The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Spirit of 76 Museum posting videos
Spirit of 76 Museum posting videos during virus closure
The past of Wellington and its surrounding townships live on with the Spirit of 76 Museum.
The past of Wellington and its surrounding townships in southern Lorain County lives on with the Spirit of 76 Museum.
The museum, located at 201 N. Main St. in downtown Wellington, is currently shut down due to the pandemic, but the history lessons are continuing online.
“We wanted to find a way to continue the lessons learned without stepping foot inside the museum,” said Becky Norton, trustee of the museum which is run by the Southern Lorain County Historical Society. “It was something where we knew we couldn’t properly clean everything in the museum for visitors to come in safely, so we have shut the location down indefinitely. But, with the help of the director of Main Street Wellington, Jenny Arntz, we have been posting some videos on Facebook that folks can check out on the Spirit of 76 Museum page or the Main Street Wellington page. They are some educational videos looking at different aspects of the museum, and it’s really the best way to do things during the pandemic.”
Norton said the building that houses the museum was built in 1878
It was originally a cheese warehouse and eventually it became home to the Wellington Enterprise (newspaper),” she said. “In 1968, Mr. E.L. Henes believed we needed to have a place for Wellington history and the surrounding townships, so he decided it was a good time to start a historical society and a museum. It was a very generous thing for him to donate the building.”
Norton said the museum consists of mostly donated items from folks in the community.
“Everything, well I should say 99.9 percent of things, have been donated by local people,” she said. “The people of Wellington and Wellington Township pay into a small levy that supports us, and everyone has been very, very generous. We don’t charge people to come in. We accept donations. We do apply for grants for some of our projects, but it’s really community supported for the community.”
Norton said the museum gets its name from the ties the Spirit of 76 painting has to the village.
“The drum that we have here is from my great grandfather, George W. Greene,” she said. “He was part of the Brighton Fife and Drum Corp that the Spirit of 76 was based on. The main connection is that the artist, Archibald Willard started the painting here in Wellington. He was inspired to paint the painting based on the drum corp. The fife and drum corp would always come here for parades. Willard saw three of the members and he did a sketch called Yankee Doodle.”
Norton said Willard moved forward with the painting as a way to mark the centennial of the country.
“As the centennial of the country approached Willard’s art dealer, Jim Ryder, said that he needed a painting to put on exhibit in Philadelphia,” she said. “So, Willard chose to use the sketch Yankee Doodle but with a more serious tone. He later finished the project in Cleveland, but the roots of the painting can be traced back here to Wellington.”
Norton said the museum goes way beyond just the
Spirit of 76 painting.
“We have a lot of other works by Willard based on Civil War-era items,” she said. “That’s including the one where he painted a civil war soldier saying goodbye to his sweetheart.
We also have a tribute to the school. We have a war veterans section with uniforms from different eras and guns used. We have a section dedicated to the slave rescue in Wellington and Oberlin. I’d say the museum is for you if you’re interested in history, and if you want to remember where your ancestors came from. It shows the stuff that they would use on a daily basis. Everything in here has a story.”