KALIDA, OH (WLIO) - The Putnam County Historical Society and Museum opened their doors to add a little education to Pioneer Days.
The museum took the opportunity to teach new visitors from the festival about all things Putnam County. Guests could learn how local businesses, like the general store, looked and operated long ago, see how early residents dressed, and hear from museum faculty about the origins of annual celebrations like Pioneer Days around the county.
Many of the area's original settlers were from Germany, and up until the First World War, children learned both English and German in school. Pioneer Days goes back all the way to the late 1800s, and the parades looked especially different back then.
"Here was one of the parades they had," explained Putnam County Historical Society trustee Millie Rune, gesturing to a poster dated 1894. "It was in Ottoville but there were other towns that had them too and it was just Germans getting together. It changes from having tractors and all the equipment that are in it compared to back then when it was horses and in the parades that I saw pictures of, they had no motorized vehicles."
The Putnam County Museum is open to the public on Wednesdays from 9am to Noon and Sundays from 1pm to 4pm.
