Marion County Historical Society facts for kids
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Heritage Hall, formerly the old post office.
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| Established | 1969 |
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| Location | 169 E. Church Street, Marion, Ohio 43302 |
| Type | Local history |
The Marion County Historical Society is a special group in Marion, Ohio, USA. It started in 1969. They are a non-profit, which means they use their money to help the community, not to make a profit.
In 1989, the Society got hold of the old U.S. Post Office building in Marion. They renamed it "Heritage Hall." This building is very old and important, so it's on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, Heritage Hall is the Society's main office and a museum. It holds many old items, photos, and papers that tell the story of Marion County's past.
The Society also looks after other important places. These include the Rinker-Howser Resource Center, the Linn School House, and the Seiter Cabin sites. Heritage Hall is also home to the Wyandot Popcorn Museum. This museum is the only one in the world focused on popcorn and everything related to it!
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Discovering History at the Museum
Want to learn more about Marion County's past? You can take a guided tour at Heritage Hall. Friendly guides, called docents, will show you around. They will tell you about special exhibits like the Harding Collection and the Meseke Collection.
At the Linn School, you can pretend to be a student from long ago. You'll get to experience a school day just like kids did in the past. The Seiter Cabin tour shows you what life was like for the first people who settled in Marion County.
Fun Learning Programs
The Society offers many educational programs. Schools can arrange special visits for different age groups. There are also workshops to help people trace their family history in Marion County. This is called genealogy.
Historians and experts often give talks at the Society. They also host special events, like living history shows. These shows bring the past to life! For kids, there are fun activities like history scavenger hunts and hands-on crafts.
Amazing Museum Exhibits
The museum has several permanent displays. These are always there for you to see:
- Harding Collection: This display is all about President Warren G. Harding and his wife, Florence Kling Harding. They were important people from Marion.
- Marilyn Meseke Collection: See items related to Marilyn Meseke, who became Miss America in 1938.
- Prince Imperial: Learn about Prince Imperial, a famous horse. He was one of the first Percheron horses brought to North America. A horse breeder from Marion County bought him from Napoleon III!
- Mary Ellen Withrow Collection: This exhibit features Mary Ellen Withrow. She was the Treasurer of the United States from 1994 to 2000. She is the only person to have been a treasurer at the local, state, and national levels of government.
The Wyandot Popcorn Museum
The Wyandot Popcorn Museum is a special part of the Marion County Historical Society. It's located inside Heritage Hall in Marion, Ohio. This museum started in 1982. It says it has the biggest collection of old, restored popcorn wagons and peanut roasters in the United States.
The museum has a colorful display that looks like a circus tent. You can see antique popcorn wagons from the early 1900s. These wagons have been carefully fixed up. They show off classic popcorn machine brands like Cretors, Dunbar, and Kingery. The Wyandot Popcorn Museum is one of only two popcorn museums in the world! The other one is the J.H. Fentress Antique Popcorn Museum in Holland, Ohio.
The Historic Linn School
The Linn School is a fully restored one-room schoolhouse. The Marion County Historical Society takes care of it in Marion, Ohio. It was built in 1897. For over 45 years, students from first to eighth grade went to school here in rural Marion County. The school closed its doors in 1942.
The schoolhouse looks just like it did in the early 1900s. It has old desks, textbooks, and school supplies from that time. Visitors can experience what a school day was like back then. You can learn about how kids were taught in the 19th century. The National Trust for Historic Preservation recognized Linn School in 2004. They said it was an excellent example of how to preserve history.
