Early History RoomShowcases Native American history, the stories of early settlers, a railroad exhibit, logging and milling in the Lowell area.
|
Retail & IndustryExplores the histories of businesses and industries that made Lowell their base. From a cutter factory, to a button factory that used clam shells from the river, to local dairies, to telling the history of the Lowell Showboat, the symbolic heart of our community. This room shows the stories of Lowell’s businesses.
|
Fur TradingExamines the fur trading adventures of the Odawa and voygeurs along the Flat and Grand Rivers that were the backbone to the growth of Lowell.
|
Victorian Dining Room
|
From Wheat To Flour
|
Ghost Towns of LowellSponsored by The Lowell Area Community Fund
Ghost towns are not cities populated by ghosts. In fact, they are places where real people once lived and dreamed. Several ghost towns around Lowell have since dissolved into nothing more than crossroads for one reason or another. Fallasburg, Bowne Center and Alton faltered when proposed railroads bypassed them altogether. Waterville and South Boston died when populations shifted to other locations. The booming railroad towns of Elmdale and Moseley later faded as the railroads gradually became obsolete and their grain elevators were no longer needed.
These are the stories of those places we drive by without noticing... remnants of another time, occupied not by ghosts, but by those who came before us. Seeds of Inspiration
|
Where We Worship
|
|
Explored the wealth of tools and inventions that make life easier. From Grain boards to bean sorters, from barn tools to egg beaters, gadgets are a part of our lives and history.
Grain Board “This was a piece of wood the grain used to go over in the old mill at Lowell, Mich. when the mill was first new and owned by William Hatch.” This wood was a piece of the chute onto which grain dropped and rolled over day after day, year after year. It was a part of the mill on the east side of the Flat River when the mill was owned by William Hatch and later by Hatch and Craw (1856 – 1880). When John Pike remodeled the mill, he gave this board to James Hatch who was a nephew of William Hatch and the grandfather of donor, Larry Cahoon. Sprayers Imagine living around the turn of the century…you must grow your own vegetables to feed your family. The problem? Pesky bugs! The solution? Hand-held sprayers! The Lowell Specialty Company began in 1905 with the idea of making money by eradicating pests. Hand-held sprayers were invented for household use and different models were developed for every need. The company grew, especially with the advent of the Nu-Day Sprayer in the 1920s. The popularity of this new design, along with the market share it commanded, led the company to be purchased by its largest competitior, the H.D. Hudson Mfg. Company. Known as the Lowell Sprayer Company, it became the world’s largest supplier of household sprayers, producing 100, 000,000 sprayers between 1946 and 1952! After merging with Root Mfg. Company of Ohio in 1953, Root-Lowell Mfg. continues to this day, over 100 years since its humble beginnings here in Lowell. Lowell Innovations 1932: In 1931, C. H. Runciman organized the General Bean Co. and erected a new three-story brick building next to the bean elevator in which 100 electric powered bean picking (culling) machines were installed. One hundred women were hired to operate these machines and manually pick out the bad beans. One year later, the first electric eye in the world was installed in this Lowell plant! Individual beans were picked up by an aluminum wheel and held there by a vacuum. The perfect bean, being of the same color as the wheel, permitted the same amount of light to reach the super-sensitive cell, while the discolored bean varied the amount of light and a trigger was set off which kicked out the bad bean. This sped up the culling process plus the work was done mechanically rather than with human labor. Since then, the installation of electric eyes for sorting has been implemented by businesses all over the world to sort commodities such as wheat, rice, and even colored glass. This innovation truly revolutionized the world! 1905: The problem- pesky bugs. The Lowell Specialty Company was created in 1905 with the idea of making money by eradicating pests. Hand-held sprayers were invented for household use and different models were developed for every need. The company grew, especially with the advent of the Nu-Day Sprayer. The popularity of this new design, along with the market share it commanded, led the Lowell Specialty Company to be purchased by its largest competitor, the H. D. Hudson Mfg. Company. Known as the Lowell Sprayer company, the company continued to thrive. As noted in a 1920’s publication, “the future of the Lowell Sprayer Company is unusually bright.” The Lowell Sprayer Company became the world’s largest supplier of household sprayers, making 100,000,000 sprayers between 1946 and 1952. The company prospered and in 1953 merged with the Root Manufacturing Company of Ohio. The new company, known as Root-Lowell Manufacturing Company, continues to this day, over one hundred years since its humble beginnings here in Lowell. Late 1940’s: Newell Manufacturing Co.’s primary business was to manufacture builders’ hardware, such as door closers, latches and stops. However during the late 1940’s they also began creating toy air rifles. Soon these toy rifles were “known the world around and made to withstand the wear which toys of this type must undergo.” Packed with three red ping-pong balls for ammunition, Newell shipped over 300,000 toy guns during the year 1949. 1958: Edwin Potter of Lowell patented a portable machine for orchard growers which could fight frost, spray insecticides and fungicides, spread fertilizer and seed grass. To fight frost, the windmill machine would keep the air moving above the crop to keep the colder air from settling down. Precision Products sold these units as far away as the Southwest and Argentina. |
|
This exhibit explored the politics, fashion, music, and events that shaped this turbulent decade in our nation’s history. It explored what was happened in Lowell in the 1960s and how national and world events were experienced here. This exhibit is a distinctive reflection of what life was like in this decade. Even those not yet born in the sixties grew up listening to music from this era and can recall major events that shaped the decade like the assassination of Kennedy, the Civil Rights movement and the moon landing. Lowell had direct connections to many of these events and people who helped shaped the decade. Lowell itself changed dramatically in the 1960s. It went from being a small village to a city. Schools were consolidated, baby boomers entered school and sparked the building of several new schools, the interstate highway came through and the commercial and residential center of town spread to new suburban areas just west of town. This exhibit had something to interest all ages. We invite you to come explore the sixties!
