Wellington County Museum and Archives celebrates 145 years

145th anniversary – The Wellington Museum and Archives, formerly known as the Wellington County House of Industry and Refuge or the Poor House, turned 145 years old on Sept. 24.

Kyle Smith, activity programmer, planned the day’s events to acquaint the public with the historic house. There was a theatrical performance based on the life in the house in the beginning, which was a hit with all those attending. There were tours of the building and food  of the time period.

Visitors could also have their name looked up in the new archives database to see if any of their family had a background in the house. Smith arranged to have five actors portraying the five county councillors who decided to allow the house to be built where it now stands. Showing that life can be normal in a place like this a love story was played out on stage about one such happening in the house bringing out a lot of facts about such a place through the years.                                                     

Bill Longshaw