Allen County Museum

Today we visited the Allen County Museum in Lima Ohio.  The admission for the museum is a $5.00 suggested donation, so it is a cheap place to visit, and well worth it.

Allen County Museum

The museum has the Children's Discovery Center which has many things for the kids to do.  One neat thing is a telegraph that you can send a telegram across the room with.

The museum has a nice Shay locomotive which was built for use by the Lima Stone Company.  It was manufactured by the Lima Locomotive Works which also made the trains used by CASS Scenic Railroad State Park located in Cass, WV.  

Plaque on Shay Engine 10 at Allen County Museum

Side view of Shay Engine 10

If you are interested in reading more about Shay engines go to Lima Locomotive Works web site or the Shay Locomotives web site to see where all the surviving Shay engines are now.

The museum also had a children's garden with a center gazebo and different sections of interest to walk through and relax in.

Children's Garden at Allen County Museum.

The kids had a fun time playing with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs while we were at the museum in the garden.

Tia, Ian, Misty, Chloe, Avery, & Courtney playing.

Then it was time to sit in the Garden Classroom and learn a thing or two.

Avery, Courtney, Ian, & Tia sitting in the Garden Classroom.

Ethan was not with us during this trip due to staying at a friend's house overnight.  Upon returning home he stated that he expects us to take him to the museum, so I'm sure we will be making a trip back there.

The museum is not the biggest one we have ever been to, but it had a nice mix of displays from Civil War items, John Dillinger's escape from the Allen County jail, and trains to include the John H. Keller Railroad Archives which claims to be one of the largest repositories of railroad history in America.

It is a great place to spend a lazy Sunday evening with your family learning something new or old.

Chloe in the Children's Garden.

Oh, by-the-way, we are in Ohio now just outside of Indiana, waiting on parts for our RV to come in at Fleetwood.  We are getting ready to move again, probably somewhere in Indiana, but who knows for sure.

Until we blog again, God Bless!

Thanks!
Don, Misty, & Kids.