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The Museums at Washington and Chapin
It’s
easy to do the math at the Center for History and Studebaker
National Museum: one fabulous museum (Center for History) +
one fabulous museum (Studebaker National Museum) = one
outstanding museum campus (The Museums at Washington and
Chapin). With the October 28 move of Studebaker National
Museum to a new facility adjoining the Center for History,
visitors can enter one front door, buy one
ticket and can visit two museums.
As Studebaker National Museum's building plans unfolded,
there were deliberate decisions by both museums to share one
parking lot for visitors as well as one entrance, one lobby
and many other features. One sign marks the museums' names.
One visitor services staff member sells tickets to both
museums. Banners of both museums along Chapin coordinate the
two logos. Visitors can choose among admission to the Center
for History, to Studebaker or a campus admission. A joint
membership is offered, entitling free visits to both
museums. Staffs and boards of both museums have been working
side by side in myriad areas for over a year to create the
museum complex.
Studebaker National Museum’s priceless collection of
wagons, vehicles and artifacts spans 150 years of local
industrial history. Its new home is a state-of-the-art
museum reflecting the design traditions of Studebaker
buildings from the 1920s and 1930s.
The Bullet Nose Gallery sports a Raymond Loewy-designed
1950 Champion convertible, distinctive for its front-end
“Bullet Nose” treatment that was new for 1950. Spinning on a
large turntable, the car is seen as it would have appeared
in a 1950s showroom. Similarly exciting is an authentic “Car
Drop,” reminiscent of actual Studebaker production.
Hydraulic lifts in the Lower Level hold vehicle storage
in “double-decker” fashion, so that all cars, even those not
part of an interpreted exhibit, are visible to the public.
Interactive exhibits like “Build Your Own Car” are both fun
and educational.
Through Studebaker’s exhibitions, visitors can trace the
area’s industrial past from the 1800s to the present and
learn about the Studebaker family, the great South
Bend/Mishawaka industrial giants, Studebaker’s critical role
in the country’s war efforts and more.
Of special note is the largest presidential carriage
collection known to exist, showcasing carriages belonging to
Presidents Lincoln, McKinley, Harrison and Grant. Within
this collection is the museum’s oldest vehicle, the
Lafayette carriage built in 1824.
The Center for History is a magnificent historic site
that showcases Copshaholm, the 38-room Victorian mansion of
industrialist Joseph Doty Oliver and his family. Completed
in 1896, the house retains the family’s original
furnishings. Copshaholm, which is listed on the National
Register of Historic Places, has three floors with 14
fireplaces and nine bathrooms. Surrounding Copshaholm are
the Historic Oliver Gardens, 2.5 acres of landscaped gardens
that include a tea house, formal Italianate garden, rose
garden, pergola, tennis lawn and fountain. The Oliver family
founded the Oliver Chilled Plow Company, a major
international manufacturer of farm implements and equipment
in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Located just a short walk from Copshaholm is the Worker’s
Home, a restored cottage furnished to reflect life as it
might have been lived by a Polish working-class family of
the 1930s. The Worker’s Home or Dom Robotnika, which
means “worker’s home” in Polish, celebrates the community’s
diverse ethnic heritage.
The Center for History also features five exhibition
galleries, including Voyages Gallery, a series of permanent
exhibitions where visitors can explore stories of the people
of the St. Joseph River Valley, from the prehistoric era to
present-day cities. The Ernestine M. Raclin Gallery of Notre
Dame History, which opened in 1999 in partnership with the
University of Notre Dame, features different aspects of the
university’s history. A wide variety of compelling stories
can be found in the changing exhibitions of the Carroll
Gallery, Leighton Gallery and Changing Gallery.
Also on view at the Center for History is a Women Who
Played Hard Ball: The Real “League of Their Own,” a
permanent exhibition of the All-American Girls Professional
Baseball League collection, which is housed at the museum.
The Center for History’s Kidsfirst Children's Museum is
an interactive gallery that encourages children to explore
history through hands-on activities. Here, children can
“navigate” the St. Joseph River in a canoe, climb aboard our
Conestoga wagon to make-believe they're journeying
cross-country to their new homestead and more.
The Museums at Washington and Chapin are open Monday -
Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 12 to 5 p.m.
Tours through Copshaholm and the Worker’s Home are guided,
with the last tour beginning at 2 p.m.
Admission to the museums ranges from $5 to $12. Senior
and student rates are available. Special rates are available
for groups of 20 or more. Reservations are necessary for
group tours.
For information about the Center for History, call (574)
235-9664. To find out more about Studebaker National Museum,
call (574) 235-9714.
