Midwest Guest

Rosa Parks stands tall in Grand Rapids, Michigan

I noticed what looked like a new a statue of Rosa Parks standing on a corner in downtown Grand Rapids when we visited ArtPrize this past year.

Sure enough, the city erected and dedicated the statue near the end of the 2010 ArtPrize competition.

Meanwhile, Tim noticed that the sculptor of the Rosa Parks tribute was Ed Dwight, the same sculptor who did the International Underground Railroad Memorial sculpture in Detroit's Hart Plaza.

Intrigued, I discovered that Dwight had quite the history himself. He was the first African American astronaut trainee in the United States during the 1960s, although he never got the opportunity to go up into space, before becoming the renowned creator of more than 100 public art pieces celebrating the history of African Americans across the country.

Dwight himself traveled to Grand Rapids to speak at the statue's September 30, 2010, dedication attended by hundreds of people and capping a week-long celebration of Rosa Parks' life.

The bronze statue atop a black marble base sits at the corner of Pearl and Monroe Center NW near the edge of a triangular plot of land just west of the city's striking art museum.

The 3.5-acre plot of land, known as Rosa Parks Circle, is a park designed in 2001 by artist Maya Lin, who also designed the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Lin envisioned the park as a reminder of the region's abundant water resources, centering the design with a public ice rink.

The city considered several names for the park harkening back to the location's early history, but some on the naming committee wanted to dedicate the park to someone known for their courage and dedication to the rights of all.

Rosa Parks had no connection to the city and hadn't ever visited Grand Rapids, but in the end, the committee voted 4-3 to name the park for Parks.

This particular plot of land was also notable for being the site of a rally for Robert Kennedy during his abbreviated presidential run in 1968, which ended with his assassination.

In 2008, Grand Rapids formed a Rosa Parks Sculpture Committee charged with commissioning a tribute to Mrs. Parks and raising $350,000 to pay for the project.

The committee picked Ed Dwight to create the memorial, raised $370,000 for the sculpture and secured artist Maya Lin's approval for placing it at the park.

Dwight decided to depict Mrs. Parks standing in front of a bus seat, rather than showing her sitting on the seat that she refused to yield to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. Dwight told critics of that choice that he felt a standing statue depicted the heroine in a more powerful posture, citing a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King that said a man couldn't ride on your back unless it was bent.

Be sure to check out my stories Ed Dwight and the International Underground Railroad Memorial in Detroit and See the bus Rosa Parks rode into history at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan.

Want to learn more? Check out Rosa Parks: A Life by Douglas Brinkley, Rosa Parks: My Story by Rosa Parks and Jim Haskins and Soaring on the Wings of a Dream: The Untold Story of America's First Black Astronaut Candidate by Ed Dwight.

© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved

Ed Dwight and the International Underground Railroad Memorial in Detroit

The Underground Railroad statue along the river in Detroit depicts an important part of the city's history, but the story behind the man who created the 11-foot- tall, multi-figure statue also offers an interesting glimpse into African American history and achievement.

Sculptor Ed Dwight is the son Ed Dwight Sr., once a second baseman for the Kansas City Monarchs of the segregated Negro League before another Monarch, Jackie Robinson, broke the color barrier in major league baseball.

The younger Dwight, born in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1933, had a talent in art, but his father discouraged him from attending art school because he felt the racism of the day would make it especially difficult the younger man to make a living as an artist.

Young Ed Dwight joined the Air Force in 1953 and earned a degree in aeronautical engineering while working as a test pilot.

Dwight became the first African American accepted into the United States' astronaut training program in 1962 after a recommendation to President John F. Kennedy. He passed the first phase of his training as a test pilot in 1963.

Kennedy's death in late 1963 seemed to stall Dwight's career as an astronaut and he resigned from the program in 1966. (It wasn't until 1983 that Guion Bluford became the first African American astronaut to travel into space).

Dwight began to reconsider a career as an artist and received a commission that would change his life in 1974.

