History Museum gets ready for special events starting this fall
The newest core exhibit, You Are Here, offers a comprehensive history of the Fox Valley, and features a 26-foot topographical map of the Fox River. The exhibit includes environmental efforts, diverse populations, and Fox Cities culture
Appleton’s History Museum at the Castle, located at 330 E College Ave, has an exciting lineup of special events planned for the fall, especially for those who love Halloween.
Erin Comer, Education and Collections Manager at the museum, discussed several of the upcoming popular walking tours. “They typically start in April or May and go all the way to October or November. So, most of what's left for the tours are our Halloween-themed ones.”
Spiritualists and Hauntings (Rated PG-13), a walking tour throughout downtown Appleton, shares various Appleton ghost stories, including the legend of Kate Blood. The Houdini’s Appleton walking tour takes participants to multiple sites to learn about Houdini’s childhood and some of his famous magic tricks.
If the weather is unfavorable, the walking tour will be relocated to the History Lab in the museum. After the presentation, attendees will be provided with a list of planned stops, allowing them to visit the sites themselves.
top right: Erin Comer, Education and Collections Manager for the History Museum
A very popular annual tour is Museum After Dark: Morbid Medicine (Rated PG-13), an after-hours flashlight tour in the Castle.
“We pull out artifacts that are either old medical equipment or that help inspire us to tell a story about medicine in the Fox Cities,” said Comer. “For example, we have some old dental equipment that was from an office in downtown Appleton. We talk about that dentist and the history of dentistry. On the other hand, we have a story about Dr. Victor Marshall and his ‘creativity’ when it came to treating people.”
Comer noted that a significant portion of the audience for the "Morbid Medicine" tours has been medical professionals, who have often brought their entire crews and provided valuable input.
Tickets are available through the History Museum at the Castle’s website.
In addition to the special events, there are several core exhibits at the museum.
Most widely known is the AKA Houdini exhibit, which attracts visitors from all over the world, with over half of the visitors coming from outside a 100-mile radius.
Comer said many people think the Houdini bust housed inside might just be haunted.
“I have been here so many times by myself at night, and I have never experienced anything,” she said. “But it all depends on who you ask.”
The newest core exhibit, You Are Here, offers a comprehensive history of the Fox Valley, and features a 26-foot topographical map of the Fox River. The exhibit includes environmental efforts, diverse populations, and Fox Cities culture.
Our Afghan Neighbors tells the story of Afghan refugees and their resettlement in the Fox Cities in 2021.
This fall, the museum is acquiring the Weis Earth Science collection, which was previously housed at UW-Fox Cities. Two scientists, a paleobiologist and a vertebrate paleontologist, have been contracted to pack and move the artifacts and create the new exhibit in the History Museum.
In addition to the two recently hired scientists, the museum has three full-time and several part-time employees. Comer has been at the Castle for six years, having worked previously at Heritage Hill in Green Bay as well as other Wisconsin museums. Her degrees are in history and education.
The History Museum at the Castle has become a vital resource for preserving and sharing the history of Appleton and the surrounding Fox Valley area. The building, built in 1854 as a Masonic temple, was purchased by the Historical Society in 1985 and is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
