Berrien County Historical Association

Last updated

The Berrien County Historical Association(BCHA) is a historical association located in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Established in 1968 [1] as the Berrien County Historical Commission, the organization partners with Berrien County, Michigan to operate the History Center at Courthouse Square, also located in Berrien Springs. The Courthouse Square is home to two of Michigan's most historic properties – the 1839 County Courthouse and the 1830 Murdock Log Cabin. In addition to permanent exhibits, the BCHA also mounts temporary exhibits throughout the year and hosts numerous programs for all ages on topics related to the history, heritage, and culture of Berrien County and the surrounding areas.

Contents

History

The Berrien County Historical Commission (later the Association) was established in 1967 to save and restore the 1839 Courthouse to its original look. [2] The Commission developed plans for the restoration of the Courthouse and began to raise funds to make these plans almost immediately. After receiving their 501c3 designation in 1968, [1] fundraising increase and the group secured several grants and were the recipient of outside fundraisers and governmental funds [3] as work continued into the early 1970s. By 1974, work on the courthouse was considered complete and with that, the Commission chose to rebrand as the Association. [4] It was deemed that a rebrand was necessary as the organization had grown beyond its original mission with the addition of other properties like the Murdoch Log Cabin.

In the early 1970s, the Commission secured enough funding to hire exhibit designer David Mohrhardt [5] as the project manager and would later be promoted to the director position, which he held until 1979. [6] Expansion of staff continued and by the 1980s, the BCHA regularly employed upwards to three people to handle what would become a year-round operation as the Courthouse Complex continued to grow throughout the next two decades. In addition to preserving and interpreting the five historic structures located within the Courthouse complex, the BCHA hosted numerous programs and temporary exhibits over the years with special focus on topics related to Berrien County history, including popular bus tours in the 2000s, [7] a film series in the 1970s, [8] and serving as a long-time partner for the Berrien Springs Pickle Festival.

After several name changes and continued confusion with the North Berrien Historical Museum in Coloma, the board of directors voted in 2007 to rebrand the museum as the History Center at Courthouse Square. [9]

Relationship with Berrien County

Since 1968, Berrien County has own the grounds and buildings of the History Center at Courthouse Square, providing financial support to the BCHA to operate the property as a museum. Until 2013, the Courthouse Square remained as standalone budget item for the county. That year, the county commissioners agreed to place the complex under the auspices of the Parks Department [10] and the transfer was completed in time for the 2014 Fiscal Year, become the departments seventh site. In addition to operational support, the county also provides building maintenance and ground care.

Archives and collections

The BCHA is home to the Clark Equipment Company's corporate archives, spanning from the early 20th century until the 1980s and includes annual reports, film reels, display models, and copies of the Clark Employee News, among others. In addition to the corporate files, the museum is home to additional Clark-related memorabilia donated by former employees or their families.

Honors and recognitions

1977: Recipient, Award for restoration work on the 1839 Courthouse, Association for State and Local History [11]

2001: Recipient, Excellence in Institutional Achievement for Adeline and Julia: Growing Up on the Michigan and Kansas Frontier book, Michigan Museum Association [12]

2020: Recipient, PIVOT! Award, Michigan Museum Association [13]

Publications

Historical Sketches Series

This series of books began publication in 1988 and would eventually include three additional volumes. Later in 2004, volumes 1 and 2 were combined into a new volume and in 2005, volumes 3 and 4 received the same treatment. In 2009, all four volumes were re-edited and released under a single title with 152 stories included in this volume.

Greetings From. . . Series

This series of books provided an in-depth look at various communities in Berrien County and include extensive pictorial sections pulled from the BCHA's own photography archive.

Additional titles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berrien County, Michigan</span> County in Michigan, United States

Berrien County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located at the southwest corner of the state's Lower Peninsula, located on the shore of Lake Michigan and sharing a land border with Indiana. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 154,316. The county seat is St. Joseph.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monticello, Illinois</span> City in Illinois, United States

Monticello is a city and county seat of Piatt County, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,941 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benton Harbor, Michigan</span> City in Michigan, United States

Benton Harbor is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is 46 miles southwest of Kalamazoo and 71 miles southwest of Grand Rapids. According to the 2020 census, its population was 9,103. It is the smaller, by population, of the two principal cities in the Niles–Benton Harbor Metropolitan Statistical Area, an area with 156,813 people. Benton Harbor and the city of St. Joseph are separated by the St. Joseph River and are known locally as the "Twin Cities". Fairplain and Benton Heights are unincorporated areas adjacent to Benton Harbor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berrien Springs, Michigan</span> Village in Michigan, United States

Berrien Springs is a village in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,800 at the time of the 2010 census. The village is located within Oronoko Charter Township.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coloma, Michigan</span> City in Michigan, United States

Coloma is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,483 at the 2010 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sodus Township, Michigan</span> Civil township in Michigan, United States

Sodus Township is a civil township of Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,932 at the 2010 census. There are no incorporated municipalities in the township. The unincorporated community of Sodus in the northwest of the township is its main settlement; the portion of the township just to the west is part of the Benton Harbor/St. Joseph urban area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manitowoc, Wisconsin</span> City in Wisconsin, United States

Manitowoc is a city in and the county seat of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The city is located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. According to the 2020 census, Manitowoc had a population of 34,626, with over 50,000 residents in the surrounding communities.