George Brown, the first African American lieutenant governor of Colorado, asked Dwight to create a sculpture of him for Colorado's state capitol building. This was Dwight's first professional job as a sculptor. Brown felt Dwight could help document the often unknown contributions of African Americans to our country's history through sculpture and challenged Dwight to quit an IBM sales job to sculpt full time.

In 1975, Dwight earned a master of fine arts degree from the University of Denver.

By 1987, some of his commissions for a single piece began to top $250,000.

In 2001, Dwight won a competition to design the International Memorial to the Underground Railroad. Detroit 300, a non-profit group organizing events to celebrate Detroit's tricentennial, commissioned him to create two pieces of public art, with one in Detroit's Hart Plaza and a companion piece on the other side of the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario.

Dwight's "Gateway to Freedom" bronze-and-granite sculpture in Detroit was dedicated on October 20, 2001 and includes a group of slaves preparing to cross the river to freedom in Canada with one of the railroad's "conductors" pointing out the route.

The conductor is George DeBaptiste, born in 1815 into a wealthy family of free blacks in Virginia. DeBaptiste had a barber shop in Indiana and served as President William Henry Harrison's personal valet during his 1840 presidential campaign. DeBaptiste moved to Detroit after mid-1840s riots targeting free black leaders left him with a bounty on his head in Indiana. An estimated 45,000 escaped slaves used the Underground Railroad through Michigan, and DeBaptiste helped many of them gain freedom by crossing the river to Canada via the railroad's "Midnight" (Detroit) station.

Dwight is now in his late 70s and still maintains a 25,000-square-foot studio, foundry and gallery space in Denver. His lifetime output includes at least 120 memorials, monuments and public art installations as well as more than 18,000 gallery level sculptures.

Dwight's pubic pieces in the Midwest include: Bronze Blues sculptures in Chicago Blues district, the Soldiers Memorial at Lincoln University in Jefferson (Missouri), Jack Trice Memorial at Iowa State University in Hiram, a statue of Mayor Harold Washington in Chicago, a statue of Captain Walter Dyett in Chicago, Concerto at the Follies Theater in Kansas City (Missouri), an Underground Railroad memorial at the Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek (Michigan), and a memorial to George Washington Williams (Ohio's first African American legislator) at the State Capitol in Columbus.

Want to learn more about the history of the Underground Railroad in the Midwest? Check out my stories Visit the Hubbard House, an Underground Railroad station in Ashtabula, Ohio and Are you waiting?, the story of our visit to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Also be sure to check out Soaring on the Wings of a Dream: The Untold Story of America's First Black Astronaut Candidate by Ed Dwight.

© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved

Michigan's Polar Bears

Sure, the Detroit Zoo has polar bears, but a monument in Troy, Michigan, commemorates the state's most legendary Polar Bears-World War I soldiers who fought in a particularly curious and confusing military engagement.

I knew about this white marble sculpture for many years, and I remembered it again when we discovered the graves of a few Polar Bears while geocaching in a cemetery near Copemish in northern Michigan this past summer. It seemed like the right time to revisit the Troy memorial and learn more about these soldiers and why they remained fighting in northern Russia long after the November 11, 1918 Armistice marking the end of World War I.

Polar Bear graves in Cleon Township Cemetery, Copemish

By summer of 1918, Russia signed a peace agreement with Germany, but the British and French wished to keep Germany occupied on the Eastern Front while guarding military weapons and equipment left in northern Russia by the Allies.

President Woodrow Wilson reluctantly sent American troops to a remote location 600 miles north of Moscow with the provision that they went only to guard the military equipment.

Members of the 339th Infantry trained at Camp Custer near Battle Creek, Michigan, and marched before cheering crowds Woodward Avenue and Fort Street in Detroit before departing overseas.

The 339th Infantry, plus the 337th Ambulance Company, 337th Field Hospital Company and a battalion of the 310th Engineers, arrived in England and received Russian weapons and equipment, along with orders to ship out to Archangel, Russia.

