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Museum treasures mark 200 years of Putnam County history
In celebration of 200 years of Greencastle, 202 years of Putnam County and 20 years of the Putnam County Museum, a free party will be held on June 25 at the museum with food, music and demonstrations.
Prepping for the event, local historian and retired museum board member Larry Tippin, along with museum executive director Lisa Harris Mock, recently explained the most significant objects and collections in the museum.
“This is really where it all started,” Tippin said. Making Putnam County an official county, rather than a series of townships, allowed for a jumpstart of businesses, technological advancements and political fortitude for citizens, so that systems like the postal service could thrive, according to Tippin.
According to Mock, the original manuscript of the Act to Create Putnam County was donated to the museum. It was tucked away in the courthouse, then moved to the clerk’s office for years. Within the last decade, the manuscript, which was stained and hardly legible, was rescued by the Historical Preservation Society who worked to repair and restore the original 1821 document. The pages are now on display at the very front of the museum in an opulent gold frame.
The Monon railroad, also known as the Hoosier Line, began its planning and construction in the 1830’s. According to Tippin and Mock, when the railroad extended from Louisville to Chicago, Putnam County’s crops, livestock, limestone and other resources were able to be shared with the rest of the continent in the North/South directions, greatly contributing to financial success for the budding county.
In the museum is a model train room, where local train enthusiasts from the Pacific and Eastern Model Railroading Club have been assembling model tracks that run every Saturday.
While historical exhibits are always on display, the arts, especially ceramics, have quite the presence in Putnam County.
“You wouldn’t think it’s a big part of our history, but people would come from far away for our pottery” Tippin said. Pieces by Charles Wagoner, Scott Cooper, Marj and Richard Peeler, and Rita Nichols are just a few of the many ceramicists with art on display. Their works range from the early 20th century to the recent 2010s, and many of the potters have gone on to be important scholars of ceramics and techniques.
Mock theorizes that pottery in Putnam County was thriving as early as 1817, but no ceramics older than the 20th century have been gathered.
This makes museum curation difficult, Mock says, because many artifacts are neglected in basements or, in the case of the loom that was rescued by the museum, destined to become firewood at a weenie roast. “We’re hoping this party can bring more objects to the museum,” Mock said, in order to encourage donations that could fill historical gaps.
The bicentennial party draws attention to the museum itself, but also to the enchantment of learning local history. “The more you learn about pioneer life, the more you wonder about how any of us even exist,” Mock said. “It was dangerous. there were floods, disease ... and yet, people could survive here,” she said.
Now, over 200 years later, “the museum hopes to celebrate the fact that we weren’t just a flash in the pan, but that this continues to be a good place to live” she added.