Dec 10 (Noon – 4pm)

โ„๏ธGive a donation, enjoy a private visit with Santa
โ„๏ธTake photos & video, weโ€™ll take a family picture for you
โ„๏ธOur Holiday Bake Sale in our Depot, plus:
โ„๏ธ Daisy Troop 15620, with stocking stuffer snacks
โ„๏ธBrownie Troop 35647, with ornaments/decorative candle jars
โ„๏ธCub Scout Pack 622 & Boy Scout Troop 623, with hot dogs, & hot chocolate, and holding a clothing drive for Sojourner Truth House in Gary!

History Notes

Mat Beiriger, Scottie Schweitzer and Mat Theis pose for a photo amidst a bountiful fall harvest. Farmers were the first to come to the Griffith area in the mid-1850โ€™s when land here was cheap, but needed to be drained before it could be used. Under all the water, they found rich, fertile land on which to plant their crops.

3rd graders Tour Historical Park

Left: GHS Secretary, Karen Kulinski, talks to students about our Pullman Troop-sleeper railcar.
Right: Railroad history comes alive when a train passes by.


For the second year in a row, we hosted Griffith Public School students as part of our ElmerJ Program, wherein we work with schools as they teach town history, part of the 3rd grade Social Studies curriculum.

The program involves a presentation on Griffith History to the classes in their classroom, and a tour of the Historical Park. This year eight classes participated, with 161 students.
Students receive books on Griffith history written for young people, as well as primary source stories about early Griffith and other historical information.

We are grateful to members Nancy Stout, Karen Kulinski, Debby Hoot, John and Valerie Wotkun, Fran Evans, Marthann Gatlin, Claudia Powell, Victoria Fane, Toni Rickert, Belinda Stark.

Special thanks goes out to Officer Alex Ascolani, from the Canadian National Railroad Police, for providing Operation Lifesaver coloring books and coming out to the Park to talk to the children about train safety.

We are also grateful to the Griffith Park Department for bringing picnic tables up to our Park for us to use.

Sundays at the Depot: THE SCOUTS ARE COMING!

Our Historical Park has hosted Railroad Fairs, Santa Claus and even a Halloween event years ago. But next Sunday will be a first for us!

Boy Scout Troop 623, sponsored by the Griffith Isaac Walton League, will be camping overnight at our Park, September 16-17. They will set up camp late Saturday afternoon and sleep in the railcars.

On Sunday, they will take a tour of the Parkโ€™s Depot, railcars and Tower. Both buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places and the Indiana Register of Historic Sites and Structures.

Stop by our Griffith Historical Park, 201 S. Broad St., on Sunday if youโ€™d like to see Scouting in action and learn more about Boy Scout Troop 623, or Cub Scout Pack 622.

Upcoming places to find us! Ride the Barrel Train and get your Griffith Souvenirs!

Find us!!
Friday Sept 8 – 9am – 1pm at Strack and Van Til in Highland
Friday Sept 8 – 5pm – 7pm at Central Market ๐Ÿš‚
Saturday Sept 9 – 1pm – 4pm at Griffith Public Safety & Community Day in Central Park! ๐Ÿš‚
Friday Sept 15 – 5pm – 7pm at Central Market
๐Ÿš‚

๐ŸงฒWe have Limited Editon Griffith Magnets!! ๐Ÿš‚๐Ÿšƒ๐Ÿšƒ๐Ÿšƒ for ๐Ÿ’ฒ5๏ธโƒฃ
๐Ÿ‘• Or get your own Historical Society t-shirt!Super soft, Bella Canvas tri-blend! ๐Ÿ‘• We have V-necks and crew necks available!๐Ÿ’ฒ2๏ธโƒฃ0๏ธโƒฃ
๐ŸŽซ We also have 50/50 Raffle tickets!! Everyone loves a raffle!๐Ÿ’ฒ2๏ธโƒฃ each or 3๏ธโƒฃ for ๐Ÿ’ฒ5๏ธโƒฃ!! ๐Ÿ—ณDrawing is on November 15th.
๐Ÿš‚ When we’re at Central Park, we’ll have the Barrel Train!! Grab your ticket to ride! $3๏ธโƒฃ per kid! All aboard!!

All sales and proceeds go directly to the upkeep of the Depot Museum, Train Park, Railroad Webcam, and Griffith History Preservation!!

Get your Griffith souvenirs at Rock N Rail!

Visit our tent at Rock N Rail!!!(Just north of Vegas Vegas) to get your Griffith souvenirs!!

We have Limited Editon Griffith Magnets!! ๐Ÿš‚๐Ÿšƒ๐Ÿšƒ๐Ÿšƒ for ๐Ÿ’ฒ5๏ธโƒฃ

๐Ÿ‘• Or get your own Historical Society t-shirt!Super soft, Bella Canvas tri-blend! ๐Ÿ‘• We have V-necks and crew necks available!๐Ÿ’ฒ2๏ธโƒฃ0๏ธโƒฃ

๐ŸŽซ We also have 50/50 Raffle tickets!! Everyone loves a raffle!๐Ÿ’ฒ2๏ธโƒฃ each or 3๏ธโƒฃ for ๐Ÿ’ฒ5๏ธโƒฃ!! ๐Ÿ—ณDrawing is on November 15th.

All sales and proceeds go directly to the upkeep of the Depot Museum, Train Park, Railroad Webcam, and Griffith History Preservation!!