The St. Joseph Valley Parkway is a freeway in the U.S. states of Indiana and Michigan, serving as a bypass route around Elkhart, Mishawaka, and South Bend in Indiana and Niles in Michigan. The freeway runs to the south and west of Elkhart and South Bend and Niles and consists of segments of U.S. Route 31 (US 31) and US 20; those two highway designations run concurrently at the southwestern rim of the South Bend metropolitan area. It continues north to run along the St. Joseph River valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elijah E. Myers</span> American architect

Elijah E. Myers was a leading architect of government buildings in the latter half of the 19th century, and the only architect to design the capitol buildings of three U.S. states, the Michigan State Capitol, the Texas State Capitol, and the Colorado State Capitol. He also designed buildings in Mexico and Brazil. Myers' designs favored Victorian Gothic and Neo-Classical styles, but he worked in other styles as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M-139 (Michigan highway)</span> State highway in Berrien County, Michigan, United States

M-139 is a state trunkline highway entirely within Berrien County in the US state of Michigan. The highway starts at US Highway 12 (US 12) southwest of Niles and runs through rural areas of the county to terminate at an intersection with Business Loop Interstate 94 in Benton Harbor. The highway runs parallel to the St. Joseph River, crossing the river several times as it follows a set of roads previously used for US 31 in the area. The highway was first designated in the 1930s as a bypass of the Benton Harbor and St. Joseph area. Its termini have been moved over the years since, extending and contracting the length of the highway between Niles and Benton Harbor. M-139 now serves to provide access through the area from a set of bypasses consisting of I-94 and US 31.

The Herald-Palladium is a newspaper distributed in the Southwest Michigan region serving all or part of Berrien, Cass, Van Buren, and Allegan Counties.

Clark Equipment Company was an American designer, manufacturer, and seller of industrial and construction machinery and equipment.

Silver Beach County Park is a park located in St. Joseph, Michigan at the mouth of the St. Joseph River. It was formerly Silver Beach Amusement Park, an amusement park, which operated between 1891 and 1971.

The Berrien County Record is an independent weekly newspaper that serves all of Berrien County, Michigan, as the publication of record for legal notices. The Berrien County Record is one of the longest-running newspapers in Berrien County, having been founded in 1867. The Berrien County Record has ceased publication as a community newspaper and focuses only on county wide legal and courthouse news. Covering both North and South County courthouses.

Odell McLeod 1916–2003 was an American country-gospel singer, radio entertainer, and songwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berrien Springs Courthouse</span> United States historic place

The Berrien Springs Courthouse is a former government building located at the corner of Union and Cass Streets in Berrien Springs, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. It is the oldest courthouse in Michigan and today is part of the History Center at Courthouse Square and is operated by the Berrien County Historical Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Berrien County Courthouse Complex</span> United States historic place

The Old Berrien County Courthouse Complex, also known as the History Center at Courthouse Square, is a historic district located in Berrien Springs, Michigan. The complex is 1.6 acres and is home to five structures, two of which are the oldest of their kind in the state of Michigan. While the property and its buildings are owned by Berrien County and stewarded by the Berrien County Historical Association. While the historic 1839 Courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, the BCHA resubmitted the application to include the remaining property added during the 1970s. The application was approve and the entire complex was added to the register 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manitowoc County Courthouse</span> United States historic place

The Manitowoc County Courthouse is a three-story domed courthouse located in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. It houses the circuit court and government offices of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 and on the State Register of Historic Places in 1989 for its significance as a local example of Beaux-Arts and Neoclassical architecture. The courthouse is located in the Eighth Street Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis B. Murdoch</span> American lawyer and newspaper publisher (1805–1882)

Francis Butter Murdoch was an American attorney and newspaper publisher. As a lawyer, he practiced law in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois and Missouri, and initiated freedom suits for Dred Scott and Harriet Robinson Scott in 1846. Between 1840 and 1847, Murdoch filed nearly one-third of all freedom suits in St. Louis, and secured freedom for many of his clients who had been enslaved, including Polly Berry and her daughter, Lucy A. Delaney. Before that, Murdoch was the city attorney in Alton, Illinois, where he unsuccessfully prosecuted rioters who killed Elijah Parish Lovejoy, an anti-slavery newspaper publisher, in 1837.

References

  1. 1 2 "Berrien County Historical Assn Inc – GuideStar Profile". www.guidestar.org. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  2. ↑ "Our History". Berrien County Historical Association. Retrieved 2022-02-08.
  3. ↑ "Berrien Springs Allocates U.S. Funds". The Herald-Palladium. 1973-04-17. p. 8. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  4. ↑ "The Docket" (PDF). Berrien County Historical Association. Fall 1974.
  5. ↑ "1839 Berrien Courthouse Opens Doors to Visitors This Weekend". The Herald-Press. 1974-05-10. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  6. ↑ "Curator-Director: Courthouse Museum". The Herald-Palladium. 1979-07-06. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  7. ↑ Staff, H.-P. "Tour heading to hometown of President U.S. Grant". The Herald Palladium. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  8. ↑ "Sponsored by History Group: Williamsburg Series". The Herald-Palladium. 1978-12-06. p. 4. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  9. ↑ Staff, H.-P. "Historical association renamed to avoid confusion". The Herald Palladium. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  10. ↑ Aiken, Scott (2013-12-27). "A new park full of history" . The Herald Palladium. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  11. ↑ "Clipped From The Herald-Palladium". The Herald-Palladium. 1977-07-22. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  12. ↑ "Adeline & Julia". Michigan State University. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  13. ↑ Writer, LOUISE WREGE HP Staff. "Berrien County Historical Association wins PIVOT! Award". The Herald Palladium. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.