Our Town series features history of Glenmont and surrounding area

Striving to be more than its museums the Holmes County Historical Society has been making a strong effort to reach out to the people and communities of the area to share history in an immediate, local way as well as further its own knowledge of Holmes County history.

The Our Town series of lectures, which began last year in Big Prairie, continues Thursday, July 21 at the Glenmont School gymnasium at 7 p.m. The program will focus on the history of Glenmont, featuring local presenters who are well versed in Glenmont history.

Holmes County Historical Society executive director Mark Boley said the idea for the Our Town series grew out of a rethinking of the society's mission. “We revisited our community outreach plans last year,” he said. “We are the only historical organization which serves all of Holmes County, and we wanted to have a greater presence in each community.”

The society made plans for a presentation featuring speakers from Big Prairie, not knowing what to expect in terms of interest. “It was standing room only,” Boley said. “It was a very popular evening.”

Boley said it turned out to be an education that reached in both directions. “The other thing we found out is that doing these presentations enables the Historical Society to enrich our own knowledge of Holmes County history. We opened things up to audience comments and questions and got a lot of great stories and information from people who attended. The Our Town series reaches out to our communities with valuable information about their own history and also helps us to keep an updated running file on what the people there know and remember.”

Glenmont seemed a logical next town to visit. “We had people there who were very eager to get involved and help,” Boley said.

The Glenmont presentation will feature slides, images, postcards, photos and memorabilia. “We have several great presenters from Glenmont. Larry Purdy is a police officer there and has a lot of material. We also have presentations from Lyle Gray, Mary Tipton and Debbi (Weaver) Kline.”

In preparing for the Glenmont event, Boley said he uncovered something remarkable, which he will be able to share with the people who attend. “We wanted to do some kind of giveback to the community for hosting us there. In our own archives we found a 100-year-old wood printing block, which had been used to print postcards of an overview of Glenmont. I took it to Tope Printing in Millersburg, and they had the old press in the back that could use the wood block. I said, ‘Are you kidding me?' I could hardly believe it, but they produced 200 postcards, free, from that original block for us. We will be giving those out to the first 200 people who attend the Glenmont lecture. It's really an amazing find and coincidence.”

Later this year the Homes County Historical Society will continue its very popular Unusual and Mysterious Holmes County Road Rally on Aug. 20. “That one focuses on mysterious and odd sightings and occurrences in the area,” Boley said.

The Our Town Glenmont lecture is free, but donations will be accepted. The Glenmont School is on state Route 520.

The Holmes County Historical Society website it at www.holmeshistory.com. The Society operates the Victorian House Museum and Millersburg Glass Museum at its campus at 484 Wooster Road, Millersburg.