Michigan men comprised about 75 percent of the 339th, with the majority of those from Detroit, according to the historical marker at the Polar Bear monument. Local newspapers dubbed them "Detroit's Own", and the soldiers called themselves the "Polar Bears".

The Americans arrived at Archangel in September of 1918 to join the international North Russian Expeditionary Force under British command.

The Bolsheviks (an early name for Communists) already moved the allies' military equipment, and the Americans quickly found themselves in hostile territory.

Soon, it became clear that no one really knew why the soldiers were in Archangel or who they were supposed to be fighting.

The Bolsheviks went on the attack, forcing the Allies into a defensive position.

Weeks turned into months. The Polar Bears fought one of their fiercest battles on the day of the Armistice. Morale plunged and casualties mounted. Still, the American soldiers remained marooned in Archangel facing food shortages and temperatures as low as 56 degrees below zero.

The soldiers' families, along with Michigan newspapers and politicians, lobbied for their return to America.

President Wilson ordered the War Department to coordinate the soldiers' return in February of 1919.

Meanwhile, men in one of the companies at Archangel protested harsh conditions and their continued presence in Russia, earning threats of court martial and a few ill-founded accusations of mutiny leveled at these soldiers who ultimately became one of the most highly decorated regiments of WWI.

An American commander arrived at Archangel in April 1919 with orders to withdraw the soldiers, but fighting continued through the middle of May. The soldiers finally left Archangel when the harbor thawed enough to allow navigation.

The Polar Bears lost about 245 soldiers, with 94 of them dying after the United States decided to withdraw from Russia, but before thawing allowed them to leave. Some soldiers died in battle, and many died of disease (mostly due to the influenza epidemic). About 30 more went missing and nine became prisoners of war.

In 1922, the remaining Polar Bears began lobbying to bring home the bodies of more than 125 known soldiers left behind in Russia.

In 1929, state and federal officials working with the Veterans of Foreign Wars sponsored a mission to recover those remains. The group identified and brought home the remains of 86 soldiers. The Soviet Union shipped the remains of another dozen men to America in 1934.

Sculptor Leon Hermant created White Chapel's Polar Bear Memorial, dedicated on May 30, 1930. The graves of 56 Polar Bears recovered from Russia surround the statue.

Learn more about Michigan's Polar Bears with an extensive digitized collection of Polar Bear items at the University of Michigan's Bentley Historical Library.

Michigan's Own Military and Space Museum in Frankenmuth, Michigan, also has a large collection of Polar Bear artifacts.

You can also check out A Michigan Polar Bear Confronts the Bolsheviks: A War Memoir by Godfrey J. Anderson, When Hell Froze Over by E. M. Halliday or History of the American Expedition Fighting the Bolsheviks: US Military Intervention in Soviet Russia 1918-1919 by Joel R. Moore, Harry H. Meade and Lewis E. Jahns.

© Dominique King 2012 All rights reserved

Midwest travel links for November 2011

I'm back with my monthly list of Midwest-related stories I read online during the past month:

• A Lincoln Highway Drive-I'm fascinated with the story of the Lincoln Highway. We've managed to travel the length of it through Ohio, along with tiny portions of it in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Indiana. Here's a nice guide to a stretch of the Lincoln Highway through Nebraska at the Nebraska Outback blog.

• ArtPrize Big Dog Artist Speaks About Life in the U.P.-I first became aware of artist Ritch Branstrom when I spotted some of his fish made of scrap metal in a metro Detroit seafood restaurant. His 12-foot-tall dog sculpture was one of my favorite pieces at this year's ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan, so I enjoyed Andrew's profile about Branstrom and life in the Upper Peninsula at ArtServe's Creative Impact Michigan blog.
  
  
• Learning to Appreciate Harley-Davidson-It was fun to see Donna's take on the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I think she looks pretty sporty atop a Harley motorcycle at her My Itchy Travel Feet blog!

