The Spitler House before it was moved and subsequently restored. It was the catalyst for the formation of the Brookville Historical Society.
Submitted photo
BROOKVILLE — Fifty years ago on April 1, 1973, a group of interested persons from the community met in the Brookville Village Council Room and discussed the idea of starting the Brookville Historical Society.
Prior to this meeting the group had enjoyed looking at old pictures, maps, books, and other interesting items from Brookville’s past.
To handle the business of organizing the group, Wayne Watkins was selected as temporary chairman and Dottie Watkins was selected as the temporary secretary. Discussion then centered around the progress made on having the house, located at 15 Hay Avenue, become listed with the National Register as an historical site.
Additional information had been submitted and it was anticipated that an answer would be received in about six weeks. This house was later acquired by the Historical Society and was moved to 14-16 Market Street. It is now known as the Spitler House Community Museum.
The next item of business was the reading of a general statement of purpose. Statement of Purpose: In part, it read:
The purpose of the Brookville Historical Society is to bring together those persons interested in history, especially in the history of Brookville and the surrounding community. The Society’s major function will be to discover and collect any material which may help to establish or illustrate the history of our community, its settlement, development, activities and its progress. It will collect printed material such as histories, genealogies, biographies, directories, newspapers, artifacts etc.
Following that reading there was a unanimous vote to establish the Brookville Historical Society. Then a committee was selected to draft the Constitution and By-Laws. The committee was to report at the next meeting set for May 6, 1973. Nearly 20 interested citizens were at this initial meeting.
All information and the photo for this Look at Brookville article were supplied by the Brookville Historical Society. Do you have a photo or historical information to share or add?
Please contact the Brookville Historical Society at 937-833-0285 or email to [email protected].
