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En garde! 1950’s Fencing Club
๐ค๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ! ๐๐ซ๐ค
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆโ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญโ๐ด ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ!
En garde! Check out this 1950’s Fencing Club group photo ๐คบ
Do you know anyone in this photo? Or when Griffith High’s Fencing Club faded away?
โIf you are in this photo, how are your parries and attacks holding up?
๐คบTouchรฉ!

Rock n Rail 2024
๐ธ Find us at ๐๐ค๐๐ ๐ฃ ๐๐๐๐ก this weekend!! ๐
Grab your ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ ๐ฎ๐ด๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐๐งฒ,
your ๐๐ถ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฆ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ง-๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฟ๐ ๐, (check out our SALE PRICE!)
and your ๐ฑ๐ฌ/๐ฑ๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ๐น๐ฒ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐!!
Your purchases and donations go directly to helping maintain our Franklin Museum and Depot/Train Park! We are all volunteers and we appreciate your support!



Preserving History Networking Seminar
A little catch up on our summer activities:
On Wednesday, June 5th, Griffith Historical Society Board Members Martha Gatlin, Karen Kulinski, Belinda Stark, and Ken Karlstedt, Sr. attended Cedar Lake Historical Associationโs Afternoon at the Lake. They were there with other volunteers and professionals from Calumet area historical organizations to participate in a โPreserving History Networking Seminarโ .
Thank you to everyone for sharing your knowledge and insight with us!

Recap: Sundays at the Depot; Moving Freight Along the Great Lakes
Thanks again, to photographer Max Crosby, for filling our Depot Museum and Historical Park with his incredible photos of magic moments on theย rails.ย We loved your dynamic images and the amazing turnout you brought with you.
Thank you to Griffith Daisy Troop 15620, Cub Scout Pack 622, and Boy Scout Troop 623 for providing refreshments!
It was a wonderful weekend!
Check out more of Max’s work:
https://youtube.com/@peremarquette1223?si=3VYUDQFa2D7fRJnt



















Monarch Waystation:๐Griffith Junction Butterfly Stop! ๐ฆ
Introducing our new Monarch Waystation:
๐Griffith Junction Butterfly Stop! ๐ฆ
We are so grateful to the Lake County Master Gardeners for the financial support and to the Griffith Tri Kappa members for creating and maintaining this absolutely lovely and meaningful addition to our Historical Park, which not only beautifies our park for us and our human visitors, but for an amazing array of pollinators and other winged visitors!
Whether you’re biking or driving by, stop by the Griffith Historical Park to have a seat in the shade, play a game of checkers, and watch the trains and butterflies!













Math Club 1963
๐ค๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ! ๐๐ซ๐ค
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ’๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ’๐ด ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ!
These Griffith High Math Club Officers helped their club build a computer in 1963. We wonder how big it was or how many functions it could perform.
If you’re in this photo or know who is, tell us how you feel about your smartphone today!

Help us share Griffith’s history with its students
An Appeal to Griffith Historical Society, Inc. Members,
Every now and then an opportunity arises where we can contribute to the education of young students in Griffith. We have that moment this coming September.
All Griffith third-grade students since 2022 participate in a week-long Historical Society activity entitled, The ElmerJ Program, which provides historical information about our town as part of the schoolโs Social Studies curriculum.
The students see/hear an in-class PowerPoint presentation about the founding of Griffith, complete with photos and maps. This is followed by a school bus trip to our Historical Park, where each class receives a guided tour of our Depot, railcars and Tower.
While the presentation and tours are done at no cost by Historical Society members, there is a fee for the bus and for the two paperback books pertaining to Griffith history that are part of the program.
Last year, 8 classes โ 161 third graders โ participated, and the school anticipates a similar number this year. The cost last year for the book and the bus came to $7, but these costs may rise some this year.
To make sure that no student misses out on learning about their town, we are trying to fund the cost for all students through extra donations from our Members.
If you’d like to help, please, can you send a donation to:
Griffith Historical Society, Inc.
201 N. Griffith Blvd. #3
Griffith, IN. 46319
Or through our online donation link (click here).
Thank you,
Martha Gatlin, Director


Read about last year’s field trip here.
Fill ‘er up, please!
๐ค๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ! ๐๐ซ๐ค
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ’๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ’๐ด ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ!
Getting your first car is usually an unforgettable part of the high school experience, as well as the adventures with friends that come along with it. Then, as now, fueling up is part of the experience.
34-cent per gallon gas in the 1970s is equivalent to about $2.86 in 2023 dollars.

๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ โ๐๐’๐ฌ
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๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ! ![]()
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๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ’๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ’๐ด ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ!
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐จ ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ โ๐๐’๐ฌ
Students built and operated what was called a โHamโ radio, which originally was developed as an emergency broadcast system. Students could talk across town, around the world, into space for fun, or in times of need: all without the Internet or cell phones.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ’๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ “๐๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ด 100” ๐๐น๐ฉ๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ต๐บ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.

