Pictured is the museum side entrance in the courthouse basement in 1961.
Seen is the museum in the courthouse annex in 1988.
The LaPorte County Historical Society will celebrate its 117th anniversary on Monday.
The local history society that operates a museum at 2405 Indiana Ave., Suite. 1 in LaPorte was founded in 1906.
"The realization of a need for a Historical Society came about with an awakening of interest in LaPorte County history following the publication of the monumental work by Rev. E. D. Daniels’ published history of the county," Assistant Director Savannah Jackson said. "The superintendent of schools expressed the value of such a society and the work it would do to gather and preserve materials about the county’s history."
The chronicler of LaPorte County history, it has a long, rich history itself.
Its collection started with guns.
"One of the first acts of the new society was to secure the relics left by the late W. A. Jones, consisting largely of rare firearms secured by this LaPortean while traveling throughout the world. In his will was a bequest to the City of LaPorte of his famous collection of firearms and antiques," she said. "The bequest, however, was made on the condition that the city prepare a suitable room in the Carnegie Library building in LaPorte for the housing of the antiques and the proper care for them. The historical society became the caretaker of this collection in an area provided for the society for its museum in the basement of the Carnegie Library."
It however quickly outgrew the space and had to keep moving into larger buildings as the collection grew over the years.
"With the growth of its collection and a need for more space, the society was offered an area in the basement of the LaPorte County Courthouse. This officially opened April 3, 1938," Jackson said. "Although this space was 'well lighted and ventilated and the hundreds of historical items in the museum were shown to best advantage,' the Society’s collections continued to grow and space again was at a premium. Residents from all parts of the county generously donated items to share and preserve LaPorte County history. In April 1978, LaPorte County provided a two-story addition to the new LaPorte County Security Complex to house the museum. The move to this location was completed on Sept. 17, 1978 and the museum was again open to the public."
In 2004, it eyed another move to a bigger space.
"After considering several locations and also the possibility of the county building a building to house the historical society museum, Dr. Peter Kesling made an offer of the Door Prairie Auto Museum, a 10-year old building to the county," Jackson said. "His offer was accepted and he reinvested a majority of the purchase price in an addition to the museum adding sufficient space to house the society’s collections, the W. A. Jones Weapons Collection which has been in the Society’s care since 1921, a number of Dr. Kesling’s cars to be on display and additional space for a meeting room, library and archives."
The museum then moved to its current location.
"The museum closed its doors in the security complex to the public at the close of business Oct. 15, 2005, with a move anticipated into the new facility purchased by the county government," she said. "The museum reopened to the public in the former Door Prairie Auto Museum, 2405 Indiana Ave., LaPorte, in July 2006 with the grand opening held on Saturday, Sept.30, 2006."
For more information, visit laportecountyhistory.org.
Post a Comment