Happy 4th of July from the Griffith Historical Society!
Our Hess Express Barrel Train has been a proud 4th of July parade participant for almost 10 years! 
And thanks to Strack & Van Til for donating candy for the parade!! 
Happy 4th!
Clickety Clack!ย A Camera Down the Tracks
Come down to the Griffith Historical Park to view a specialย photographyย display,ย โMoving Freight Along the Great Lakes”,ย from 1 to 4 p.m., on June 15th and 16th.ย ย
The work showcases the railroads of the Great Lakes Region in action, moving freight forward to destinations all over the country.
Max Crosby, the photographer, has loved trains for longer than he can remember, and is passionate about capturing magic moments on the rails. He is talented, knowledgeable and has a wonderful eye for new and fresh compositions.
The photographs, a sample shown below, will be displayed colorfully and dynamically, along with descriptions throughout our iconic sleeper car. Guests can linger, experiencing trains, history, and pondering what it REALLY takes to move freight among the Great Lakes.
Our Grand Trunk Western Depot will be open, as well as our Road Caboose and Tower (which is celebrating its 100th birthday!)
Griffith Daisy Troop 15620 will have cookies and lemonade for sale on Saturday.
On both weekend days, Cub Scout Pack 622 and Boy Scout Troop 623, will be on hand selling hot dogs and chips, and pop on Sunday. Picnic tables will be available.
Memorial Day
On Memorial Day we honor those service men and women who ‘gave all,’ fighting to keep America free.
Memorial Day began on May 30th, 1868, as โDecoration Day,โ ย a way to honor American soldiers who died in the Civil War by decorating their graves with flowers each spring. It continued as a an informal patriotic holiday until was expanded after World War I to honor fallen service men and women from all American wars. It became a federal holiday in June, 1968.ย
Chauncey Depew Walters, 22, was the first soldier from Griffith to die in World War I. Chauncey was one of 10 brothers, all but one of them born in Griffith. All the brothers worked on the railroads.
The Griffith American Legion named their post in honor of him after the war. After Word War II and a move to a larger building, the Legion changed their name to Griffith Post 66 to honor veterans from both wars.
Griffith’s Basketball Star
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ!
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ’๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ’๐ด ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ!
๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ, ๐ธ๐ฆ’๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐๐ฌ๐ค๐๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐ญ๐๐ซ
๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ค๐ ๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐โ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข ๐ ๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ท๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฝ-๐ธ๐พ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ป๐๐๐๐ ๐๐, ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ท๐ท๐ถ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐.
First Barrel Train; Last Franklin Museum Day
๐ First and Last of the Season!!
Friday:
๐ฃThe Hess Express is back!
๐Come ride the barrel train at Central Market!
๐ฐ4:30 โ dusk (weather permitting)
Saturday:
๐๐ฝโโ๏ธLast chance to check out our museum rooms at Franklin Center!
(Until September, that is!)
๐ซSaturday, May 18th
๐ฐ11 am – 3 pm
๐ชEnter door G
ย ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ!ย #3
ย ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ!ย
๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐๐๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฅ ๐๐ญ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ค๐ฅ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐๐๐๐. ๐ผ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐. ๐๐๐ ๐ท๐ฟ๐ป๐ถโ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฃ๐๐. ๐ฟ๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐ธ ๐ฑ๐๐๐ข ๐ฑ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ท๐๐๐s ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐โ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฌ.
๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐บ,๐บ๐ถ๐ถ. ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ต๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐!! ๐ฐ ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฅ ๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ข ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐.
๐ธ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐๐๐๐ข ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ $๐๐๐,๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ธ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ขโ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ข, ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ $๐ผ.๐ฟ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐!
๐๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐ฐ ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฅ, ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ก๐๐ซ๐, ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐๐.
๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด.
๐๐ง๐ฃ๐จ๐ฒ!
Preserving History
๐ธGriffith Historical Society members work on putting together a two-sided Display Board showing photos and info from Griffith High Schoolโs 100 years.
โกFrom left to right are Debby Hoot, Karen Kulinski, Martha Gatlin, and Nancy Stout.
๐ซWhen the board is finished, it will be taken to the High School and put on display there!
๐ปWe’ll work on sharing digital copies here and our Facebook page as well!
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ! #2
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ!
๐ผ๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ง๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ค๐๐๐๐ฉ๐ฎ ๐๐จ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐!!
๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด.
๐๐ง๐ฃ๐จ๐ฒ!
๐ต๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฌ. ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐. ๐ต๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐.
๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ซ๐จ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฌ, ๐๐๐๐ ๐บ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ฐ๐๐, ๐ข๐ง๐๐จ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐!
๐ฝ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ท๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐.
๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐ถ ๐ข๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐โ๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐ธ.
๐ ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ค๐ฅ๐ข๐ง ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฌ!
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ!
๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฅ๐ก๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฌ!
๐ผ๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐๐ฉ๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ง๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ค๐๐๐๐ฉ๐ฎ ๐๐จ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐!!
๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด.
๐๐ง๐ฃ๐จ๐ฒ!
๐ธ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐
๐ซ๐๐ง๐ค๐ฅ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฅ ๐๐๐. ๐ฑ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ท๐ฟ๐ท๐ท, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ $๐,๐๐๐ โ $๐ธ๐ผ๐ผ,๐ถ๐ถ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ขโ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ข. ๐ฑ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ฑ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐.
๐๐ญ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง ๐ก๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ!
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐จ๐จ๐ฅ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐, ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ข.
๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ, ๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐.
Tales of the Rails
In the olden days, a train equipped with a wedge plow in front of the engine cleared snow from the tracks. Clearing snow from around railroad depots, towers, and other outbuildings, like the Griffith watchmanโs shanty shown here, was done by railroad workers with shovels, as in this photo.
In truth, most of what was done in the early days of railroading was done by hand. Tracks were all laid by hand. Heavy wooden ties and steel rails were carried by two men, using special equipment, and put into place on the trackbed. Then, the men used a spike maul, similar to a sledge-hammer, to attach the rail to the ties by driving huge nails, called spikes, into the wood.
Tunnels though mountains were built by hand, too, by men like John Henry, the legendary steel-driving man. A steel-driver pounded out holes in the mountain, into which blasting powder was poured and lit with a fuse. Not one of the tools any of these men used had an electrical cord at the end of them.
Griffith History Museums 