The Ohio County Historical Society seeks to preserve and share the history of Ohio County, Indiana. To this end, the society operates a museum, housed in a 19th-century plow factory. This museum focuses on local life in the 1800s and early 1900s. Collection highlights include a record-winning, early 20th-century race boat called the Hoosier Boy and an auto-harp.
The society offers exhibits.
Historic Prophetstown is located in the Wabash River Valley and is dedicated to giving its visitors a glimpse into life in the valley during the 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition, Historic Prophetstown has a reconstructed Woodland Indian Settlement.
Historic Prophetstown offers field trip programs, workshops, guided tours, interpretive events, and occasional special events such as storytelling and fairs. The website offers a teacher's guide to field trips at Historic Prophetstown, visitor information, and information regarding upcoming events and workshops.
The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society restores and operates steam locomotives relevant to Midwestern history. The society also operates TrainTown, a transportation museum.
The museum offers self-guided tours and 20-minute caboose rides. The website offers historic photographs.
The Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site is the second home of the Hoosier author and nature photographer Gene Stratton-Porter (18631924). The site presents information on her life and sources of inspiration; and currently encompasses 125 acres of land, 20 of which were part of Porter’s original property. "The Cabin in Wildflower Woods," designed by Porter and built in 1913, is a two-story cabin with exterior walls of Wisconsin cedar logs. Much of Porter's furniture and personal memorabilia, including her library, are preserved at the home. In her lifetime, Porter authored seven nature books, two books of poetry, children’s books, numerous magazine articles, and 12 novels, including Song of the Cardinal and Freckles. Her personal interest was in writing about nature. However, her romantic works were most commercially successful. Stratton-Porter and her daughter, Jeanette's, graves are also on site.
The site offers group tours in accordance with state educational standards, educational outreach programs, and educational materials for checkout.
For 94 years, workers at the Ben Schroeder Saddletree Company crafted tens of thousands of wooden frames for saddle makers throughout the United States and Latin America. It was the nation's longest lasting, continually operated, family-owned saddletree company. John Benedict "Ben" Schroeder, a German immigrant, started his business in a small brick workshop in 1878, though it grew to include a woodworking shop, boiler room and engine shed, a sawmill, a blacksmith shop, an assembly room, the family residence, and several outbuildings. After his death, Ben's family kept his dream alive by adding stirrups, hames for horse collars, clothespins, lawn furniture, and even work gloves to their line of saddletrees. The factory closed in 1972 and was left completely intact. Recognized by historians as one of America's premier industrial heritage sites, the Schroeder Saddletree factory has been restored to allow visitors to Madison to tour through this vintage workplace. Belts turn and the original antique woodworking machines spin into action. Sawdust is whisked from machines into the boiler room, where it once fueled the steam boiler that powered the equipment. Saddletree patterns hang, cobweb covered, from the ceiling.
The museum offers tours, demonstrations, and exhibits.
The Museum at Prophetstown presents the history of Indiana's Wabash River Valley through the stories of a 1920s farmstead, a Native American settlement, and the prairie itself. The working farmstead includes a replica Sears Roebuck and Company Catalog farmhouse. The Shawnee brothers Tenskwautawaw and Tecumseh founded the 1808 Native American settlement in Prophetstown as capital of a new Native American Confederation. The settlement was attacked in 1811 by U.S. forces; and today displays replicas of the Council House, medicine lodge, "chief's" cabin, and granary.
The museum offers workshops; guided tours of the farmstead; period rooms; summer camps; and a program for boys from Cary County, allowing them to work with draft horses. The website offers listings of relevant state educational standards.
From the Indiana State Museum website; "500 - 700 years ago, the area we now call Angel Mounds State Historic Site was a thriving Mississippian Indian town. Built between A.D. 1050 and 1400, the town was occupied by 1,000 plus inhabitants until its abandonment around 1450. Throughout that time, it was the largest settlement in Indiana. It served as the center of trade, government and religion for smaller satellite communities within a 70-mile radius."
The historic site offers individual and group tours, including tours catered to school-age children, and educational special events, including workshops and presentations. The website offers visitor information and a brief history of the historic site.
The Whitewater Canal State Historic Site preserves one of the remaining canals in Indiana. The site consists of the canal, which is still navigable, and a grist mill. Both are open to visitors during the summer months.
The Canal offers boat rides, tours of the grist mill, carriage rides, tours for school groups, in-class standards-based outreach programs, and educational materials available for checkout. The website offers visitor information, a calendar of events, and a brief history of the website.
The Munster Historical Society protects and preserves local history. The society also owns and operates the Kaske House Museum, which is open the first and third Saturday of every month.
The society offers individual or group tours of the Kaske House Museum year-round, along with other events including banquets and lectures. The website offers visitor information and a brief history of Munster.
The Skinner Farm Museum is located in Perrysville, IN, which was located strategically on the Wabash and Erie Canal and became a hub for river commerce and business. The museum is composed of a working farm and a restored historic village. The museum village is representative of more than 150 years of local life. Museum highlights include a steam and gas show hosted once a year.
The site offers an online antique store, visitor information, historical information, hearth cooking/baking recipes, and a photographic tour of the museum.