Fort Wayne Old City Hall Building

The Fort Wayne Old City Hall Building in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana operates as a museum known as The History Center, and serves as headquarters for the Allen County-Fort Wayne Historical Society since 1980. The sandstone building was built in 1893. It served as a functioning city hall for Fort Wayne until 1971 when local officials moved to the City-County Building.^[2]

The History Center has collected 23,000 artifacts in permanent displays dedicated to the region's history, dating from the Ice Age to the 18th-century to the 20th century.^[3]

The Society also maintains the Chief Jean Baptiste de Richardville House.^[4]

Exhibits

• Earliest Inhabitants, tools, weapons, a mastodon’s broken rib bone and large tooth are displayed.
• Miami Indian History, images of Pacanne, Little Turtle, and Jean Baptiste de Richardville displayed, along with collections on the Miami Indian capital, Kekionga. Miami chief Little Turtle's items displayed include his watch and sword presented to him by President George Washington. Exhibit also includes a model of a typical eighteenth-century Miami village.
• Anthony Wayne, exhibits the birth of Fort Wayne with General "Mad" Anthony Wayne's ordering of a fort to be built at the three rivers, October 22, 1794.
• An Emerging City, includes a model of and parts of the Wabash-Erie Canal, attributed to turning the city into a boom-town in the 1800s.
• Industry, includes a recreation of a blacksmith shop, as well as noting Fort Wayne resident Silvanus F. Bowser, creator of the self-measuring gas pump.
• Made in Allen County, features the common products that were once developed in the area at the turn of the century; items include boxes of cigars, Bursley’s Coffee, Mar-velo’s water softener and a soap saver, Seald Sweet juicer, Lady Wayne Chocolates, Seyfert’s potato chips, and Crystal Bottling Works soda pop.

References

External links

• The History Center
• The History Center Digial Collections