Westfield Washington Historical Society & Museum - updated 05/28/2009

The Museum is located in the old Fire Station - Town Hall at 145 S Union Street

Google Map to Museum

We are open every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and by appointment. Please call at least a week or two ahead of time to schedule a specific time and date.

Note: Many members of our community have brought in items for donation - it has been amazing what items, some long lost, have show up in our new museum! Please be ready to provide some history and background (written please) on the items you provide to us!

NEWS 05/28/2009

Our museum has been open every Saturday since 4/26/2008. But thanks to the Hamilton County Convention and Visitors Bureau (HCCVB website) and dedicated members of our society we will expand our hours this summer.

Starting in June we will be open extended hours - please check back here for details!

We will continue to be open Saturdays, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Admission is free but donations are always welcome.

 

NEWS 04/26/2008

The museum is open! Read more about it in our newsletter! Become a member to receive the newsletter, or visit us at the museum!

Gary Mikesell and the first motorized Westfield Fire Truck	A huge turn out for our opening and ribbon cutting!
The ribbon is cut, the museum is finally open!	The first visitor was the one most advanced in years! Mrs. Woods!
Our fundraising dinner was a huge success! We received a great amount of donations for our tasty efforts!	Old and new fire department vehicles.

 

NEWS 01/2008

We are moving slowly but surely forward with our museum opening efforts. The lights are up and we are working on the exhibits. We need volunteers for all parts of the museum and of course donations for different museum needs.

Lights are going up!

Lights are up!

Museum sign closeup

 

Above: Road Work US31 1926 – Fire station in background- Picture from the Camilla Axelrod Collection of the Westfield Washington Historical Society Museum 

NEWS 08/29/2007

We are in the middle of trying to open our museum as fast as possible. We are still aiming for an opening end of September/beginning of October, but it is sure amazing to discover how long things take when you get knee deep (or deeper) into the museum process.

We can always use help - please help us! :-) We have wonderful volunteers in our community and couldn't even begin to do this without them - anyway, we are doing this for our current and future community, so come along and help us. Any skills needed, and time commitment wanted!

updated 02/11/2007

NEWS: Hamilton Country Convention and Visitors Bureau Destination Grant - first money for Westfield-Washington Historical Museum received!

We received the first installment of our $35,000.00 grant money on January 18, 2007. Other organizations receiving funds in the area are: Arcadia Heritage Depot, Town of Cicero, Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds, Hamilton Southeastern Baseball/Softball, and the Town of Sheridan.

This grant is tied to very close reporting controls and we only receive the rest of the grant money if we on time move forward in our project “Jump Start Museum”. As always we ask you to volunteer and help us with these amazing tasks. We need help in any and all operations of a Historical Society and Museum and we can use anybody’s skills!

The main parts of our Jump Start Museum project are:

Building display cases and exhibit materials production
Research for exhibits/materials/books
Books and other publications about research and exhibits
Printing (brochures and other materials)
Interns, Staffing, Media
Computer Hardware & Software to built a great basis for above

As the grant money only accounted for 49% of the money we requested we have a long way to go in raising funds and starting our museum.

Please ask us at our program meetings or organizational meetings about details of these parts and how you can help us achieve our goals!

We are working on creating a Westfield-Washington Township Historical Museum. The Town of Westfield has expressed support in our task and we had the program from Connie Rendfeld and John Harris, Local Museum Outreach of the Indiana Historical Society helps us with this task and makes us aware of the challenges. Especially the collection workshop was very eye opening!

We need help! If you can talk, type, write, take pictures, paint, build a wall, or help in any other way, please contact us!

Read what the Noblesville Ledger wrote about our Museum's fundraiser here.
Click here for our 2006 Historic Underground Railroad Home Tour.

Westfield Washington Historical Museum Mission Statement:

The mission of the Westfield Washington Historical Museum is:
· To promote Westfield Washington Township through the creation and maintenance of a museum and associated projects;

· To preserve the history of Westfield Washington Township for current & future generations;

· To increase local and national awareness to Westfield Washington Township history.

The officers of the Historical Society can't achieve this alone. We had a great turn out for the Museum Work Day on May 13 when more than 15 members of the community turned out and helped. But we need this kind of support on a continuing basis to make our museum what it can be.

Picture of Fire Station/Town Hall and road work on Old US31/South Union Street - taken approximately 1926 by Byford Inman - from the Camilla Axel Road Collection of the Westfield Washington Historical Society - All Rights Reserved