Newsletter - Summer 2023

President’s Report

Just a word or two about recent activity relative to CCHSM in-frastructure and upcoming events. You have probably noticed a lot of construction activity around the Museum building this year. This has been due mostly to an ongoing $108,000 roofing project that was frankly overdue. When finished, we will hopefully have helped ensure the long-term integrity of our now 143-year-old building. All that is left of that project at this point is to finish the guttering work and complete the exte-rior woodwork details. Please bear with us as this construction continues. Finally, we are approaching a very busy part of the CCHSM year, with our annual membership drive beginning next month, in September. Please renew your membership and remember that a large portion of our annual income is due to your very generous membership commitment.
Thank You!
Gary Learned
CCHSM President

Gary and Jude fix the hanging light fixture on the front of the building after the August 5th storm that thundered through Winfield, causing severe tree damage.

Construction on the roof in April 2023.

Museum Friends Presented: Mary Hartley shared the story of the Cornelius Akers family that came to Cowley County in 1870 and settled just south of Rock, KS. Mary is a descendant of that family. She shared a glimpse into the everyday life of the family as they traveled by covered wagon to Cowley County
from Indiana and they began to "settle in" to that settler way of life. The Osage Indians were still in the area and the white settlers were considered squatters in the Osage Diminished Reserve until July of 1870. People listened to Mary relate the life of the Akers family and were able to imagine what life for many of the settlers was like at that time. A recording is available on our YouTube channel. May 15, 2023.

First Museum Friends since their summer break will be Monday, September the 18th at 4:30pm at the Museum. Jane Sandbulte will be presenting on “Grocery Stores of Winfield.”

Grand Parade Grand Prize Winner! “Winfield Then and Now” The Grand Prize was the entry with the most dedication to the theme: there was an independent judging panel that scored entries by points, originality, etc. The Cowley County Historical Society Museum was the GRAND PRIZE Winner of $600 in cash! Congrats to our Museum Director, Amy Jo for building such a wonderful float. She thanks her husband and family for humoring her and participating in the parade. The house on the float is on display in the annex of the museum.

Winfield Chamber of Commerce voted at their annual meeting to honor Mrs. Cindy Goertz as 2023 Mrs. Winfield. She OBVIOUSLY deserves it, by being such a tireless promotor of Winfield! Great job Cindy!

Winfield has been celebrating its 150th anniversary of incorporation as a city in 1873 throughout the year 2023. What a year of celebration and special events with more to come throughout the rest of the year!
The GRAND celebration occurred in June-three full days of special activities! Friday, June 2, found Island Park full of folks as an old-fashioned carnival took place and the Winfield City Band performed a special concert celebrating the long history of the city band in Winfield. The band performance included four reenactors relating experiences in Island Park including Chautauqua. Forty non-profits set up fun carnival games complete with fun prizes and of course fun refreshments. “Once Upon a Time” was the theme for the CCHSM booth. Folks of all ages had the opportunity to choose vintage clothing outfits and step be-hind the backdrop to have a picture taken. What fun!

Saturday morning opened with the CCHSM sponsored Vintage Car Cruise. 30+ vintage cars and trucks gathered in Island Park and then cruised down Main Street at 9:00 am to open the GRAND day of celebration. Following their cruise, they joined the Grand Parade. At 10:00 am a community picture was taken at the corner of 9th and Main and all joined in singing Happy Birthday Winfield before sharing in a special birthday cake that Dillons provided. At 11:00 am the Grand Parade began and it was a grand parade with 80 plus entries. Did you know the antique fire truck in the parade is displayed at the museum? The CCHSM float won first place and the parade Grand Prize for the best representation of the theme.

Following the parade Main Street was still very busy with eight reenactors portraying important founders and business leaders of Winfield as well as the opportunity to hear the story of the mural inside RCB Bank. This was planned by the CCHSM Voices from the Past.

The RCB courtyard was busy throughout the afternoon as well with Beverley Olsen Buller present in the RCB courtyard to sign the Winfield Postcard Books, entertainment provided by a barber-shop quartet, and two young men busy handing out free home-made ice cream from the truck parked in front of the bank.
Island Park was also busy throughout the afternoon. The vintage cars and trucks and tractors returned to the park for folks to enjoy viewing and food trucks were there to provide a wide range of goodies. At 7:00 pm the community was treated to a free concert in the park.
Sunday was also full of activities. This time the festivities began at the fairgrounds. A vintage baseball game was played at 1:00 pm with free hot dogs and chips and drink provided to all in attendance. The Winfield Aquatic Center also offered free swimming during the afternoon. The big celebration weekend closed at Island Park once again with a worship service planned by the Win-field Ministerial Alliance.
What a celebration weekend!!

We DEPEND on volunteers. Thank—you to these recent Winfield High School graduates for helping improve the look of our VERY old building. They painted the entire basement stairwell, including the side walls, the trim and the floor. Bravo to this group of TEENS for organizing, implementing and finishing the job to the complete satisfaction of CCHSM. Your parents, community and museum appreciate all that you do and have done for Winfield. We hope they ignite YOUR passion to make the world a better place for ALL.

Thank you to Matt Thomas for helping to increase our collection of Winfield State Hospital memorabilia. They were from his grandfather Max Rhodd's estate, who was once the head of maintenance at the State Hospital. His father’s house was sold after he died about 10 years ago, and was being sold again, when the relator noticed these pictures stuffed back high on a basement shelf. She had them in her car, and brought her vehicle to Matt's workplace. The mechanics noticed the name on the back, and realized they were Matt's fathers. The relator happily gave the 11 framed items to Matt, who graciously donated them to the Cowley County Historical Society Museum. The back of the frames has the name "Carver Tripp" hand-written and is believed to be a resident of the State Hospital who made the frames for the photos. The photos range from 1929 to 1953.

