2024-2025 Programs & Events

Voices of the Past Programs

at Burlington Station - 603 N Plum St, Grand Island
programs begin at 2 pm
$5 for non-members, free for members

September 8, 2024 | Grand Island’s Pawnee Scout and Pawnee Son: James Murie
While America’s Civil War raged in the East, hostile Plains Indians were also waging war on the settlers of the Central Plains. The North Brothers and Nebraska military decided to fight fire with fire by recruiting friendly “Pawnee Scouts” as soldiers. Jean Lukesh will share the story of James Murie, a Scottish officer with a Pawnee family that sometimes lived in Grand Island, and his role as one of the Pawnee Scouts.     

October 13, 2024 | Ordnance Plant History
Hall County Ordnance Plant historian Howard Uhrich returns to share how the historic 1967 Flood impacted production during the Vietnam period of operation at the Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant, previously located on the west side of Grand Island.    
 
November 10, 2024 | The Crimes and Times of Stephen Dee Richards, Nebraska Serial Killer
In January 1879 Stephen Dee Richards sat in the Nebraska State Penitentiary and confessed to the murder of nine people. Most of his murders occurred in Buffalo and Kearney County. Imprisoned in Kearney and convicted in Minden, Richards was executed on Minden’s courthouse square on April 26, 1879. Through this story, Dr. Nathan Tye, from University of Nebraska-Kearney, will explain what this violent history reveals about the history of the law, law enforcement, and crime in Central Nebraska during the 1870s.

January 12, 2025 | Antique Christmas Ornaments
This program has been  cancelled.
John Hanssen's popular program returns with a different era of historic Christmas ornaments. 

January 12, 2025 | A Grand City
A brief history of people,  places and events in Grand Island from 1870 to 2020. Michelle Setlik

February 9, 2025 | Hero of the Rails: George Poell
In June 1905, a two-year-old boy was playing on the tracks of the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railway as a freight train suddenly rounded the curve. Tragedy was averted when the locomotive's fireman, George Poell of Grand Island, leapt into action. Hailed as a national hero, he became the first recipient of a new Congressional medal for railroad valor. Jim Reisdorff will share how this remarkable story became lost to time, due in part to political scandal, and the unbreakable bond between the rescuer and the boy he saved.  

March 9, 2025 | Educate, Enlighten, Encourage, Advance: Grand Island’s AAUW Chapter History
In 1924, the Grand Island branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), was formed. Over the next seven decades, this group of women sought to educate and enlighten their members, encourage more women to pursue higher education, break down barriers, and open doors for women’s career advancement. Sue Clement and Michelle Setlik will share their research of the AAUW record books entrusted to the Hall County Historical Society (HCHS) by former HCHS board member, AAUW officer, and political trailblazer, Irene Abernethy.
 
April 6, 2025 | Creating a New Life in Nebraska after The Holocaust
After the Holocaust the Jews of Eastern Europe found themselves without a home or a place to go.  Most left Eastern Europe and settled in new communities and worked to reestablish their lives.  Scott Littky, Executive Director of the Institute for Holocaust Education, will share some of the stories of those Holocaust Survivors who found their way to Nebraska.

2024-2025 Bygone Book Club

at Grand Island Public Library 
meetings begin at 11:30 am
everyone is welcome, this is a free event

August 10 | Murder in the Land of Broken Promises by Linda Wilke Heil
Discussion led by the author
Evil besieged a thriving English colony on Horse Creek in western Nance County, Nebraska, on a mild fall day in 1884. The brutal murders of Henry Perceval, his wife and baby, Hugh Mair, and Harry Baird were an execution-style slaughter that rocked their tiny corner of the world. Who could have done this to these bright young immigrants, and why?
  
September 14 | An Unspeakable Sadness: the Dispossession of the Nebraska Indians by David L. Wishart
Discussion led by Dr. Jean Lukesh
Of all the interactions between American Indians and Euro-Americans, none was as fundamental as the acquisition of the indigenous peoples' lands. To Euro-Americans this takeover of lands was seen as a natural right, an evolution to a higher use; to American Indians the loss of homelands was a tragedy involving also a loss of subsistence, a loss of history, and a loss of identity  

October 12 | Our Show Houses: the History of Movie Theaters in Grand Island by John Sorensen
Discussion led by Mac Martin
Local historian John Sorensen documents the history of the movie theaters and show houses in Grand Island.
 