 

• 21 Questions with Zamboni Paul-I've always wanted to ride an ice resurfacing machine (a.k.a. Zamboni), so I loved Heather's interview with this long-time Zamboni driver for Indiana's Fort Wayne Komets.

• Louis Bromfield and Loving the Land in Ohio and Visiting a Pioneer of Sustainability-Malabar Farm is on my list of places I need to visit. Meanwhile, I enjoyed Vera Marie Badertscher's stories about Bromfield's experiment in sustainable agriculture, his books and his pretty glamorous connections to 1940s Hollywood at her own Traveler's Library blog and at the Attainable Sustainable blog.

 

• Pitstop at the Peoria RiverFront-Here's a great story about one of Nicole's favorite roadside stops in Peoria, Illinois. Her little Arrow loves this park and the opportunity to take a break during a long road trip. Check it out at Nicole's Arrows Sent Forth blog.

 

• Windy City Whirlwind Tour-I enjoyed David and Veronica's quick tour of Chicago at The Gypsy Nester blog, and it reminded me of how much I enjoyed visiting The Bean and taking the architectural boat tour there.
  
  
• Marina City-Chicago's "Corn Cobs" have to be among the city's most striking buildings, and the authors at the designslinger blog tell us they may be the two most photographed buildings in the city. Check out this story about a unique mixed-used residential development along the Chicago River that, while revolutionary for its time (built in 1959), helped revitalize this urban neighborhood by attracting residents to an area that previously had none.

• Miller Brewery Tour-So the title of this one speaks for itself! Check out Carl from Chicago's recent visit to the free brewery tour in Milwaukee, which includes a couple of great overhead views of the factory's bottling operation.

• Belle Isle Bridge-I've crossed this bridge over the Detroit River many times by car to visit Belle Isle, but I really enjoyed this story from our intrepid two-wheeled adventurer Charlie taking a closer look at the MacArthur Bridge. And here I thought I was the only one who got excited about things like bridge railings! Oh, and check out my story about two smaller bridges at Belle Isle.
  
  
  Belle Isle's Casino Way Bridge
• One woman's quest-stroll every street in Lansing-I learned about Ariniko's to walk every street in the city of Lansing, Michigan, while reading Rick's story at his Panethos blog. Check out Ariniko's own reports of her travels at the City Saunter blog, which includes this recent story (with beautiful pictures) about Lansing's holiday celebrations.

© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved

Loving Ohio's Dayton Art Institute

Jessie Voigts is back with a story about one of her family's favorite Midwestern art museums.

Home for the Dayton Art Institute, founded in 1919, is a glorious landmark building, completed in 1930 and designed with the Villa d’Este (Rome) and Villa Farnese (Caprarola) in mind. The museum overlooks the Great Miami River, and the views of downtown Dayton, Ohio, from the second-floor balcony are lovely.  Spanning 5,000 years of art history, this is one art institute that is not to be missed.

Glass, metal, old masters and new – the Dayton Art Institute has it all. We’ve been going here for years, whenever we head down to Ohio to visit my mother-in-law. I started taking our daughter when she was very small – they have a fantastic kids space (the Experiencenter), and a very cool treasure hunt with prizes. There are classes, concerts (we heard an excellent jazz concert there a few years ago), lectures, balls and more. Let’s head in, and explore!

When you first walk in, head to the information desk next to the gift shop for a map (and the treasure hunt, if you’re there with kids). If you can bear to wait for the kids room, head up the stairs and to the left. You’ll see some iconic modern art and then traverse time back to the Berry Wing of European Art. Filled with tapestries, early religious art, and plenty of old masters, this is my personal favorite part of the Institute. When she was very young, our daughter (now 9) was drawn to this wing – sitting and sketching, lost in the colors she saw. Our favorite painting in here, Le Diner Au Casino by La Touche, has gorgeous fireworks and is available on a postcard in the shop. There are also Monet’s Water Lilies, a Bierstadt, Bouguereau’s The Song of the Nightingale, Ruebens, and more. LOVE!

