Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Willman photo

Inside Willman's Department Store.

June newsletter

The museum is open every Sunday this summer from 1 to 4. If you would like something to do Sunday afternoons how about volunteering to sit. You don't have to know anything about the museum. It's just advisable to have at least 2 people there.

There is a display on the immigrant families from the German town of Dinklage in the music room. There is also a small display in the doll room. We would like to have more displays for next year. If you have a historical collection you would like to show off or if you would like to use some of our extensive collection get in touch with one of the officers. Some displays can be a collection of artifacts and others could be the result of research. We have several rooms and more display cases will be brought in from storage soon.

The new furnace and air conditioner is in and the carpentry is finished. The wall has been painted a color chosen by Dorothy Quinlin and Tom has painted the baseboards. Plans are being made to paint the Quinlin bedroom.
 
Some possible ways of reducing our electric consumption are being discussed. One possible culprit in the high usage of electricity is the walk-in cooler that we only use at Christmas time. If you have any expertise in the area of energy consumption get in touch with Jim Rosengarten.

I have put together a sort of book of genealogy aids for this area of Shelby, Auglaize and Mercer Counties. I admit it leans heavily on the German immigrants but there is much general information that would apply to any group. You can have it for the cost of copying and mailing if I have to send it to you. At this time there are about 20 pages but I expect it to grow.
We have acquired some new members lately. If you would like to join get in touch with Sheila Quinlin at 937-295-4019.

We would like to have more people to write things for the book we want to publish for the 175th anniversary of the town. If you run a business or an organization or if you have particular knowledge of something let us know. You don't have to be a good writer. We can fix it up but if you would prefer we won't change what you write. Some possible subjects are weather, schools, sporting events, high school sports in general, crimes, disasters, the interurban railway, history of your farm, the lake, the canal, Indian tribes, prohibition. Contact Jim Rosengarten with your ideas.

On a related subject, maybe someone would like to go over our Civil War vets list and update it. There were some people left off because either it wasn't known they existed or that they were from this township.

If you want information about the Christmas dinners in December call Dorothy Quinlin at 937-295-2659 or email her at dmq5gc@nktelco.net.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

The Indian statue

The Village Beautiful Club or VBC was formed to clean up the banks of the canal and in 1914 they purchased the statue for $100 from the Julius Boesel estate in New Bremen and set it on the canal bank. By 1966 it had been so damaged by vandals and weather that the student council took an interest in it. The restoration was done by Esther Henke of Newport and the statue was set on a concrete pedestal on the school lawn. At the present time it stands in the high school.

From a 1966 newspaper article.