Bluegrass Heritage Museum facts for kids
 |
|
| Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |
| Location | 217 South Main Street, Winchester, Kentucky |
|---|---|
| Type | Local history museum |
The Bluegrass Heritage Museum is a fun place to learn about local history in Winchester, Kentucky. It shows you how things have changed over many years. You can explore different times, from the ancient Eskippakithiki Indian Village (a Shawnee tribe) to the days of famous explorer Daniel Boone. It even shows you how things changed up to today!
The museum has exhibits spread across three floors. You can see how the building used to be a medical clinic. There are also displays about local farming, military history, and cool collections of quilts and old telephones. The museum also hosts special events about Kentucky's history, especially the Civil War.
Museum History
The Building's Past
The museum is located in an old building that used to be a medical clinic. It has a special design called Romanesque Revival architecture. The first owner was a respected doctor named Dr. Ishmael. He opened his office here in 1887 and worked until 1920.
Later, in 1927, another doctor named Edward Putney Guerrant turned the building into the Guerrant Clinic and Hospital. It stayed a clinic until the early 1970s. Dr. Guerrant's son, Edward Owings Guerrant, also became a doctor and joined the practice after serving in World War II. The building stopped being a clinic in 1989. Today, the museum shows some of the old medical tools and even the operating room on the third floor!
Cool Old Telephones
In 2009, the museum became home to a special collection of old telephones. This collection used to be at the Pioneer Telephone Museum in Winchester. You can see really old crank phones, early switchboards, and other interesting telephone items. It's like a trip back in time to see how people used to talk to each other!
Saving the Building
In 2000, people in Winchester started working to create a museum in the old clinic building. It had been empty for eleven years and was in bad shape. It needed a lot of repairs, which would cost a lot of money.
Working with city and county leaders, the museum opened in different stages. The first floor opened in 2004. The second and third floors were repaired and opened over the next six years. Now, everyone can visit and learn about the area's rich history!
