Muscatatuck Museum

04/09/2025

03/01/2024

Notice: The Muscatatuck Museum is now reopened. We have a brand new floor and new paint. Thank you to Maintenance Department, they did an awesome job!

01/12/2024

Notice: The Muscatatuck Museum is closed at this time due to an unexpected water leak. We will reopen as soon as possible with a new floor. It will be bigger and better than before.

09/11/2023

Soldiers and employees of Muscatatuck Training Center took part in the fourth annual 9/11 Stair Climb, ascending and descending the steps of our 7-story building 18 times to equal the 110 floors of the World Trade Center.

08/23/2023

The Muscatatuck Training Center Open House is taking place Saturday, September 23rd, from 10 am - 3 pm!

Join us to see military vehicles, weapons, and demonstrations throughout the day! Food trucks will be on hand and you can learn the history of the Muscatatuck facility.

The Run/Walk/Ruck Through the Rubble 5K will kick the day off at 8 am. You can pre-register at our EventBrite site at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/muscatatuck-training-center-5k-runwalkruck-through-the-rubble-tickets-696870838437

We hope to see you there!

04/05/2023

Want to be a role player in the upcoming Guardian Response Exercise? Here is the contact information:

03/22/2023

The difference 100 years makes...

In 1923, famed North Vernon, Indiana, photographer Otto White took the black and white photo below at the new Indiana Farm Colony for the Feeble Minded.

100 years later, the color photo below was taken from the same spot. The road is County Road 350 North, also known as SEPAC road (South Eastern Purdue Agricultural Center) looking East to West.

02/22/2023

Good morning from Muscatatuck Training Center. Have a great day!

02/10/2023

Today, February 10th, a roll top desk which was used by E.E. Chenowith, the first administrator of the new Indiana Farm Colony for the Feeble Minded in 1920, was placed in the Muscatatuck Museum. This incredible find will be well taken care of in its place of honor.

11/17/2022

Did you know: The Chapel For The Children at Muscatatuck was going to be much different than the Chapel which still stands today?

From "A Religious Education Center and Chapel for the Muscatatuck State Hospital and Training Center Prospectus" written in September of 1966: "The earliest recorded interest in the acquisition of a chapel for the Institution was in 1956 when a small group of parents envisioned a chapel on the grounds and endorsements of this idea were secured from the Archbishop of Indianapolis, from Rabbi Maurice Goldblatt and from the Indiana Council of Churches."

In 1961, a non-profit organization known as the Muscatatuck Church Foundation, Inc. was created by parents and friends of the patients. The Lilly Endowment provided a $10,000 grant as seed money and, by 1964, $84,000 had been raised. (The checkbook pictured is the original checkbook for the Church Foundation)

The original Chapel was designed by the architectural firm James Associates of Indianapolis. The chapel was going to located on the south side of the facility across the street from the Administration Building. It was going to include the following: a Protestant Chapel which would seat 300, a Roman Catholic Chapel which would seat 125, a 'small, but adequate, Jewish Synagogue area', eight classrooms, an administration area, storerooms, work and prep rooms, caretaker's room, toilets, foyers, choir room, kitchenette, landscaping and gardening. The original price tag was $400,000.

Until the chapel was built, church services were held in the basements of patient buildings and the school gymnasium. Due to the failure to raise enough funds and declining patient population, the finished chapel ended up having only one large worship room, a smaller visitation room, classrooms, and office space. The chapel also ended up being built in the middle of the facility next to the schoolhouse.

To this day, the Chapel is still used not only for religious services when needed, but also as a meeting place for people of all denominations and walks of life to get together.

10/16/2022

Thank you to the Muscatatuck Former Employees for holding your reunion at the Muscatatuck Chapel today. It was a pleasure!

10/13/2022

Muscatatuck artifact of the day: this Royal Racer Sled, circa 1950’s, is wood with steel runners at 42” long. It was used by the clients on 9A according to the lettering on the steering plank. It’s one of two in the collection.