Clay County Historical Society

05/29/2026

Only five days until the Clay County Historical Society ice cream social. Mark June 3 on your calendar and get your appetite ready for taverns, chips, all kinds of pies and ice cream plus lemonade and great company.
We do have a Plan B in place. In case of rain, our alternate location is the Main Street Center. It doesn’t matter where we’re eating as long as we’re getting together. See you on Wednesday from 5:00-7:00!

05/27/2026

Just a reminder that the Clay County Historical Society’s ice cream social is coming up on Wednesday, June 3. We always had it on Thursday but this year we “upped” it a day. See you in the yard!

05/16/2026

This past week the May Speakers Bureau was held at the Austin-Whittemore House. America 250: Our Veterans, Their Stories was the topic. Three Vermillion high school students were our featured speakers. These students represented a class that is part of a project directed by Lenni Billberg, teacher extraordinaire. Sagan Markus, Eleanor Meyer and Gavin Ma presented stories that they researched and conducted interviews with veterans. Through this research, they found personal family histories plus stories that featured service and objections to military conflicts. Thank you to these remarkable students and the guidance of their teacher. Preserving history is a big part of how we go forward.


05/07/2026

Join the CCHS next week for our May Speakers Bureau, where VHS students will take the floor to honor local veterans by sharing powerful stories of service, sacrifice, and personal connection through their oral history presentations. The event will being at 5:30 pm and we look forward to seeing you there!

05/06/2026

I’ve had a sneak peek at our future and it’s looking good. Five classes of first graders from the Vermillion public school came to visit the log cabin school this week. They had the chance to see what it was like to go to school and be a student in 1864. They asked why the school seemed so dark? How did kids get to school? Where did they eat lunch? Where was the bathroom? Did kids have school if the teacher got sick? Electricity seemed to be the hot topic of interest. These students were thoughtful, curious and funny. Thanks to their teachers for the work they do. 👍🏻

04/12/2026

Shopping for a house and a car in 1940.

03/30/2026

Here are some photos from Lawton Studio, which was located at 15 Market Street in the early 1900s. Included in the photos is a picture of Mr. Lawton.

03/21/2026

It was a really successful Clay County history trivia night at the XIX Brewery last night. There was a full house of competitors and Doug Kronaizl put everybody to the test.  There was definitely no shortage of brain teasers and laughter!  Thanks to everyone who attended. We just may need to do this again!

02/11/2026