Next, you’ll visit the Dicke Wing of American Art. Highlights here include paintings from Hopper, Hassam, O’Keefe, Saar, and Sheeler. There is modern art, including a fantastic sculpture by Saar with two people in chairs, with connected hair. Crazy fun.

Downstairs, you’ll find a special exhibitions wing which often displays kids' art, the Patterson-Kettering Wing of Asian Art spanning thousands of years and many cultures, and the Experiencenter, which is the perfect kids' playroom. There’s a permanent jellybean/butterfly installation, and they’ve just installed a recycle theme – take a look! It’s always great fun, and a reward for patience during the whole museum journey.

Details: Family-friendly bathrooms on the ground floor. The building is handicap accessible, with elevators and smooth floors in each section. Be sure to visit the Café (excellent cake!), and check out the DAI's schedule of classes for adults, children and families.

To learn more:

http://www.daytonartinstitute.org/

456 Belmonte Park North

Dayton, Ohio

937.223.5277

Jessie Voigts is the publisher of Wandering Educators, a travel resource for global educators. Love to learn about the world? Head to http://www.WanderingEducators.com

Photos and text © Jessie Voigts 2011 All rights reserved, used with permission

Photo Friday: ArtPrize 2011 finalists

What is art? You have a chance to decide the answer to that question for yourself each year in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as part of ArtPrize, an annual event billed as part arts festival and part social experiment.

Grizzlies on the Ford, finalist Llew (Doc) Tilma

One of the things that impressed me most about ArtPrize after I've attended it the past two years is the feeling of excitement and vision for the future that seems to permeate the entire city during the two-week contest, which took in 164 venues across the city exhibiting the work of 1582 artists this year.

Untitled, finalist Ritch Branstrom

Organizers say that the ArtPrize mission is to act as a catalyst for connecting artists with the community and to get everyone talking about art long after the event is over. In that, I think they've definitely achieved their mission.

Under Construction, finalist Robert Shangle and Jasper Shangle

Voting is open to any member of the public attending the event, and the top prize is an astounding $250,000. The second place winner gets $100,000, the third place piece earns $50,000 and the remaining seven finalists each receive $7,000.

President Gerald Ford Visits ArtPrize, finalist Sunti Pichetchaiyakul

This year, we managed to get out to ArtPrize early enough to register and participate in both rounds of voting. The first round determines the ten finalists, and the second round determines the eventual winner.

The Metaphorist project, finalist Tracy Van Duinen, Andy Bellomo, Todd Osborne, Phil Schuster and friends

Using the ArtPrize app on my phone was a particularly easy way to vote while I was touring the venues, although a database crash late in the first round of voting caused problems with voting the one full day we were there. Fortunately, organizers got the database up within a day and extended the first round voting period, so we were still able to vote on the pieces we liked.

Tim votes during ArtPrize

The second round of voting to determine the eventual ArtPrize winners continues as I write this, but check out the ArtPrize site to see the results as announced on October 6.

Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.

© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved

Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park: A Michigan gem for all seasons

Jessie Voigts is back to take readers on a tour of the beautiful Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, Michigan

One of the gems of Michigan is in Grand Rapids. What, you may ask? It's the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park.

Located on the north side of Grand Rapids, Meijer Gardens is a world class treasure. It’s chock full of great art, rotating exhibits, and annual holiday traditions that explore the world. Located on 132 acres, and with a conservatory, gift shop, café, and children’s garden, it’s a place to return to again and again. Last year, Meijer Gardens celebrated their 15^th anniversary with a Chihuly Exhibit which was just spectacular.

