2010

Welcome Home

The museum has been furnished with items, many of them made in Grand Ledge, from the Historical Society's collection.

Scattered throughout the house are small touches which today's visitors might never have thought even existed, such as a coil spring cleaner for the mattress on the antique brass bed, or a chamber pot, which served as the indoor bathroom for people in the day.

Many of the items used in homes in Grand Ledge 80 years ago were locally manufactured, and most of the furniture in the restored dining room and living room was made at the Grand Ledge Chair Factory.

The silverware in the table settings were from the Shane Jewelry Company, which stood on South Bridge Street for more than 100 years and was operated by three generations of the Shane family.

The museum building itself was once owned by the founder of the Shane Company, D. D. Shane and later moved it to its current location to allow him to build the larger house which now stands at the corner of Harrison and Lincoln Streets.

Homes in the 1930s typically had family portraits on the walls, and this exhibit features pictures of Ruben Wood and Alice Essler Wood. Wood was owner of the first store in Grand Ledge, Smith said, and some of the items in the exhibit belonged to him, including the desk just inside the front door, and the bedroom chest. Wood's items from the 1800s would not have been out of place in a home in the 1930s, since furniture was often passed down through generations.

Other parts of the museum are designed to replicate other aspects of how people lived in Grand Ledge 80 years ago, including a wood-fired stove in the kitchen to heat the family's food and an ice box (really, an ice box) to keep it cool. On the back porch are the laundry tubs and hand agitator where the family's clothing would have been washed.

The exhibit is open on Sundays between 2 and 4 p.m., and on festival days from 12 noon to 4 p.m. The museum is also open by appointment for tours for school groups and bus tours can be arranged by calling (517) 627-5170.