Griffith History Museums

May 2, 2025 victoriavm Activities, Fundraiser, Griffith Depot and Historical Park, Monarch Waystation, Sundays at the Depot, Support the History Museums, Parks, & Rail-Cam

Get your butterfly-friendly plants!

🦋𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻?
🌻𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀!!
👋Join us on Sunday to get your butterfly-friendly plants, and learn more about these amazing creatures!
🚂Griffith Depot & Train Museums – Corner of Broad St & Ave A, next to the tracks!
🙏Thanks Scheeringa Farms & Greenhouses for helping us choose plants butterflies love!

April 26, 2025March 2, 2026 victoriavm Blog Posts, Griffith High School, Griffith History, History Notes

Ruth Hutchins Inducted into Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame

🏆 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀!
🏀 Today, our very own 𝟭𝟵𝟮𝟴 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿, 𝗥𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗛𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝘀, is being inducted into the 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗮 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗲!

From the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame 23rd Women’s Induction Class Program:

𝗥𝗨𝗧𝗛 (𝗛𝗨𝗧𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗦) 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗞𝗘𝗥, 𝗚𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝟭𝟵𝟮𝟴
The late Ruth (Hutchins) Parker, a 1928 graduate of Griffith, was a prolific scorer in her era, setting a record of 120 points in an 126-4 victory over Merrilville on Feb. 4, 1928. That was after she scored 106 points on a 53-of-64 shooting in a 115-10 win over Ross on Jan. 28, 1928. As a senior, the Purple Pantherettes of coach C.L. Wilson went 17-0 and outscored opponents by an average of 30.2 points, 41.9 to 11.7. These numbers were amassed when six-player rules were used for girls’ basketball – three forwards and three guards on each side of center line, no crossing the center line, two-dribbles maximum and a player had three seconds to pass or shoot the ball. After high school, Hutchins played basketball in an independent league, once scored 159 points in a game and later worked in the railroad industry. She married Ralph Parker, and they were parents to three children. The one-time scoring star passed away at 46 on March 29, 1956.

April 21, 2025 victoriavm Activities, Barrel Train, Griffith Depot and Historical Park, Monarch Waystation, Sundays at the Depot, Support the History Museums, Parks, & Rail-Cam, Volunteer

Butterfly Day at the Depot!

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 tour
Our barrel train, the Hess Express, will be running
Jeanette 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.

February 13, 2025February 13, 2025 victoriavm Activities, Franklin Center Museum, Town History Museum

Visit the Town History Museum @ the Franklin Center!

Come check out our Town History Museum at the Franklin Center and find out cool facts about Griffith!

Which ones did you already know? Come find out and tell us!

We’ll be there Saturday!
11am till 3pm
🏫 Franklin Center
Enter Door G

We are open the 1st and 3rd Saturdays, September – May!

December 27, 2024 victoriavm Blog Posts, Community Callout, Franklin Center Museum, Griffith Depot and Historical Park, Meetings, Support the History Museums, Parks, & Rail-Cam, Volunteer

Special General Membership Meeting

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.

December 25, 2024December 27, 2024 victoriavm Blog Posts, Support the History Museums, Parks, & Rail-Cam

Happy Holidays!

Happiest of Holidays to everyone!

December 17, 2024December 17, 2024 victoriavm Activities, Blog Posts, Fundraiser, Santa in the Caboose, Sundays at the Depot, Support the History Museums, Parks, & Rail-Cam

Santa in the Caboose THANK YOU!

✨THANK YOU THANK YOU!
🎅This year’s Santa in the Caboose was a huge success thanks to every visitor and so many volunteers!
🚂This event is fun for everyone and has a huge impact in funding the upkeep of the Depot and Train Park!

🎄Thanks to our old friends who come every year, and to the new friends who found us this year.
🍪Thanks to the Scouts and Leaders of Griffith Girl Scout Troop 15620 for baking cookies for us to sell at our bake sale and for being part of the fun with their holiday hair club and headbands.
🌭Thanks to Griffith Cub Scout Pack 622 for again selling hot dogs and hot chocolate up at the Park during the event.
🥧Thank you TriKappa for donating baked goods!
🏫Thanks to the Griffith Public Schools for helping get the word out about Santa in the Caboose.
🌳Thanks to the Park Department for sharing the info at Central Park.
🏢Thanks to all the businesses that let us put flyers in their windows.
👋Hopefully we didn’t forget anyone!!
🙋‍♀️And a huge thanks all the Griffith Historical Society members who decorated the Depot and railcars, worked to promote the event, made goodies to sell, and made the event run smoothly!!
✨A special shoutout to volunteers/members Karen, Nancy, Martha Belinda, John, Laura, Valerie, Debbie, Jim and Beth for making this weekend a success!

🎅🤶And, of course, a big thanks to Santa and Mrs. Claus!

We had a wonderful time and we’ll see you next year!!

December 5, 2024December 5, 2024 victoriavm Activities, Community Callout, History Notes

Wadsworth Information Community Callout

𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘂𝘁!
We are looking for YOUR help!!

Mrs. Sue Guy and the Griffith Historical Society are embarking upon a fun project about the history of Wadsworth Elementary School and Mrs. Elsie Wadsworth herself, but we need information from YOU!

If you have photos, memorabilia, stories, information about the school or the teacher, we are asking you to share with us!

You can comment right here on this post, email us at [email protected], or organize a time to meet with us. If you have digital copies of photos, you can email them or share them here. If you have physical items you would like to share, we can copy anything into our computer and return the original to the owner.

Thank you in advance for your help and support, Griffith!!

December 3, 2024December 6, 2024 victoriavm Activities, Fundraiser, Griffith Depot and Historical Park, Santa in the Caboose, Support the History Museums, Parks, & Rail-Cam

Santa in the Caboose!

Reminder, mark your calendars for this year’s

𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐄!

➜ 𝑺𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑫𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 14: 10 𝒂.𝒎. 𝒕𝒐 3 𝒑.𝒎.
➜ 𝑺𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑫𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 15: 𝒏𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 3 𝒑.𝒎..

Give a donation to see Santa (our 27th annual!) and support the upkeep (and heating!) of the Historical Park!
Take as many personal photos as you’d like – you can even record the visit on your phone!
Be sure to shop our Holiday Bake Sale and the holiday stocking stuffers that Girl Scout Troop 15620 will be offering.

🌭☕️ Hot dogs and hot chocolate will be sold by Griffith Cub Scout Pack 622 and Griffith Boy Scout Pack 623.🚂🧲 Griffith train magnets will be available for sale.

*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!