|
|
The "Fabulous Furniture" Exhibit explored the history of furniture building in Lowell and the connection to Grand Rapids' furniture industry.The Lowell Furniture Company, also known as the Kopf Furniture Factory, was located in Segwun, just across the Grand River from Lowell. The Kopf Factory began production in 1867 and produced over 20,000 pieces annually. Cane seat chairs of cherry and walnut were a specialty. Other items produced were stands, drop-leaf tables, desks, bed-steads and caskets. The power source for the factory was from a dam on Kopf Creek. “The spring in the creek flows 2 cubic feet per second and never dries or freezes up. The mill pond also supplied the water for the Lowell & Hastings Railroad and the Tucker WoodImplement Factory upstream.” Sales, both wholesale and retail, and shipping were handled in town in the Kopf three-story building at 212 E Main Street.
Kopf Furniture Company
|
John Kopf (1828-1888) was a German cabinetmaker who immigrated to America in 1848. He married Mary Jane Lang in New York, and they moved to Lowell in 1855. Active in civic affairs, Kopf was co-founder of Loan National Bank, served on the Lowell Board of Education, was a trustee for the Congregational Church when it was being built, and a member of Hooker Chapter Royal Arch Masons and the Knights Templar. John and Mary Jane Kopf’s house was built in 1857 on 12 acres of land purchased from Daniel Marsac, founder of Lowell. It still stands on Grand River Drive on what was the eastern boundary of their furniture factory. Kopf descendants remain in the area.
Museum Display
Superior Furniture Company
Superior Furniture was founded in 1936 by William S. Lee in the small West Michigan town of Lowell, just 20 miles from Grand Rapids, known as “furniture city” since the 1860’s. It was only natural that the company be named Superior Furniture Company, a name that reflects the quality design, craftsmanship, and materials that go into every hand-finished product. Superior Furniture offered nine different product lines with over 200 models, in infinite variation—made of solid cherry, maple, pine, and alder, as well as exceptional wood veneers where appropriate. Each piece is made the old-fashioned way—hands-on, patient, and crafted—utilizing 40 different operations on a typical table, from cutting, boring, and shaping, to dovetailing all drawers, carvings, and the incomparable multi-step, hand-rubbed finish that has been the hallmark of Superior Furniture.
|
Tuckertown
Erwin W. Tucker built and operated a grain cradle, wooden hand rake and bed bottom factory a couple miles southeast of Lowell from 1862-1872. His first mill was a 3-story frame building, adding a new mill or shop in 1868. “In the one item of grain cradles they have facilities for manufacturing 1,200 dozen per year, besides bed-bottoms and harvesting implements, such as hay-rakes etc.” This was run by an overshot water-wheel and employed from 20 to 60 workers.
After the Tuckers sold their factory to Warren Babcock, they moved to Grand Haven and then to Indianapolis, Indiana. Mr. Tucker died there in 1878 and Mrs. Tucker in 1919. However, they are buried in South Boston Cemetery, Boston Township, five miles southeast of Lowell. Mr. Gary Hammond of Long Island, New York, owns the original model of the bed bottom patented by Erwin Tucker, U.S. Patent #53,706 on April 3, 1866. Hammond describes his model as “constructed just like a full-size piece of furniture, including mortise and tenon construction of the legs and head/foot rails, with miniature brass gears for adjustment.” The novel thing about Tucker’s invention is it would fit into any frame and headboard and allow the head of the bed to be elevated or lowered substantially. Mr. Hammond also has the patent papers and diagram of a revolving horse rake by Erwin W. Tucker of Grand Haven, Michigan, filed in 1873, granted in 1874. The current owner of the property operates a hobby blacksmith business, which he calls “Tuckertown Forge.” |
|
Before there were mega-stores like Meijer, Walmart, and Target, main streets of America were lined with shops that carried limited quantity and type of product. However, the merchants always stood ready to serve the needs of each customer who entered their store. Most were friends whom they knew well. The storekeeper’s motto was “If we haven’t got it, we’ll get it for you.” Such was the case here in Lowell.
This exhibit brought those days of yesteryear back to life, using the Lyon Block as our point of reference. Journey back to that simpler time; visit Hazel’s Hat Shop and Hill’s Shoe Store. Get a feel for an era when vendors knew their customers by name and catered to their needs. Come remember the past as you visit and study the timeline of the eight stores fronts that were in the Lyon Block. You will see the following stores Gee’s Hardware, Hill’s Shoes, Hartman’s Drugs, Coons Men Store, and Hazel’s Hat Shop. This block is located where Cousins’ Hallmark and Dr. James Reagan are located today. This exhibit captured what it was like to shop in Lowell during an earlier time in our history. Using artifacts from the Museum’s collection as well as borrowed objects from community members and institutions, graphics and text call out the story behind retailing in Lowell. This exhibit highlighted the advancements, marketing, and the many businesses located on this block. |
|
|
admissionMembers, Free
Adults, $3.00 Children, $1.50 Children under 5, Free Families, $10.00 max. |
HoursMuseum Hours:
Tuesday 1-4pm Thursday 1-4pm Saturday 1-4 pm |
|
