Downtown Griffith Lantern Tour

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Lantern light lends an old-time aura to the town’s first postmaster’s house as walkers stop to listen to some old-time Griffith history told by Peter Ghrist, who led the tour, but is off camera. 

The Griffith Lantern Tours were Officer Ghrist’s idea as a fun way to let people know about the early days of their town and, hopefully, to raise the profile of the Griffith Historical Society, as well. 

The tour features old-time photos blown up so walkers standing in front of a current structure can see what once stood there. We are grateful to Walgreens, 407 W. Glen Park, Griffith, for sponsoring the event. 

The tours ran every week from early September through early October. Plans are to continue the tours in the spring.

New Historical Society Events!

Open House at our Franklin Center Museum, followed by our first Historical Walking Tour.

September 11th – 6 pm

Join us as we tour Broad Street’s 100 N and 100 S blocks to learn about some old-time businesses, the railroads and early Griffith citizens. This is a first for us, but a couple more tours are planned in coming weeks.

The Hess Express is running at the Fall Harvest Craft Festival in Central Park.

September 28-29 – 10 to 5 pm, weather permitting.

The Hess Express is running at Griffith’s Octoberfest in Central Park.

October 4, 5 & 6 – weather permitting. Friday – 4 pm to dusk; Saturday and Sunday – 1 pm to dusk.

A new Fun Fall event coming in late October. More details coming soon.

December – Santa dates To Be Announced in November.

The Hess Express Returns!

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If it’s late spring, it must be time for The Hess Express barrel train to start running at Central Market!

Central Market begins on May 10th, and our train will be there then, and every week until September, weather permitting. Rides cost only $2.

So bring the kids and grandkids to ride the train, and maybe buy a few Super 7 Raffle tickets, too!

The raffle is so named because it runs seven months, from now to mid-November and whatever we collect, we will split with the winner.

Tickets are $2, or 3 for $5, and will be available for purchase at our Central Market booth every Friday the train is running.

We will also be selling Super 7 tickets when the train runs at: 

  • Broad Street Blues & BBQ Festival, June 28,29,30th 
  • Public Safety and Community Day on August 24th
  • Rock & Rails Street Festival over Labor Day weekend
  • Griffith Octoberfest, October 4th to 6th

What’s Up for 2019?

IMG_2486We’ve got a lot going on this year!

— We have a new operating status, Board Member Emeritus, which is designated for long-time board members who, because of health or age issues, can no longer serve as an officer or director, but still want to be involved in our activities. These members have been devoted to the Society and have years of experience we can draw upon.  Current Emeriti are listed at the foot of the page, along with current officers and board members.

— At Franklin Center, we are in the process of creating a new display board — this one will be permanent – entitled, GRIFFITH BECOMES AN OFFICIAL TOWN.  Items displayed will be from 1904 and 1905, and include the petition for incorporation, election notice, election judges’ affidavits, 1904 special census, balloting results and incorporation order. These documents were saved by our late Board Member Merle Colby when they were going to be thrown out.  And new school displays will be created this summer, as well.

— We continue to enter information into our cataloging program created for us four years ago by student member Logan Kulinski.  To date we have entered nearly 10,000 items into this program, which are available for viewing and printing out when needed.

— At the Historical Park, basement cleaning is being done now and when the weather is better, a Boy Scout will be painting the inside of the Depot for his Eagle Scout Project.

— We are also considering two new events for the  summer and fall. Watch this space as more information will be added as we’re further along in each project. As always, we are looking for volunteers so email [email protected] if you are interested in helping.