Lowell Museum, 1933-1944
MUSEUM IS NOW OPEN
Until further notice the Public Museum in the Lowell Library will be open to visitors Wednesday 3 to 5 p.m. and on Saturday 1 to 4 p.m. and on Saturday night 7 to 9 p.m. and at other times by appointment by calling Miss Madge Lynch, phone 224-3 or phoning 81-J or 124-J.No admission charged.
The following article was found in a scrapbook from Lowell Town Historian Richard Schmal's collection and hand-dated Feb. 1934:
MUSEUM HOLDS OPEN HOUSE; BIG SUCCESS
150 VISITORS THERE DURING DAY AND EVENING. ALL WELL PLEASED.
Sponsors of the Lowell Museum, in the basement of the public library, held open house last Saturday, both day and evening, the occasion being the first anniversary of the opening of the museum. During the day and evening 150 visitors called and viewed the many exhibits. Everyone that was there pronounced it a most wonderful collection, in fact, it is a collection that a town much larger than Lowell could well feel proud of.There were several visitors from Crown Point and they were all loud in their praise of the exhibit and expressed themselves that it was much larger and better than they had expected to see.
When the museum was thrown open to the public one year ago, there were 75 visitors on that day, so that the attendance at the anniversary was just double, which is a substantial gain. During the year there has [been] about 1650 visitors registered and among them we notice names of people from all over the country, many of them being as far away as California.
There are over 400 exhibits at the museum and among them are many things that the younger generation would not know what they were unless they referred to the card attached to the exhibit.
It has been no easy task to assemble the exhibits, provide show cases to place them in and get them properly placed on the walls and on tables, so that they can be easily seen and find out what they are and who donated them. P.M. McNay, Mrs. Hattie McNay and Miss Madge Lynch have been untiring in their labors to make the museum a success and they surely have done so, and they are entitled to a great deal of credit for the most excellent job they have done. The sponsors received many words of praise from the visitors and they all expressed the hope that the good work would be carried on.
This article, hand-dated Jan. 1935, also came from Town Historian Richard Schmal's scrapbooks:
BACK 66 YEARS AGO
BOOK USED BY TRUSTEES IN 1868 ON EXHIBITION AT THE MUSEUM
The museum has been handed a book wherein the Township Trustees, dating back to 1868, covering the terms of M.A. Halsted, John W. Viant, R.W. Price, William Sigler and John Lynch kept a record of their expenditures for the upkeep of highways, district schools, payment of claims for sheep killed, etc.Evidently these bills were paid out of their own pockets and many times the money received from the County Treasurer was not enough to balance the claims, so the Trustee had to carry it over until the next draw.
If the dog tax receipts were not enough to cover the claims for sheep killed, the claims were prorated.
It is quite interesting to read the claims for work, supplies, etc; also, to note amounts drawn from the County Treasurer in settlements.
The book can be seen at the Museum, if interested.
This Schmal scrapbook article was hand-dated Dec. 1944:
LOWELL MUSEUM TO BE CLOSED SOON
The museum at the public library is being closed and those having articles there are requested to please call for them Saturday night between 2 to 4 p.m., 7 to 9 p.m., or phone 4562Go to Lowell Museum, "Pioneer History Index," for further information.
Return to Lowell History.