Village & Museum

Village and Museum

Historic Charlton Park began as one man's dream for preservation of the past. In 1936, Irving Delos Charlton (photo) donated 210 acres to Barry County for a museum and recreation facility for local residents. He named the place in honor of his parents, E. Frank and Roseanna (Althouse) Charlton. Historic Charlton Park is a governmental non-profit institution. 

Charlton was an avid collector; he always dreamed of having a museum. Everywhere he went, he collected old objects. Charlton began collecting them so future generations might understand the difficult tasks early inhabitants of Barry County performed without the benefit of powered equipment.

The earliest events that drew people to "Charlton Park" were baseball games (photo left). Whether Irving Charlton played baseball in his younger years is not clear, but in his later years he enjoyed assembling teams and setting up games. Teams played every Sunday during the summer and during certain special events. They came from all over - Hastings, Vermontville, Battle Creek, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Nashville, Freeport, Lake Odessa. Native Americans held Homecoming picnics at the Park and as early as 1937, fielded a team to play Irving’s. Many local men played on the teams and the community liked and attended the games.

When Irving’s teams started playing, the team name was “Indian Landing”. Historic Charlton Park has long been known as “Indian Landing” and the historic marker that reflects that history. Later, their name changed to the “Ranchers” before settling on the “Charlton Park Nine.” Records indicate the team started play in the summer of 1930 and ended late summer 1955. 

Construction began on the stone Barry County Museum in 1944, to hold all of Charlton's collection, but was not completed until 1950. It was the first building erected at Historic Charlton Park and is now known as the Irving D. Charlton Memorial Museum (photo). 

Charlton never envisioned a village here, although we are sure he would be pleased with the results. The village depicts more clearly the "day to day" life of the early inhabitants of Barry County. The variety of objects Charlton collected enabled the creation of a typical mid-Michigan village of the late 1800's to early 1900's. Charlton's collection preserves for future generations a rich heritage and Barry County's testament to an earlier time. 25 historic residences, businesses and community buildings were moved from throughout Barry County to create the village. The Blacksmith Shop was the first historic building open to the public in 1970.