Good stories
GREAT HISTORY
MUSEUMS & HISTORY
Allen County Museum
620 W. Market Street, Lima
419-222-9426
Call For Hours.
Closed Mondays and all major holidays.
www.allencountymuseum.org
The Allen County Museum is a premier attraction for history lovers of all ages. While railroad buffs will enjoy seeing the 1925 Shay locomotive, Lima City Street Railway motorman’s cab, and interurban exhibits, visitors can also enjoy permanent exhibits such as the pioneer room, a room-sized Mount Vernon model, civil war camp, firearms, the industry of Allen County and an exhibit on John Dillinger. The Children’s Discovery Center offers hands-on activities for kids including a general store, one-room schoolhouse, Native American wigwam and large model railroad layout. The institution also offers the Elizabeth M. MacDonell Memorial Library, and the John H. Keller Railroad Archives featuring thousands of photographs, builders’ prints, and Lima Locomotive Works documents.
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Children’s Garden
Allen County Museum Complex
620 W. Market Street, Lima
567-825-1233
Open May through October, from dawn to dusk
This garden has grown to include over 30 mini-themed gardens and child-inspired works of art, with historical elements which relate to Allen County's rich history. It is an interactive green oasis for "children" of all ages.
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Delphos Canal Commission Museum
241 N. Main Street, Delphos
419-695-7737
www.delphoscanalcommission.com
Call for Hours. Groups and Special Tours: By Appointment.
This folklore museum features the history of the Miami-Erie Canal and the city and people of Delphos. The Canal Commission has an archival collection from the entire historic period of the region. The museum has three floors and over 17,000 square feet of displays and exhibits.
Delphos Museum of Postal History
(Temporarily Closed)
339 N. Main Street, Delphos
419-692-0752
www.postalhistorymuseum.org
Open by appointment.
Groups and Special Tours: By Appointment
This museum includes a transportation room with several antique vehicles with murals of Delphos that correspond with the years these vehicles were used. You will also find a re-creation of a Railway Post Office railcar similar to the one used on the AC & Y railroad that traveled from Delphos to Youngstown. There are over 100,000 domestic stamps on display from all over the world, many displayed on Penelope the Postal Pachyderm.
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Gomer Welsh Community Museum
7365 Gomer Road, Gomer
located directly across from the Gomer Church of Christ
419-642-2732
Open the 3rd Sunday of each month (from March to November) from 2 - 4 PM. Open December through February by appointment only.
Visit this center for Welsh culture and see memorabilia, artifacts, papers, and pictures perpetuating the understanding of the Welsh heritage and culture so important to northwest Ohio.
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Harrod Railroad Park
S.R. 309 east of Lima, approximately 10 miles.
South on Napoleon Road for 2 miles.
www.auglaizetownshiphistoricalsociety.com/our-parks
See and touch the Shay Locomotive, manufactured in September, 1905, at the Lima Locomotive Works.
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Harrod Veterans Memorial Park
S.R. 309 east of Lima, approximately 10 miles.
South on Napoleon Road for 2 miles.
Open all year. Call for tours and information.
www.auglaizetownshiphistoricalsociety.com/our-parks
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Walk the path that honors all veterans of the Armed Forces of the United States of America. Featuring an M60-A3 Tank, 155 mm M114 A2 Towed Howitzer and a UH-1 Helicopter Tail Number 65-09587 along with many other tributes to our service men and women.
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John H. Keller Memorial Railway Exhibit
Lincoln Park
1139 E. Elm Street, Lima
City of Lima Parks and Recreation 419-221-5195
www.cityhall.lima.oh.us
Guided tours available by appointment.
On display at the Lincoln Park John H. Keller Memorial Lincoln Park Railway Exhibition is the Nickel Plate Road S-3, 2-8-4, #779 Berkshire, the NKP caboose #1091, and the NKP Business Car #5. The 779 was the last of the Berks built for the Nickel Plate, leaving the Lima Locomotive Works for the NKP in 1949.
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Lima Firefighters Memorial Museum
Lincoln Park
1139 E. Elm Street, Lima
419-221-5173
www.limafiremuseum.org
Open by appointment only.
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Learn about the heroic individuals who have served the Lima community over the last 150 years. See the photos, newspaper accounts, even the original equipment used to fight some of Lima's most devastating fires. See a beautifully sculpted statue in memoriam of those heroes who have given the ultimate sacrifice to save others. Tours by reservation or firefighters availability upon short notice.
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MacDonell House
Allen County Museum Complex, same hours.
632 W. Market Street, Lima
419-222-9426
www.allencountymuseum.org/macdonell-house
Call for Hours. Closed January - March.
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Built in 1893, the MacDonell House is one of the few remaining examples of Victorian architectural elegance that once marked an area known as the “Golden Block” in Lima, Ohio. During the last two decades of the 19th century, Allen County flourished with the discovery of oil and the growth of the railroad industry. This mansion is a tribute to that prosperous period in its history.
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Musselman Library at Bluffton University
1 University Drive, Bluffton
419-358-3275
Call for an appointment.
Musselman Library is home to rich historical collections important to the Bluffton experience and supports the intellectual discovery of the students, faculty, and staff – and of scholars from around the world. These collections are the treasures of the institution... tracing our heritage back to the beginnings of Anabaptism.
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Schoonover Observatory
670 N. Jefferson Street, Lima (Schoonover Park)
419-371-1289
Hours Generally: 9 PM Every Friday June-August and 9PM on the first Friday from September-May.
www.facebook.com/Limaastronomicalsociety
The public is encouraged to visit the observatory and look through the 14-inch Celestron telescope housed at the facility. The Lima Astronomical Society will be on hand to operate the telescope and answer questions. Programs can be arranged by appointment.
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Schumacher Swiss Homestead
8350 Bixel Road, Bluffton
419-302-0369
www.swisshistorical.org
Call for an appointment or tours.
Open on Saturdays 1-5PM in June, July, August
Owned by the Swiss Community Historical Society, the farmstead includes a typical Swiss settlement house built in 1843. The barn has an inscription stone reading 1854 set into the limestone wall on the east side, making it one of the earliest large barns in the area.
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Spencerville Historical Museum
119 E. Fourth Street, Spencerville
419-234-2907
www.facebook.com/SpencervilleHistorical Museum
Open March – October on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month, 1-4PM and by appointment.
Open November – February by appointment only.
The facility houses the Spencerville Historical Museum and Spencerville Historical Society. Several rooms with
artifacts on area military, school, businesses, doctors,
and canal history.
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Veterans Memorial Freedom Flag Monument
(Maintained by the Johnny Appleseed Metropolitan Parks District)
1161 Buckeye Road, Lima
419-327-0273
www.uawfreedomflag.com
Open dawn to dusk.
The Veterans Memorial Freedom Flag Monument stands proud to salute, thank and honor all U.S. Veterans of the past, present and future. The Veterans Freedom Flag Monument is the largest known permanent flag monument of its type in the United States. Speakers are available by appointment.
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