Floyd County Historical Society News

12/09/2023 - Padget Museum Closing for the Winter. 

Visit the museum at 509 West Market Street to view "Baseball in New Albany" exhibit 1-3pm.


11/28/2023 - David Ross Stevens, journalist turned sculpture, presented:
"Sculptures of History"

The Bordon Indiana artist showed several busts of historical people along with biographical sketches.
He also explained the processes of fired clay and poured bronze methods.


10/24/2023 - Jim Mead, volunteer at The Falls of the Ohio, presented:
"Falls of the Ohio"


09/26/2023 - Shelly Jackson Doss, Regent (NSDAR), presented:
"History of the Piankeshaw Chapter of the NSDAR"


08/22/2023 - Sally Newkirk, Steve Wiser & Greg Sekula presented
"Ron Stiller's Impact on Regional Preservation & Restoration"


04/26/2022 - Dr. Curtis Peters presented "The Preservation of New Albany's Fire Apparatus"

on-site at the VINTAGE FIRE MUSEUM, 706 Spring Street, JEFFERSONVILLE, INDIANA.


03/22/2022 - Joe Glover presented "50 Years of IU Southeast Grenadier Athletics in Southern Indiana"

in the Floyd County/New Albany Library auditorium.


02/22/2022 - Vic Megenity presented "Floyd County's Poor Farm"

to a live audience!  COVID be gone?!


11/23/2021 - "New Albany's Civil War Hospitals" presented by Kraig McNutt


10/23/2021 - Steve Wiser presented "Louisville 2035" at the October meeting!


The September 28th meeting, "Freedomland Cemetery" presented by Pam Peters and Tim Allen.
The restoration of this cemetery is an on-going process.
The meeting was held in the New Albany/Floyd County Library.  The new audio/visual equipment was a striking improvement over the previous arrangement.
Over 40 people attended!


09/28/2021 - First meeting in the newly renovated Strassweg Auditorium!

The September 28th meeting, "Freedomland Cemetery" presented by Pam Peters and Tim Allen.
The restoration of this cemetery is an on-going process.
The meeting was held in the New Albany/Floyd County Library.  The new audio/visual equipment was a striking improvement over the previous arrangement.
Over 40 people attended!


08/24/2021 - We finally had a meeting!

The August 24th meeting was held at the Carnegie.  Elizabet Grennan Browning, Indiana Environmental Institute, presented "Environmental & Social Change Along the Monon".  The video has been posted under Member Communications.


06/21/2021 - Padgett Museum Now Open

Work on the exterior brickwork has been completed.
The Padgett Museum operated by the Floyd County Historical Society, located at 509 West Market Street, New Albany, Indiana, is now open.
The museum will be open every Saturday from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., into December.
In addition to the permanent exhibits, artifacts from The White House, New Albany's Dept. Store are on display.
Please stop by and rekindle your interest in our great city and county.  Admission is free.
Masks and/or vaccinations are highly recommended..
For more information, call Bob Sterrett at 812-590-2798.


Fall 2020 - Exterior Renovation of the Padgett Museum

Ten thousand dollars needed for tuck-pointing the Padgett Museum!
A grant has been obtained requiring a 1 for 1 match on our part.
Help keep the museum standing.
For more information, call Bob Sterrett at 812-590-2798.


6/23/2020 - Show and Tell

The June meeting of the Floyd County Historical Society will be held on Tuesday, June 23, 2020, at 7:00 p.m. in the Elsa Strassweg Auditorium of the Floyd County Public Library, 180 West Spring Street.  "Show and Tell" is a popular program where you, the members, share items or reminisces of New Albany/Floyd County.

CANCELLED!
due to the corona virus this program will not be presented at this time

5/26/2020 - Restoration and Preservation of the Historic M. Fine and Sons Building.

Speakers: Brandon Denton, Thomas Floyd and Todd Marsh


CANCELLED!

4/28/2020 - The Preservation of New Albany's Fire Apparatus


CANCELLED!

Curt Peters will address the Society on "The Preservation of New Albany's Fire Apparatus." Curt is the chairman of the board of the Vintage Fire Museum in Jeffersonville.
The museum houses a large collection of vintage fire fighting equipment, some of which once served the city of New Albany.
Floyd County Library Closed. -- The meeting will be held at the Vintage Fire Museum and Safety Education Center, 723 Spring Street, Jeffersonville, Indiana.
This is a chance to visit the museum for free and also learn about some of the exhausting work that has been done to keep this collection together.


3/24/2020 - Concept in Historic Monument Art


CANCELLED!

David Ruckman will address the Society on "Concept in Historic Monument Art".
David has been an active Title Boundary Surveyor for 47 years, holding LS Registrations in multiple states.
He and Pat Kelley recently Sculpted and set two Hand Carved 14 ton Bison Buffalo Boundary Stones on the Buffalo Trace in New Albany at the newly created Buffalo Art Park, now a State Historic Trail Site.


02/25/2020 - French Lick and West Baden Springs by Jerry Copas.

Jerry Copas presented "French Lick and West Baden Springs" highlighting his most recently-released book from Arcadia Publishing.  Jerry has held a longtime fascination with the colorful history of the French Lick-West Baden region, starting with his first encounter with the crumbling and deserted West Baden Hotel in the 1980s.  Mr. Copas grew up in New Albany and has a degree in graphic arts.  He is also a balloon pilot and owner and president of Images Aloft Ballooning, Inc.


11/26/2019 - A History of Greenville and Surrounding Areas by Matt Uhl.

Matt Uhl of the Greenville Historic Preservation Commission presented A history of Greenville and surrounding areas on Nov 26th. As Chairman of the Commission in its first 3 years, Uhl has helped facilitate research and preservation programming leading to Indiana historical markers in Floyd County and surrounding counties, as well as events and other efforts of a local historic nature.


10/22/2019 - Nathaniel Scribner's Last Ride by Mandy Dick.

Mandy Dick channeled Ms. Hattie Scribner and related her recollections of Nathaniel Scribner's fateful ride home from Corydon in December 1818. He and others passed legislation establishing Floyd County.


09/24/2019 - Lawyers and Law Firms of Floyd County by Steven Lohmeyer of The Lohmeyer Law Office.

Personal and professional stories by and about the earliest lawyers in Floyd County and lawyers of the 20th century; where they lived, where their offices were located, who they practiced with, what old firms morphed into what new firms through the years..


08/27/2019 - Bicentennial of the Floyd County Sheriff's Dept. by Jeff Firkins.

Floyd County Police Lt. Jeff Firkins presented: History of the Floyd County Sheriff’s Department (1819-2019). This is the bicentennial of the Department and its service to Floyd county. Lt. Firkins is a Lieutenant assigned to the patrol division. He began at the Floyd County Sheriff's Department in the Corrections Division in 1999 and has been a police officer since 2000.


11/22/2018 - The Wreck of the Naval Airship USS Shenandoah by Jerry Copas.

Jerry grew up in New Albany and has a degree in graphic arts. He is also a balloon pilot and the owner and president of Images Aloft Ballooning, Inc. The USS Shenandoah was the pride of the American Navy in 1925 and America's first rigid dirigible. Her name is a Native American word often said to mean "Daughter of the Stars." While performing a publicity tour in the Midwest, the ship was ripped to pieces by a violent storm while fourteen men perished in the disaster.


10/23/2018 - The Social Evolution of Public Cemeteries: Illustrations from Local Cemeteries by Greg Phipps.

Mr. Phipps is the Senior Lecturer & Program Coordinator of Sociology at Indiana University Southeast.