Chihuly piece

Fall at Meijer Gardens is spectacular - there’s nothing like the beautiful fall colors of Michigan as a backdrop to extraordinary outdoor sculptures. Meandering along the many art paths, you can find art by Chihuly and many other world-class sculptors, the enormous daVinci horse, wetlands, farmland, fields, and more.  One of my favorite gardens is the Gwen Frostic Woodland Shades garden – statues of foxes, frogs, and more show up as you take in nature as Benzonia, Michigan artist Gwen Frostic did (and if you haven’t been to her studio up in Benzonia, this is the second best thing).

The Lena Meijer children’s garden is a wonderland for kids of all ages. There’s a water feature – pools shaped in the form of the Great Lakes with toy boats and lots of splashing. There are special gardens for special plants, dragon statues, a story-telling garden, wooded wetlands that you enter through a beaver lodge, a rock quarry, a log cabin, a treehouse village (climb and explore!), a sculpture walk, a labyrinth, and a butterfly maze.

The Michigan Farm Garden is based on a 1930s farm, and has a century-old barn, gardens, an 1880’s  farmhouse, sugar shack, and bronze animals to show visitors how a farm might look, back in the day. The vegetable gardens are planted with heirloom seeds.

In the summer, you can head weekly to the amphitheater for concerts – including both headliners and local bands. Spread out on a gorgeous hill, or park on the seats and enjoy music in an extraordinary environment.

Special events each year include butterflies in the conservatory in the midst of winter – there’s nothing like warm, humid air when it’s so cold outside.  Butterflies Are Blooming is the largest temporary tropical butterfly exhibition in the United States. More than 40 species of butterflies and moths take flight in the 15,000 square foot Lena Meijer Tropical Conservatory in March and April of each year.

Jessie's favorite sculpture at the gardens

The annual Christmas and Holiday Traditions Around The World exhibition features more than 40 holiday trees and displays from around the globe. This magical time of year includes glow of 300,000 lights, unique hand-made ornaments and blossoming holiday plantings.  Hidden in a lush garden of juniper, arborvitae, cypress, bugleweed, holly, birch, dwarf spruce and sedum is the memorable “Railway Garden.” A model-sized train travels through forests and valleys, over high trestles and past glittering lights in this indoor garden display. Buildings from Grand Rapids are showcased along the train’s tracks.

Whenever we say we’re headed to Meijer Gardens, our daughter (now 9) lights up. She loves exploring, playing in the gardens, looking at her favorite art, finding new favorites, and being in nature with art. I admit – I glow, too, when we head there.

For more information, please visit MeijerGardens.org.

Jessie Voigts is the publisher of Wandering Educators, a travel resource for global educators. Love to learn about the world? Head to http://www.WanderingEducators.com

Photos and text © Jessie Voigts 2011 All rights reserved, used with permission

Visiting Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis

Nicole Wiltrout takes readers on a tour of Eiteljorg Museum,a beautiful museum devoted to western and Native American art in Indianapolis.

When Dominique was kind enough to offer me an opportunity to share a post here at Midwest Guest, I was thinking through what might be a good topic. She mentioned that she hasn’t written much about Indiana other than a few posts on various locations in the northern part of the state. I’ve spent most of my life in central and southern Indiana, so it’s natural for me to focus on these regions. I spend much of my energy at my own blog (Arrows Sent Forth) covering this part of the Midwest.

What I like best about Indianapolis, found in the very center of the state, is how it often surprises visitors (and locals) with quality attractions that they don’t expect to find. For instance, when you think of an ideal location for a museum devoted to western and Native American art, Indianapolis likely doesn’t come to mind. And yet that’s exactly where you’ll find the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.

Despite being an avid fan of museums, it has taken me more than 20 years to appreciate what the Eiteljorg offers. Sure, I had visited a few times. Mostly because the Eiteljorg hosted special exhibitions from two of my favorite artists, Ansel Adams and Georgia O’Keeffe, in the last decade or so. But otherwise, I hadn’t paid this gem much thought until recently.

