What’s happening at the Milford Historical Society?

January 16th - General Membership Meeting at the Milford United Methodist Church on Atlantic Street, starts at 6:30 with a potluck dinner. Program  - The Unusual, The Unique and The Ugly. Bring your favorite family heirloom, collectible or great garage sale find and show it off.  Tell us a little about it and maybe win a prize for your story.

This is a pot luck dinner meeting and these are the assignments for what to bring - A—F– Main Dish G—Q—Salad Q—Z—Desserts.

Even if you can’t bring a dish to share, come on out and enjoy the evening with us. You will need to at least bring a serving setting for yourself and whatever you wish to drink. Our members tell us this is the best pot luck dinner in Milford.

General Membership meeting are open to the public and are held every other month at the Milford United Methodist Church at 1200 Atlantic Avenue in Milford. There are two special meetings shown for April and October that are not general meetings and have no pot luck dinner. We may add more special meetings during the year, so stay tuned.

The rest of 2014 –

The other programs that we have planned for the year are shown below:

March 20th (Potluck)  Mrs. Lincoln (alias Pam Dawson). Meet Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln and hear her story while in the White House. If you haven’t seen Pam become Mrs. Lincoln you’ve missed a very believable transformation and acting job. The White House years were a relatively good time for Mrs. Lincoln who suffered bouts of depression in later years. Pam is well known amongst Civil War re-enactors for her portrayal of Mrs. Lincoln.

April 17th (No Potluck)  Mary Lou and Main Street.. Our own Mary Lou Gharrity will tell her great stories about Main Street, Milford. Mary Lou didn’t show up on the first wagons to make it to Milford, but she wasn’t far behind. Listen to some fascinating stories of Milford from someone who has lived here for a very long time. Mary Lou can tell you all about the Milford Hotel, where she grew up, because her dad ran the place. She also knows what every store on Main Street used to be, at least back to the early 1900’s.

May 15th (Potluck)  Annick Hewarth will  return and tell about the iconic CCC. Her book tells the stories from the men who worked those jobs. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25 as part of Roosevelt's New Deal.  A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who provided unskilled manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state and local governments. The CCC was designed to provide jobs for young men, to relieve families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression in the United States while at the same time implementing a general natural resource conservation program in every state and territory.

July 17th (Potluck)   Powerhouse Picnic Potluck (say that three times real fast). A tour will be included with this historic building. This is a potluck picnic on the ground of the Pettibone Creek Powerhouse, with tours of that historic building as the program

Sept. 18th (Potluck)  The Chelsea Jiffy Mix Story complete with free recipe books. Chelsea Milling Company

is operated by a family whose roots in the flour milling business date back to the early 1800’s. They’ve been milling flour in Chelsea, Michigan, for over 120 years. Mabel White Holmes, grandmother of Jiffy President, Howdy S. Holmes, developed and introduced to the homemaker the first prepared baking mix product, “JIFFY” Baking Mix, in the spring of 1930. They currently offer a variety of “JIFFY” mixes. Our mixes provide you, our consumer, with the best value available.

Oct. 16th (Milford Library, No Potluck)  Phyllis Barkey will speak on the famous downtown J. L. Hudson Building. She will bring with her a display case full of J. L. Hudson memorabilia and we are asking for everyone  to bring their favorite cherished item from Hudson's. Mine is a tin tea canister. Phyllis’ book about the downtown Hudson's eateries is in the works.

Nov. 20th. (Fall Potluck)  Milford's own Joe Salvia will be telling his war and military stories after eating a delicious turkey dinner. Joe works tirelessly every year to make the Memorial Day Parade a success in Milford. For those who’ve heard Joe speak you know he talks from both experience and passion about our military people and those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms.

We are also planning a series of workshops on topics like how to preserve and repair historic home windows. Stay tuned to our web site – www.milfordhistory.org  – for more on those workshops. So, come on out and join us during the year. You don’t have to be a history buff to enjoy these programs and remember our motto – “You don’t have to be a relic to be a member!”