Historical Society receives donation for expansion

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

A fundraising campaign to add much needed space at the Van Wert County Historical Society received a boost on Wednesday.

Kevin Merkle, on behalf of the late Harold and Janet Merkle, presented a $5,000 donation to the ongoing capital campaign project. The funds were presented in a fitting place – on the steps of the log cabin on the campus, a structure that dates back to the mid-19th century and once belonged to the Merkle family.

“My parents donated this log cabin,” Merkle said. “It was out on our homestead and it was where my grandparents lived and their folks before that on Kreischer Rd. (in Harrison Township). Mom and dad have always supported the Van Wert County Historical Society. My dad was really into genealogy so he’d really like to see this new building, which is going to be centered around that.”

The donation was accepted by Van Wert County Historical Society Trustee Mark Hurless, who is leading fundraising and the project, and Brent Stevens, owner of the nationally recognized “Faces of Little Big Horn” collection, which will be housed in the expanded facility. The collection was created by Van Wert native David Humphreys Miller, who spent the 1930s and 1940s traveling across the Great Plains to interview and paint 72 survivors of the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Once built, the $1.5 million dollar, 4,900 square foot expansion  will be home to a new research and genealogy center, four additional display rooms and a meeting room.

“The whole idea is it’s a research and genealogy center and we’re in close partnership with Brumback Library, so a lot of their material will combined into that location with ours,” Hurless said. “To top it all off we’re going to have the David Humphreys Miller painting collection and of course that’s a unique story and a really fun story to tell.”

Fundraising began in late July, and the capital campaign is expected to last until June, 2026. If all goes as planned, construction of the new building will begin shortly after that.

“We’ve had a lot of support so far, so we’re super excited about that,” Hurless stated. “We have a big fundraiser Friday night at Willow Bend – it’s a ‘Ladies Night Out Christmas Gala Auction’ with probably 150 ladies coming to that event. Everybody has been very supportive of our project.”

The new structure will face north of the current Welcome Center that faces Third St. and will face west, looking out over the museum campus. The Welcome Center will be torn down.