I first started getting my interest piqued during the holiday season last year. The Eiteljorg was hosting a new exhibit called Jingle Rails. An amazing model train set, it captivated all the kids and families I knew who visited and I mentally put it on my list of things to visit this year when Christmas rolled around. And then I was invited on a press tour to see the museum and figured it was high time I explore this place in greater depth.

Like any good first introduction, my visit began with a delicious meal at the Sky City Café. I’m typically not a big fan of museum cafeterias, but this place is truly a destination on its own merits. It takes the southwestern and Native American influences from the museum and infuses it right into the menu. Beyond the delicious food, I loved the atmosphere. On a nice day, you can dine on the patio, which overlooks Indianapolis’ beautiful downtown canal.

I was equally impressed with the exhibits. This is one of the finest collections of western-inspired artwork you’ll find anywhere in the country. And while my knowledge of this type of art is admittedly lacking, I found many pieces that took my breath away. I really encourage those who are similarly in the dark about this type of artwork to plan their visit at a time when a tour is offered. It really brings the work to life, even for a novice like myself.

I always visit attractions with kids in mind, even when my 2-year-old son isn’t traveling with me. The Eiteljorg doesn’t disappoint in this area either. While some of the galleries wouldn’t be interesting to young kids, the entire basement is a hands-on introduction to the Wild West. Here in the R.B. Annis Western Family Experience, you can build and raise your own totem pole, visit a Nebraskan sod house, and even take a ride in an authentic stagecoach. When I take my son to visit Jingle Rails this winter, I plan on carving out a lot of time to spend in this area of the museum.

For older kids studying Indiana history, the Native American gallery holds a special collection called the Peoples Place that focuses on Indiana tribes, including the Miami, Potawatomi, and Delaware. The museum also offers a Family Adventures Pack for kids ages 8-12 to enhance their museum experience.

If you plan a visit to the Eiltejorg, you’ll be happy to know its situated right in downtown Indianapolis, in White River State Park. It is within walking distance of many of my favorite Indy attractions, like the Indianapolis Zoo, NCAA Hall of Champions, Indiana State Museum, and more, so you can plan an entire day and evening here without getting in the car.

Disclosure: I was invited on a press tour of White River State Park in June of 2011. My admission and lunch at the Eiteljorg were paid for. I was under no obligation to write about my time there, and all opinions are my own.

Nicole Wiltrout is a stay-at-home mom (who rarely stays home) and lives in Columbus, Indiana. Nicole writes about adventures at home and away with her husband and 2-year-old son at http://arrowssentforth.com. You can also find her on Twitter at @arrowssentforth or Facebook.  She loves Hoosier road trips and is an Expert Blogger for the state’s tourism blog, the Indiana Insider at Visit Indiana. She has also written guest posts at Travel Mamas, Rookie Moms, Go Explore Nature, Go Big or Go Home, and Pitstops for Kids.

Photos and text © Nicole Wiltrout 2011 All rights reserved, used with permission

Photo Friday: Carousel at Grand Rapids Public Museum

I love taking photos of carousel animals with their intricate carving, bright paint, and individual personalities.

These shots come from 1928 Spillman Carousel at Michigan's Grand Rapids Public Museum, a menagerie-style carousel that includes brightly painted ponies, as well as a tiger, deer, goat, camel, lion, and giraffe.

Curious about the carousel's history and want to see a few more of my photos? Check out my story, Big-kid fun on the carousel at Grand Rapids Public Museum.

Want to learn more about carousels and carousel animal carving? Check out Carousel Animal Carving: Patterns & Techniques by Bud Ellis and Rhonda Hoeckley or Flying Horses: The Golden Age of American Carousel Art, 1870-1930 by Peter J. Malia.

Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.

© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved

 

Big-kid fun on the carousel at Grand Rapids Public Museum

Like a lot of kids, I love macaroni and cheese, so guess what I ordered for lunch when we stopped for lunch at the cafe in the Grand Rapids Public Museum? You got it! I ordered mac 'n' cheese from the kiddies' menu, a meal that came with a free ticket to ride the museum's beautiful 1928 Spillman Carousel.

