Wood County Historical Center and Museum

The Wood County Historical Center and Museum, located in Bowling Green, Ohio, is the original site of the Wood County Infirmary or also known as the Wood County Home. This structure was the home to poor, mentally- ill, physically disabled and anyone in need of public assistance who were residents of Wood County.

Wood County Historical Center and Museum
Former nameWood County Infirmary
Established1975 (1975)
LocationBowling Green, Ohio
TypeHistory museum
Websitewww.woodcountyhistory.org

History
The hog barn

The Infirmary opened in 1869 and was the new home to six residents from the County Insane Farm in Perrysburg, Ohio. By the 1870s sixty-five residents called the infirmary home. Residents that were able worked on the farm doing chores around the grounds, making this site a self-sufficient farm. In 1878 Edwin Farmer and his wife Charlotte made the infirmary their home as Superintendent and Matron of the Infirmary. In 1884, natural gas was discovered and drilled on the grounds. In 1904, Superintendent Farmer died and was succeeded by Frank Brandeberry, the husband of Lottie the Farmer's daughter.

Frank and Lottie Brandeberry retired in 1949. During the 1950s the infirmary became mainly a nursing home. On February 15, 1971 the infirmary closed its doors and residents were moved to a new county home. In 1975 the building opened as the Wood County Historical Center and Museum.[1]

The Museum was shown on WBGU-TV program Scenic Stop, which premiered December 6, 2012.[2]

Exhibits

The Museum is home to over 30 exhibits about this building's history and the social history of Wood County. There are several outbuildings, including a "Pest House" to isolate men with communicable diseases such as scarlet fever and influenza, a hog barn and an ice house.

The museum hosts the fingers of Mary Bach, who was murdered in 1881. The fingers were kept as evidence and preserved in whisky before being transferred to a Formalin solution, and later to a contemporary preservation scheme in 2015.[3][4]

See also

References
  1. http://woodcountyhistory.org/history_infirmary.html
  2. http://www.wbgu.org/programming/scenicstops/index.php
  3. "Wood Co. museum rethinking how to show fingers of 1881 murder victim". Sentinel-Tribune. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  4. Feehan, Jennifer. "Museum's jar with 3 fingers tells brutal tale". The Blade. Retrieved 7 October 2019.

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