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Historic Waynedale Pop-up Museum Ready For All To Experience

The long-awaited day is here! We are proud to release the secret we’ve been working on for quite some time and teasing Waynedale News fans on social media about.

As a thank you to our community for supporting us for the past 90 years, The Waynedale News is hosting a pop-up museum of a selection of hundreds of Waynedale historical photos, documents, and artifacts!

The museum will open to the public on Wednesday, September 14 at 4pm and will be open Monday through Saturday from 4pm to 7pm until October 7. It is located at The Waynedale News office at 2505 Lower Huntington Road. Guests will be asked for free-will donations of any amount to visit the museum. Suggested donation is $5-10 per guest.

This is truly a unique historical exhibit and a huge undertaking. Throughout the years, The Waynedale News has not only been a storyteller of historical information, but also a collector and preserver of significant historical artifacts from around the community. This 700sqft museum will host just a small portion of the pictures, documents, and other non-digital artifacts that The Waynedale News has collected from the past 100+ years. The Waynedale News staff members were amazed by age, amount, and condition of the collection as they selected items to display.

Invoking a strong feeling of nostalgia, guests will get to see newspapers from almost 90 years ago, business cards from over 50 years ago from people and businesses you may remember, and in addition to many other items, a large display of very early Elmhurst High School and Waynedale school documents, memorabilia and photos. A highlight of the exhibit is concert music from Elmhurst’s Don Goss as well as a slide show of photos that he had taken.

Everyone who is interested in our beloved Waynedale Community is invited to come to see and learn about the area and its people throughout the years. As this is a significant undertaking, The Waynedale News asks guests to be respectful to the rules and to keep a library-type volume while visiting. Adults must actively monitor any children. Security cameras will be in use, and guests will be held responsible for any damages they cause. No food, drink, video, photography, or touching is allowed within the museum. This is a private exhibit that has taken many years to cultivate and care for, and as such, it is subject to close at any time if The Waynedale News feels guests are endangering its collection.

The Waynedale News joins the community in thanking everyone who has donated historical items from Waynedale’s history. The newspaper takes pride in independently funding the effort to preserve these items so future generations may look fondly back on the area’s history. Private donations and newspaper advertising primarily pays for this effort. Through experiencing this exhibit, guests will see the importance of preserving our history and the newspapers’ important role it continues to serve in the community throughout time. Simply put, the items in this exhibit would not exist without the newspaper, and guests would not be able to enjoy them without the newspapers’ love for going above and beyond to serve the Waynedale community.

The Waynedale News welcomes all support and donations as the collection grows. If anyone has historical documents, photos or other artifacts, the newspaper would be glad to work with you to see if it is something that could be preserved in its collection. Call 260-747-4535 for more info.

Alex Cornwell
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Alex Cornwell

The Owner & Publisher of The Waynedale News. Alex is a community leader and founder of various organizations, events & improvement initiatives in the area. He is also the recipient of 2019's Allen County Vandeveer Impact Award and 2012's University of Saint Francis' Distinguished Young Alumni Award. > Read Full Biography > More Articles Written By This Writer