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!
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.
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.
The Griffith Historical Society is Turning 40!
Weโre celebrating on June 10th, from 12 pm to 4 pm at our Griffith Historical Park.
The Depot, Tower and railcars will be open, and The Hess Express barrel train for kids will be running. Hot dogs, pop, and ice cream will be available for purchase.
More later as we get closer to the day! Come help us celebrate. Everyone welcome!
