Dowagiac Area History Museum

10/14/2026

10/14/2026

Tonight at 6 p.m., Round Oak collector Bill Krohne and Museum Director Steve Arseneau continue the Fall Lecture Series with 'The History Behind the Rare Round Oak Stoves at the Museum.'

While Round Oak stoves can be found across the country in public and private settings, this program will focus on five one-of-a-kind stoves on display at the museum that cannot be found anywhere else. From the earliest known Beckwith stove to the Gold Stove, the museum has some unique items on display and the presenters will provide some interesting backstory on the stoves and how they came to the museum.

The program is free for museum members and students, $5 for non-members.

10/09/2026

Tomorrow, Saturday, October 10, the museum will hold its dual exhibit Open House for the newly renovated ground floor Round Oak exhibit and the Cass Area Artist 'Members Only' exhibit.

We are putting the finishing touches on the Round Oak displays and we are so pleased with the results-- the exhibit includes many one-of-a-kind stoves and artifacts and visitors will leave the museum knowing how important Round Oak was to the development of Dowagiac.

The open house is from 1-3 p.m. with brief comments at 1 p.m. and light refreshments available.

10/02/2026

As a follow-up to the previous post about the Round Oak Stove Company exhibit open house, the lecture on the rare Round Oak Stoves on display has been postponed for one week, from October 7 to October 14. We wanted the Round Oak exhibit to be open to the public so visitors could see the stoves we discuss before or after the program.

So, the Fall Lecture Series will continue on Wednesday, October 14 at 6 p.m. with longtime Round Oak collector Bill Krohne and Museum Director Steve Arseneau presenting "The History of the Rare Round Oak Stoves on Display at the DAHM." The duo will provide the backstory on five one-of-a-kind Round Oak stoves that can only be found at the DAHM. From the earliest known P.D. Beckwith Stove to the Gold Stove, each of these unique stoves has an interesting story, including how they made their way to the museum.

10/02/2026

The museum will hold a double exhibit open house on Saturday, October 10 from 1-3 p.m. First, we will have the re-opening of the Round Oak Stove Company exhibit on the ground floor-- there will be brief remarks at 1 p.m. as we show off the new Round Oak layout, generously funded by Don and Joan Lyons.

Second, the Cass Area Artists 'Members Only' show will open in the second floor temporary gallery at the same time. Lots of beautiful artwork, much of it for sale, by local artists.

We will have refreshments from the Railway Cafe and cookies from the Cass Area Artists. Join us for this free event during the city's Fall Festival.

09/24/2026

Last night we held our 9th annual 'Keep History Alive' fundraiser and I can report that it was a successful event. We have a goal of raising $35k every year and we exceeded that by raising $40k!

Thank you to all who made the event a success: we had great food from Scott's Pig Roast, The Baker's Rhapsody and Railway Cafe; Marion Magnolia Farms is a beautiful venue and is very generous every year; Museum board members worked hard to set up and make the event smooth for attendees; area businesses and residents donated over 100 items for the silent and live auctions; the event sponsors gave us a $16k head start; and we had about 150 people in attendance bidding often.

All in attendance will tell you that the highlight was the live auction bidding on the last item-- the Round Oak Stove donated by Helen Meyer and restored by Bill and Sheila Krohne. Two determined bidders took the price over $6,000-- congrats and thanks to Kevin for wanting a fine piece of local history. We will likely have another stove on auction next year.

09/16/2026

We are now at one week out from the museum's annual 'Keep History Alive' Fundraiser. We will have a great dinner from Scott's Pig Roast (roast pig finished on site and BBQ chicken plus sides), dessert from The Baker's Rhapsody, over 100 items in the silent auction and a dozen items in the live auction.

We will also hold a raffle drawing that evening for the $2,000 grand prize-- tickets are $20, limited to 500 and need not be present to win. If you can't attend the event, this is a great way to show your support and you have a shot at $2k!

In the auctions, there will be many lots of local history artifacts donated specifically for the auction, including Round Oak, Heddon, milk bottles and more. We will even have a Round Oak Stove (an O3 model, complete and restored with nickel plating, either size 14 or 16)!

Sports tickets includes Notre Dame Men's Basketball game of choice, Michigan State football versus Oregon, Notre Dame football tickets and five prime seats to the 2027 Indy 500 race.

Too many business gift cards and goods to list, but thank you to all the local businesses for supporting the museum.

Tickets are available at the museum for the event and raffle-- raffle tickets might sell out this year, so get your tickets sooner rather than later.

09/08/2026

Just a friendly reminder that Jon Wuepper of the Cass District Library Local History Branch continues the Fall Lecture Series on Wednesday, September 9 at 6 p.m. with 'A History of Cass County's 19th Century Newspapers.'

Wuepper brings over two decades of experience researching Cass County's historic newspapers to the topic and it should enlighten attendees on the volume of newspapers published locally in the 1800s.

Free for museum members and students, $5 for non-members. Seating is on a first-come basis and is limited to 100 attendees.

We will also have tickets to the museum's annual fundraiser and raffle for sale-- be sure to stop in for tickets to support the museum.

09/01/2026

The next installment of the Fall Lecture Series will be next Wednesday, September 9 at 6 p.m. with Jon Wuepper of the Cass District Library, History Library Branch, presenting "A History of Cass County's 19th Century Newspapers."

The History Library is a great resource for local newspapers and Jon is going to give us an overview of the many newspapers of Cass County in its first decades.

Photo shows the office of the Dowagiac Republican at the corner of Front and Commercial Streets around 1870.