2021 Spring Newsletter

THE HISTORY OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND MUSEUM Most older businesses, establishments, organizations, and groups have a past, present, and look to the future for growth and prosperity. One cannot forget the present because you are living it and you cannot forget the future because it hasn’t happened yet. The past is the one that you need to remember and not forget. Remembering what happened when you were a child, or when you lived in a certain place, or when some noteworthy event may have happened that changed the course of history, is an import ant part of your individual history. It is great to remember these things, but it is even better to have the things written down so that the families of the future will be able to learn from them.

The first step was to create a County Historical Soci ety. At the first meeting the county was represented by many people. Some in attendance were Chester Ward of Osawatomie, Bea Mount from Paola, Walter Chrotchett of Louisburg, Harry Meinig from Stanton, Ralph Matthews from Osawatomie township, and Dyke Dickerson from Osawatomie. While talking about a historical society the goal down the road was a museum. To have a museum, they would have to procure a building. At this time a new jail was in the works and Robert Carey was to head a com mittee to look into securing the old jail as the first home of the museum. At the second meeting on December 2, 1965 which was held in the Bishop Building on Pearl Street, with about 20 people in attendance, Robert Carey was elected the first president of the Miami County Historical Society. The first set of bylaws was adopted and they were as follows: 1. To preserve the history of Miami County; 2. The governing body shall consist of a board of directors who will serve 2 years and the odd numbers elected in the odd years and even numbers in even years; 3. Officers shall be president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary to be elected to the executive board; 4. Annual dues shall be $2.00; 5. Regular meetings will be held on the third Thursday of the month, places to be announced. Bob Carey reported that it would take about $3600 to fix up the old jail for a museum site. The county would not allow for an operating fund, so no further action was taken. Later on it was found out that the old jail had to be torn down for parking lot space so that would not have worked at all. Originally it was the intention of the soci ety to meet in different parts of the county since it was a “county” organization. Other places that the first meet ings were held: Bucyrus High School, Hillsdale, Louisburg’s Fox Hall, Indianapolis School near Osawatomie, Fontana’s American Legion building, and other places in Paola. At many of these early meetings, different individuals, rep resenting different parts of the county, would tell stories about their areas. Many of these stories just stayed in the memories of the individuals so there was an even bigger need for a museum building to house this and other infor mation to save for posterity. The Miami County Historical Society, in its early years, had many activities for its members. The term “Traveling Society” was stuck on them because of the many bus tours that were taken to such places as Leavenworth, Lawrence, Topeka, Ottawa, Baldwin and other places. One very pop ular activity was the potluck dinner that was held at the Indianapolis School west of Osawatomie. The organization also had Christmas parties and Halloween parties over the early years. Park Square had many activities that the so ciety participated in. Floats were made for parades to be entered in various cities in the county. Homemade pies, apple butter, and other articles were sold to raise funds for the organization.

Two ladies in 1965, had that idea. Bea Mount and Bette Ore both had a love of history and antiques. They decided something needed to be done to preserve the history of the region here in Miami County. Their first step was to write a letter to the Kansas State Historical Society for help and information and contact other individuals who might be in terested. The letter was well received by the KSHS and they sent a representative to Paola to help the ladies establish an organization in Miami County.

Bettie Ore

Bea Mount

Mr. Edgar Langsdorf was the representative from Topeka who came to Paola to help in the establish ment of the organization. With eighteen people from around the county in attendance, they de cided to have a board of directors and a nominat ing committee. The tem porary chairman of the committee was Alice Haul dren. This all happened on November 10, 1965.

Page 8 Vincent Thorpe