🎄Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas from the Griffith Historical Society!
🎅Thank you to everyone who braved the cold and came out to Santa in the Caboose!! From our volunteers to those of you who visited and left a donation, we couldn’t do it without you!
🚂As a non-profit, volunteer-run organization, all of your donations go directly to the upkeep of the Train & Depot Museums and the Town History Museum at the Franklin Center. We appreciate you and your support!
Mark your calendars for this year’s
🎅 𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐄! 🚃
➜ 𝑺𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑫𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 13: 10 𝒂.𝒎. 𝒕𝒐 3 𝒑.𝒎.
➜ 𝑺𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑫𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 14: 𝒏𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 3 𝒑.𝒎.
💸 Give a donation to see Santa (our 28th annual!) and support the upkeep (and heating!) of the Historical Park!
📸 Take as many personal photos & videos as you’d like!
🍪 Be sure to shop our Holiday Bake Sale and holiday stocking stuffers as well!
*𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥, 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘴, 𝘴𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴!
Want to volunteer for the event? Email us at [email protected]!
It’s a busy weekend for the Historical Society!!
🚂Friday – LAST Barrel Train at Central Market for the Season!
🚂Saturday – Barrel Train at Safety Day at Central Park!
🏛️Saturday – The TOWN HISTORY Museum at the Franklin Center will be open!
🛤️Sunday – Visit the Depot and Train Museums! Tour guides will be available. Parents of Beiriger 3rd Graders – come see what your kids learned this week!
𝙊𝙪𝙧 𝙎𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙮 𝙎𝙖𝙜𝙖 – 𝙎𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙏𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧
𝘣𝘺 𝘒𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘒𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘬𝘪
How does a group of “not the youngest of people” raise thousands upon thousands of dollars in just 7 months?
First of all, we bought a banner that said HELP US SAVE AND MOVE OUR TOWER!
Then we called on the Griffith Fire Department and asked them to put up the banner for us. The idea was everyone would see our message while waiting for trains to pass at our crossing.
This was in the year 2000. The internet and social media were in their infancies. So, how did one get the word out beyond our town?
We called the newspapers, who graciously published stories and photos about our efforts.
The very next day, the president of the Griffith Saving Bank called and gave us $1,000.
We were on our way!
Next, we wrote letters to any and all local, state and federal foundations, including the Lily Endowment.
Donald Trump had a casino boat in Griffith, so we contacted him. He gave us $100.
In the end, though, most donations came right from our town.
The schools stepped up. Beiriger held a Penny War that earned over $500.
The Griffith Junior/Senior High School had a walk-a-thon from their schools to our Historical Park and back. They raised over $500 for us.
We even had the honor to be written up in a newspaper column by Bo Kane, who grew up in Griffith and had a grandmother who lived right by.
Town organizations sent donations, and stores and businesses contributed to our cause.
Many of them put out Save The Tower mugs for us, so people we didn’t even know could donate to us.
Towns people who once worked for railroads or had a railroading heritage were very generous.
And friends from out of town, the Blackhawk Railway Historical Society, procured a $5,000 National Railway Heritage Grant for us.
The support we got from everyone was overwhelming and we will be forever grateful to them.
We were especially so on July 20th, 2000, when Dillabaugh, Inc. did what seemed impossible and moved a three story bright tower.
Out onto Broad Street at 9 o’clock, across the tracks and onto our property by lunchtime, standing above the new foundation at quitting time.
And the box of soap that was on a shelf in the upper room never moved. It was still in place when the boards were later removed and the building was opened up!
A historic job done by everybody involved, well done and ahead of schedule.
𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝟮𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗝&𝗘 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
The building is now on the National Register of Historic Places and the Indiana Register of Historic Sites and Structures.
We made this video in 2003 as an entry for a prize from the show “The View” but it’s a great summary of what we’re about and why we do what we do!
More about the Tower: https://ghsinc.org/the-tower/
𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘁!
Come down to the Griffith Historical Park and visit the 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗲𝘂𝗺𝘀!
Get to know us and learn a little bit about the history of the railroads and the town that came to the tracks.
• 1 – 3 pm
• 201 S Broad Street
• At the tracks, on the corner of Broad Street and Avenue A
Join us to celebrate National Start Seeing Monarchs Day!
Visit Griffith’s very own butterfly garden, aptly named the Griffith Junction Butterfly Stop. It’s the first anniversary of the garden, conceived and planted by Griffith Tri Kappa member Jeanette Bobos, and supported by the organization.May 4th is one day after National Start Seeing Monarchs Day, when America celebrates those beautiful, endangered orange and yellow creatures.
It will be a fun and interesting Sunday afternoon at the Griffith Historical Park, where:
The Depot & Train Museums, and the Tower will be open to tourOur barrel train, the Hess Express, will be runningJeanette Bobos, the retired Master Gardner who planted our garden, will be on on hand to share her knowledge. We’ll have info on Monarchs and how they’ve become endangered.Kim Moor, from The Wild Ones, will be with us sharing information about adding native plants to your garden.
Want plants to help butterflies, especially Monarchs? Through the courtesy of Scheeringa Farms, we’ll have a small selection of milkweed plants; black-eyed Susans, Griffith Centennial’s flower in 2004; plus some Heirloom Plants, as well.
Girl Scout Troop 15620 will be selling cookies, lemonade, and butterfly clips.
The Cub Scout Pack 622 and Boy Scout Troop 623 will be on hand with hotdogs, chips and pop.
Please join us for a Special General Membership Meeting.
Wednesday, January 8th at 5:30 pm
•Franklin Center – Community Room
•Enter Door A
As we plan for and move strategically into 2025, the Board of Directors is recommending changes in how we operate and represent the Griffith Historical Society Museums, not only in Griffith, but across the nation within a fraternity of hundreds of other Historical Museums.
To do this, we are proposing changes in our Bylaws regarding membership.
Please join us at this Special Membership Meeting to hear about the changes and vote on them, to secure the future of the Griffith Historical Society.
𝐀 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐬 to EVERYONE who donated to this year’s ElmerJ Program for Griffith’s 3rd graders!
This isn’t nearly all the thank you notes and pictures we received. There were oh-so-many more, and all equally as grateful and excited that they were able to visit our museum and learn about Griffith’s history AND that it was all completely funded by the kind donations of our Members!!
So THANK YOU once again! You can donate to us anytime via the “donate” button on our website. And if you would like to volunteer for events like these, or anything down at the Historical Society, please send us a message or email ([email protected])! We are always looking for volunteers and enthusiastic Griffith-ites to help our programs run!
𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 #3 to EVERYONE who donated to this year’s ElmerJ Program for Griffith’s 3rd graders!
Here is another set of the THANK YOUs written by the 3rd graders to our volunteers who ran the successful event, and to YOU, who donated and completely funded this program, making it possible for EVERY 3rd grader to enjoy!
Griffith History Museums 