Minnetrista Museum & Gardens facts for kids

Minnetrista Museum & Gardens

Established	10 December 1988 (1988-12-10)
Location	Muncie, Indiana
Public transit access	Muncie Indiana Transit System
Nearest parking	On site (no charge)

Minnetrista Museum & Gardens opened in 1988. It was created to honor the Ball family and their company, Ball Corporation. Minnetrista is a large 40-acre museum and garden. You can find it in Muncie, Indiana, right by the White River. This special place offers exhibits, nature trails, fun learning programs, and community events for everyone.

What is Minnetrista?

Minnetrista is a 40-acre area located on a hill next to the White River. Today, you'll find modern museum buildings and five old homes from the Gilded Age here. There are also over 20 acres of beautiful gardens. The Minnetrista Boulevard Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

The Ball family, famous for inventing the Ball Mason jar, lived here from the 1890s until the 1980s.

The Name Minnetrista

The name "Minnetrista" comes from the Ball family. They said it combines two words. "Mna" (pronounced "mini") is a Sioux (Dakota) word meaning "water." "Tryst" is an English word meaning "gathering place." So, Minnetrista means "gathering place by the water."

The name "Minnetrista" was first used for one of the Ball family homes. Now, the whole site is known by this name. It's important to know that the site's history is not directly linked to the Sioux people. Minnetrista Museum & Gardens works hard to be a welcoming place for everyone in East Central Indiana.

Minnetrista's Early History

The land where Minnetrista stands today was once outside Muncie, Indiana. Muncie became a city in 1865. It grew from a settlement called Munseetown. This land was opened to white settlers after the 1818 Treaty of St. Mary. This treaty forced Native American communities to move west.

Before this, the Potowatomi and Miami lived in this part of Indiana. In the 1700s, a settlement of the Delaware Nation was also on the Minnetrista site. The Delaware people had been forced to move west for many years. They later had to move again in the early 1800s. Their communities resettled in Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Canada.

The Home of the Ball Jar

In the mid-1880s, the Ball family decided to move their glass business to Muncie. There was a natural gas boom in the area, which attracted many businesses. The Ball brothers liked the people and the community. Frank C. Ball visited Muncie in 1886. He wrote that the people were "courteous, kind, and businesslike."

By the early 1900s, the Ball brothers' glass business was very successful. They made canning jars and other items for people all over the world.

Between 1893 and 1907, the five Ball brothers got married. They built their family homes next to each other along the White River. Most of these homes are still standing today. The Frank C. Ball family home, originally called Minnetrista, burned down in 1967. Today, Minnetrista Museum & Gardens takes care of three of these houses: Oakhurst, the Lucius L. Ball House, and the Mary Lincoln Cottage.

The Ball Families at Minnetrista

House	Ball Brother	Married	Children
L.L. Ball home	Lucius Lorenzo Ball (1850-1932)	In 1893 to Sarah Rogers (1857-1935)	Helen
Maplewood	William Charles Ball (1852-1921)	In 1890 to Emma Wood (1855-1942)	William
Nebosham	Edmund Burke Ball (1855-1925)	In 1903 to Bertha Crosley (1875-1957)	Edmund, Clinton, Adelia, Janice
Minnetrista	Frank Clayton Ball (1857-1943)	In 1893 to Elizabeth Wolfe Brady (1867-1944)	(Edmund) Arthur, Lucina, Margaret, Frank, Rosemary
Oakhurst	George Alexander Ball (1862-1955)	In 1893 to Frances Woodworth (1872-1958)	Elisabeth

Minnetrista Museum Today

In the late 1970s, the Ball family's grandchildren thought about opening the Minnetrista site to the public. Elisabeth Ball was the last family member to live there full-time. She passed away in 1982. Plans were then made to build a museum where the original Frank C. Ball house once stood.

Construction for the Minnetrista Cultural Center began in March 1987. The building opened on December 10, 1988. In 2021, its name changed to Minnetrista Museum & Gardens.

Minnetrista is one of several organizations started by the Ball family. These groups continue to help the community in East Central Indiana. Other organizations include Ball State University, IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, Ball Brothers Foundation, and the George and Frances Ball Foundation. These groups often work together. For example, Ball State University Foundation owns the Nebosham house. It is now called the Ed & Bertha C. Ball Center. The Maplewood home is used for advanced medical students. This is done in partnership with the Ball Brothers Foundation.

Collections and Archives

Minnetrista has a special department called Collections and Storytelling. They collect and keep items that tell the history of the Ball company, the Ball family, and East Central Indiana. The museum's collection is called the Heritage Collection.

This collection has over 17,000 objects. It also has many historical papers and records. You can find Ball company records and many products made by Ball. The collection also includes artwork, other local goods, old fabrics, letters, and photos.

Minnetrista is open for public research. You can explore the museum’s online collections to learn more about what they have.

Exhibitions to Explore

Minnetrista regularly features new art, history, and family-friendly exhibits. The campus also has several permanent exhibits. These exhibits share stories about life and events at Minnetrista.

• Oakhurst Experience: This exhibit opened in 2019. It is in the historic Oakhurst Home. George and Frances Ball and their daughter Elisabeth once lived here. The Experience shows what a historic home was like. It also celebrates the family's interests: reading, family, and canning. You can see hundreds of books in the library. This library once had one of the largest collections of rare children’s books in the world. The kitchen shows how food was preserved. It has fun activities that teach about canning methods. This is the very spot where the Ball Blue Book was created!

• Bob Ross Experience: This exhibit opened in 2020. It is in the same place where “The Joy of Painting” was filmed. This was in the Lucius L. Ball home at Minnetrista. The exhibit starts by telling the story of Bob Ross and his connection to Minnetrista. It also shares how Ed Ball, a Ball family member, helped save Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the 1970s. The exhibit has a recreated TV studio and a 1980s-style living room. There is also an art gallery and a painting workshop area. It is filled with real objects, old photos, original paintings, and interactive displays. These explore the ideas and art of Bob Ross.

Programs and Events

Minnetrista offers many programs for families and the community all year. These include school tours, painting classes, and glass-working workshops. They also have three big events each year.

• Signature events: Faeries, Sprites & Lights, Enchanted Luminaria Walk, Garden Fair
• Farmers Market

Beautiful Gardens

When the Ball family moved to Muncie, they built their homes and also created beautiful gardens. They had lovely lawns, award-winning rose gardens, fruit orchards, and other ornamental gardens. Since the museum opened in 1988, the historic green spaces have been restored. New formal gardens have also been added. These new gardens are inspired by the Ball family and Minnetrista’s history.

These gardens include:

• Oakhurst Gardens
• Orchard Garden
• Culinary Herb Garden
• Rose Garden
• Wishing Well Garden
• Backyard Garden
• The Nature Area

See also

In Spanish: Centro Cultural Minnetrista para niños