November 9 | One of Ours by Willa Cather
Discussion led by Sue Clement
Follow Claude Wheeler, the sensitive, aspiring protagonist of this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel from the wide-open farmlands of Nebraska to the brutal battlefields of 1918 WWI France. An idealist without an idea to cling to, Claude struggles to find life's purpose on his family's Nebraska farm, only to ironically fulfill his romantic idealism in the trenches of Europe.

January 11 | Down the Tracks of Time by Mary Ann McGovern
Discussion led by Stephanie Crosby
It's 1942, and America is at war. Many men and women have joined the military services, and the nation's labor shortage has become critical, especially to the railroads. This memoir of Bonnie (Prendergast) McGovern recalls her life after being recruited at age 19 to work for the Union Pacific in western Nebraska in what until then had been strictly men's work

February 8 | Thieves, Rascals, and Sore Losers by Marilyn June Coffey
Discussion led by Tom Frazer
They came from across Europe, other US states and territories looking for the good life. Along the way they brawled:: about Native Americans, border lines, slavery, and more. Then 1,000 settlers found themselves in Harlan County, arguing about which still-imagined town should be named the seat of government. This colorful history tells the tale of a small Nebraska county, and its not-so-peaceful past

March 8 | Journey to Freedom by Gail Shaffer Blankenau
Discussion led by Michelle Setlik
Journey to Freedom provides the first detailed history of Black enslavement in Nebraska Territory and the escape of two enslaved Black women-Celia and Eliza Grayson-from Nebraska City in 1858, which prompted nationwide debates about whether slavery could exist in the West and whether popular sovereignty truly worked.

April 12 | Nebraska During the New Deal by Marilyn Irvin Holt
Discussion led by Jim Dean
The Nebraska project was one of the most prolific of the Federal Writers' Project. Best remembered for its state guide and series of folklore and pioneer pamphlets, the project also produced town guides, published a volume on African Americans in Nebraska, and created an ethnic study of Italians in Omaha

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Stolley House Events

at Stolley Park - 2103 W Stolley Park Rd, Grand Island​

December 1st, 2024 from 12:00 to 3:00 |  Stolley Christmas Open House The historic Stolley House, in Stolley Park, will be decked out for the holidays and open to visitors to view free of charge. With holiday music, treats, and antique Christmas ornaments this event will truly help get you in the holiday spirit!

July 20, 2025 from 11:00 to 4:00 | Art-In-The-Park The historic home of William and Wilhelmina Stolley, who settled in Hall County in 1857, and the oldest public school house in Hall County will be open to visitors. The tour is open to the public and free of charge. 

Other Programs and Events

February 2, 2025 at 2 pm | How To Be Single: A History of Advice Literature to Unmarried Adults in the 20th Century 
Join us at the Grand Island Public Library for a free program from Hastings College Associate Professor Dr. Catherine Biba. Throughout the decades relationship guides, magazines, and newspapers have offered advice to unwed Americans. Dr. Biba will share some of the highlights (and low points) of help suggested for unwed men and women in the 20th century. The program is free and open to the public. ​

March 22, 2025 2:00-3:00 pm | Women’s History Walk
Join us at the historic Hargis House for our second Women’s History Walk where we will recognize Hall County women who have broken barriers, paved the way for others, served as community leaders, faced challenges or adversity, and who have made a positive and lasting impact in Hall County. 
 
June 6, 2025 at 5 pm / June 7, 2025 at 9 am and 3 pm | Cemetery Tour
Our popular tour of the Grand Island City Cemetery returns the first weekend in June 2024 with new stories to share about our community and the people who lived here. Admission for this event is $10 for non-members and free for members. 

July 4, 2025 at 10 am | German Church Service
In celebration of the arrival of the first settlers on July 4, 1857 join us for our annual German language church service at the Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran on the grounds of Stuhr Museum. There is no cost to attend the church service. However, if you plan to stay and participate in Stuhr Museum's Independence Day festivities, Stuhr Museum's regular admission fees will apply. 
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