Thank you Jim Story Jr. for donating these (pictured) sentimental artifacts to CCHSM: “A knife my Grandfather, (his father-in-law) made for him. 10 of Dad's service medals and a painting of Dad done by my wife, his daughter-in-law.”
Thank you to Home on the Range for continuing to assisting us in obtaining Lt./Col. USAF James B. Story’s .45 Colt as an artifact from World War II. Looking forward to this upcoming display at CCHSM!

Thank you Randy Kaiser for the memorabilia from Walnut Valley Lanes. We received plaques, a scrapbook with “Bowlers of the Year” from 1976-1997, three decorative bowling pins and a neat hand-made bowling bag from Mexico.

Our museum director, Amy Jo McWhirt, partnered with Ms. Jo at the Winfield Public Library for a “Time Traveler” session this summer. Amy talked about the really cool displays you might find at the museum, the artifacts, the research tools and so much more! Then they talked about how butter used to be made and looked at the butter-mold artifacts she brought. The class started making butter by shaking heavy whipping cream in small glass containers with lids and shaping the forming clump of butter with butter molds (paper bowls and plastic spoons were used, not the artifacts!). They also made whipped cream and put it on vanilla cookies. Amy Jo and Ms. Jo are happy to report that every scrap of bread and butter was consumed during this class.

We are partnering with the Winfield Public Library and the Cowley County Clerk’s Office for an upcoming exhibit called “Voices & Votes: Smithsonian on Main Street Exhibition” from October 7th to November 19th to be dis-played at the Winfield Public Library. We loaned some “General & Primary Election” posters from the 1960’s and some old clippings dated from 1914 and 1920 about Winfield’s Chautauqua’s. Make sure you go check it out!

The annual museum membership drive will begin at the end of September. Membership renewal packets will be mailed the week of September 19th.
If you know someone who is not currently a member and might be interested in becoming a member please let us know by Sept 15. We would love to add them to our mailing list. The Southwestern Lady Builder basketball team helped pre-pare the membership packets last year and will be doing that again this year. We so appreciate their help EACH year! CCHSM depends on volunteers like these to run our pro-grams and membership drives effectively.
Check out their webpage at buildersports.com/sports/womens-basketball

Future Events

• Museum Friends: Jane Sandbulte speaks on Winfield Neighborhood Grocery Stores on September 18th at 4:30 PM. At the museum.
• “Historic Home Porch Tours of Winfield” on Sunday, October 8th from 2 PM to 4 PM.
• “Voices from the Past” at Union Cemetery on a Sunday, October 22nd at 2 PM. (Ticket info for events will be on Facebook and on the website. )
• Museum Friends: JoAnn Parsons speaks about “Remembering the day JFK was shot on this 60th anniversary.”

Dear Cowley County Historical Soc. Museum,
Congratulations on your enrollment into the Dillons Food Stores Community Rewards Program. Your participants may begin
enrolling upon receipt of this email.
You have been assigned a new NPO (Non-Profit Organization) number LM545.
Please refer to this number in all future correspondence.
To Use the Dillons Food Stores Community Rewards Program:
Simply encourage your participants to visit the appropriate link below..
For Dillons Stores - go to http://www.dillons.com
For Baker's Stores - go to http://www.bakersplus.com
For Gerbes Stores - go to http://www.gerbes.com
Once logged into their Dillons Food Stores account they can search for Cowley County Historical Soc. Museum either by name
or LM545 and then click Enroll. New users will need to create an account which requires some basic information, a valid email
address and a rewards card.

FOR SALE AT THE MUSEUM AND ONLINE:
2023 Commemorative Calendar (150 Anniversary) $12.00
Celebrate Winfield History Books 2001-2011 $15.00
Celebrate Winfield History Books 2012, 2015 $15.00
Celebrate Cowley County History 2016-2023 $15.00
Winfield’s Golden Era of Sports: $15.00
History of CC KS. The Indians Vol. II: $33.00
Southwestern College: $21.99
Winfield – Postcard History: $21.99
Penrose Hills Albright $10.00
Prices include Sales Tax
Shipping/handling is an additional $6.00
To purchase any of our awesome books, please stop by the museum or check out our website: www.cchsm.com
Credit Cards and PayPal are accepted.
You may also send a check or money order with a list of books to:
CCHSM
1011 Mansfield St.
Winfield, KS 67156
Or email us at: museumcchsm@gmail.com

All donations, both monetary and historical artifacts, are greatly appreciated.
Our building is over 140 years old and requires significant ongoing maintenance in addition to operating costs.
We continue to be a no fee museum and we have no plans to change that. Your continued support will allow us to best serve the community.
We are especially seeking anything from diverse ethnic groups to add to our displays.

Commemorative Bricks
We have commemorative bricks for sale which make great memorials and also support the museum financially. The bricks border our walkway from the parking lot to the front steps of our Historic building.
To purchase an engraved brick, a form can be picked up at the Museum and/or contact Board member Elaine Rankin.
DETAILS: Flat red brick with 2 lines of 12 characters -$75 donation.
Flat red brick with 3 lines of 12 characters -$100 donation.
A contrasting brick with 12 characters-$500 donation.
(Fewer letters may be used if you wish.)

The Cowley County Historical Society dates from 1931 with major reorganization and a move to our present location in 1967. The CCHSM’s mission is to preserve and make available the colorful history of Cowley County. We also support and encourage activities pertaining to local county history. Our bookstore showcases an assortment of items about local history as well. The Museum also has a fine collection of historical records and vintage photographs.