victoriavm Blog Posts, Griffith High School, Griffith History, History Notes

𝗚𝗥𝗜𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛 𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗦 𝟭𝟬𝟬!

🖤🏫💛 𝗚𝗥𝗜𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛 𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗦 𝟭𝟬𝟬! 💛🏫🖤
𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙃𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙎𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙩𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜!!
𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴.
𝐄𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲!

𝙸𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚏𝚒𝚎𝚕𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐥𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝚍𝚒𝚍. 𝙱𝚞𝚒𝚕𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝟷𝟿𝟷𝟷, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚗’𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚒𝚐 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝, 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 $𝟗,𝟎𝟎𝟎 — $𝟸𝟼𝟼,𝟶𝟶 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢’𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚢. 𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎, 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚖𝚜, 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜. 𝙱𝚒𝚐 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝙶𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜, 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝟏 𝐭𝐨 𝟖.
𝐈𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫!

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝐇𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐝, 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚍𝚊𝚢.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙶𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚝𝚑, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚕 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚊 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚃𝙰 𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚜, 𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜.

victoriavm Blog Posts, History Notes

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 watchman’s 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.

victoriavm Blog Posts, Griffith History, History Notes

History Notes

In days gone by, putting up the town’s Christmas decorations right after Thanksgiving was a yearly event in Griffith.
Members of the Community Spirit organization and the Griffith Fire Department are pictured here in the 100 block of South Broad Street. Lighted garlands were strung across Broad for several blocks.
It gave the town an especially festive holiday look, reminiscent, some folks said, of Bedford Falls, the town in the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

victoriavm Activities, Santa in the Caboose, Sundays at the Depot, Support the History Museums, Parks, & Rail-Cam

Santa in the Caboose!🎅🚃

🎅𝗦𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲!🚃

Join us!!

🎄Saturday, Dec 9 (10am – 4pm) & 🎄Sunday, Dec 10 (Noon – 4pm)

❄️Give a donation, enjoy a private visit with Santa
❄️Take photos & video, we’ll take a family picture for you
❄️Our Holiday Bake Sale in our Depot, plus:
❄️ Daisy Troop 15620, with stocking stuffer snacks
❄️Brownie Troop 35647, with ornaments/decorative candle jars
❄️Cub Scout Pack 622 & Boy Scout Troop 623, with hot dogs, & hot chocolate, and holding a clothing drive for Sojourner Truth House in Gary!

victoriavm Activities, Blog Posts

3rd graders Tour Historical Park

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.

victoriavm Activities, Sundays at the Depot

Sundays at the Depot: THE SCOUTS ARE COMING!

Our Historical Park has hosted Railroad Fairs, Santa Claus and even a Halloween event years ago. But next Sunday will be a first for us!

Boy Scout Troop 623, sponsored by the Griffith Isaac Walton League, will be camping overnight at our Park, September 16-17. They will set up camp late Saturday afternoon and sleep in the railcars.

On Sunday, they will take a tour of the Park’s Depot, railcars and Tower. Both buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places and the Indiana Register of Historic Sites and Structures.

Stop by our Griffith Historical Park, 201 S. Broad St., on Sunday if you’d like to see Scouting in action and learn more about Boy Scout Troop 623, or Cub Scout Pack 622.

victoriavm Activities, Central Market, Support the History Museums, Parks, & Rail-Cam

Upcoming places to find us! Ride the Barrel Train and get your Griffith Souvenirs!

Find us!!
Friday Sept 8 – 9am – 1pm at Strack and Van Til in Highland
Friday Sept 8 – 5pm – 7pm at Central Market 🚂
Saturday Sept 9 – 1pm – 4pm at Griffith Public Safety & Community Day in Central Park! 🚂
Friday Sept 15 – 5pm – 7pm at Central Market 🚂

🧲We have Limited Editon Griffith Magnets!! 🚂🚃🚃🚃 for 💲5️⃣
👕 Or get your own Historical Society t-shirt!Super soft, Bella Canvas tri-blend! 👕 We have V-necks and crew necks available!💲2️⃣0️⃣
🎫 We also have 50/50 Raffle tickets!! Everyone loves a raffle!💲2️⃣ each or 3️⃣ for 💲5️⃣!! 🗳Drawing is on November 15th.
🚂 When we’re at Central Park, we’ll have the Barrel Train!! Grab your ticket to ride! $3️⃣ per kid! All aboard!!

All sales and proceeds go directly to the upkeep of the Depot Museum, Train Park, Railroad Webcam, and Griffith History Preservation!!

victoriavm Activities, Rock N Rail, Support the History Museums, Parks, & Rail-Cam

Get your Griffith souvenirs at Rock N Rail!

Visit our tent at Rock N Rail!!!(Just north of Vegas Vegas) to get your Griffith souvenirs!!

We have Limited Editon Griffith Magnets!! 🚂🚃🚃🚃 for 💲5️⃣

👕 Or get your own Historical Society t-shirt!Super soft, Bella Canvas tri-blend! 👕 We have V-necks and crew necks available!💲2️⃣0️⃣

🎫 We also have 50/50 Raffle tickets!! Everyone loves a raffle!💲2️⃣ each or 3️⃣ for 💲5️⃣!! 🗳Drawing is on November 15th.

All sales and proceeds go directly to the upkeep of the Depot Museum, Train Park, Railroad Webcam, and Griffith History Preservation!!