Tim was laughing too hard to remember to take photos of me on the ride, so you'll just have to make do with my photos of some of the beautiful carousel animals I took during my ride and on a subsequent visit to the museum. I think you'll enjoy those better than a photo of me, anyway!

This carousel, manufactured in 1928 by Spillman Engineering Company of North Tonawanda, New York, operated at Pennsylvania's now-defunct Lakewood Amusement Park until it closed in the early 1980s.

Many people in Grand Rapids remembered childhood days spent on the carousel and other rides at East Grand Rapids' long-gone Ramona Park, and those fond memories apparently sparked the idea to acquire the Lakewood carousel for Grand Rapids.

Peter Cook, Grand Rapids businessman and benefactor, led a community campaign to bring the carousel to the city, restore it, and construct a pavilion to house it as the Grand Rapids Public Museum constructed its Van Andel Center building in 1994.

Restoration of the carousel took many years as workers spent about 300 hours on each of the wooden carousel animals, carefully restoring them to their original colors and design with enameled acrylic paints.

It wasn't unusual to see a mix of figures from several different carvers and eras on a single platform, and the museum's carousel follows that tradition with a mix of figures from different carvers and various iterations of companies established by amusement ride pioneer Allan Herschell, including  Herschell-Spillman, Spillman Engineering, Looff and Carmel.

Carousel manufacturers often substituted a few horses with different animals or an ornate, carved seat ("Neptune's chariot"), as a mark of distinction. The Grand Rapids carousel is a menagerie-style carousel with three rows of animals that include 40 jumping horses, four standing horses, six menagerie animals (tiger, goat, deer, camel, lion, and giraffe) and two chariots.

The carousel's original ticket booth, 1,200 lights outlining the canopy and decorative panels, carved decorative details, polished brass poles, and Wurlitzer band organ music complete the picture of the ride in all of its restored glory.

Today, the carousel operates year round in the museum's Cook Carousel Pavilion, just off of the first floor Galleria and overlooking the Grand River.

Cook died at the age of 96 in late 2010, and the museum offered free carousel rides to visitors on one day that December in his memory. In 2011, museum officials started a new tradition of an annual day with free carousel rides for visitors to celebrate Cook's birthday each May 9.

Nearly half of the almost 150 antique, hand-carved wooden carousels still in operation in North American today are products of Herschell-related companies in North Tonawanda. A handful of them currently operate in museums like the Grand Rapids Public Museum and metropolitan Detroit's Greenfield Village at The Henry Ford.

Machinist and molder Allan Herschell began manufacturing carousels and other rides in 1873. In the early 1900s, he started the Herschell-Spillman Company with his in-laws, making larger carousels, more realistically detailed carousel animals, and developing many safety improvements. Herschell split off on his own in 1915, competing with the Spillman company as tough economic times during the 1930s killed a lot of the demand for large, ornate carousels. Herschell's company remained in business through the 1960s and beyond by developing a lot of small-scale kiddie rides and thrill rides like Twister, Hurricane, and Sky Wheel for adults.

In 1983, Herschell's last factory in North Tonawanda became the Herschell Carrousel Factory Museum (yes, that museum uses the variant spelling of "carrousel" in its name). It includes exhibits about the history of various Herschell-related businesses, the art of carving carousel animals, and the history of carousel development over the years.

Want to learn more about carousels and carousel animal carving? Check out Carousel Animal Carving: Patterns & Techniques by Bud Ellis and Rhonda Hoeckley or Flying Horses: The Golden Age of American Carousel Art, 1870-1930 by Peter J. Malia.

Curious about some of the old amusement parks mentioned in this story? Check out Western New York Amusement Parks by Rose Ann Hirsch, Lakewood Park by The Guinan Family and Grand Rapids: Community and Industry by Thomas R. Dilley. All three of these books have some vintage photos of the Herschell/Spillman carousels operating at the parks.

© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved

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