Location:
402 E. Michigan Avenue

Corner of Michigan Ave. and Exchange St.

Hours:

May – October: Friday -Saturday 12- 4 PM
 
 

Admission:

Adults – $10
Children 12 & Under –  Free
Members – Free

Your ticket also includes admission to the Honolulu House.

About The Marshall Historical Museum

Marshall’s GAR Hall was constructed in 1902 as the meeting place for the Grand Army of the Republic, the organization for Union veterans of the Civil War. The GAR remained one of the most important advocacy groups in American political life seeking benefits and recognition for veterans. Today, the building houses the Marshall Historical Museum which is designed to tell Marshall’s stories.

On display are unique items Made in Marshall such as a Marshall folding bathtub, a buggy made by Page Buggy Works, a Royal bicycle and artifacts from the F. A. Stuart and Brooks Rupture Appliance patent medicine businesses. Downtown Marshall has information about main street establishments, and also a section of the original plank road.

The Marshall Arts exhibit includes the Hinkle Automatic Theatre, an early 1900s marionette show that once toured southern Michigan communities and information about famous people who were born or raised in Marshall – including author John Bellairs who wrote “The House with a Clock in its Walls”. On display is the 1950 J. C. Higgins bicycle which Bellairs used as a boy riding through town while developing “New Zebedee” in his imagination.

It Happened in Marshall informs visitors about key events in Marshall’s history including how Marshall almost became the state capitol and the 1847 Crosswhite incident, when Marshall residents prevented slave catchers from returning an escaped enslaved family to Kentucky.

Civil War items in the museum include those relating to Captain DeVille Hubbard, who, in 1861, organized the Marshall Light Guard that became part of the First Michigan Infantry Regiment. This unit traveled to Washington, DC where it was greeted by President Abraham Lincoln and later participated in the first Battle of Bull Run. Other civil war items include equipment, photos, veteran’s souvenir medals, and veteran reunion posters.

The final exhibit showcases the Preservation movement in Marshall and how important it is to the success of our town.