Miami County Museum

Miami County Museum

In 1916, the Governor of Indiana, inspired by the state’s centennial anniversary, asked each county to form a historical society. Thus the Miami County Historical Society was born.

Since that time the Society and the Miami County Museum have been intertwined in their development. The society has provided governance and resources for the Museum, making it one of the larger “small” museums in the country. The Museum has enjoyed the support of the Miami County government from the start.

The museum’s first home was on the fourth floor of the county courthouse. An expansion became necessary and an addition was added to the county library for the purpose of exhibiting additional parts of the collection.

The current building became available in the 1980s, which made possible the combining of both parts of the collection. The Museum exhibits cover two floors of a large, former dry goods store.

The collection size consists of over 150,000 historical objects and archival materials. Because Miami County has such an interesting and varied history, the museum covers subjects such as circus, railroad, pioneer, and Native American history. Cole Porter was born in Peru; thus the Museum has a special area dedicated to him. It includes his Cadillac, a Grammy award, and many other interesting photos and Cole Porter artifacts.

The second floor represents walking down the brick streets of Peru around 1910 and peering into businesses and homes along the way.

Currently, a building across the street from the Museum is being renovated to house parts of the Museum collection. There is fundraising being sought at this time for moving this storage to this new location in order to use the third floor for more exhibit space.

The museum has an excellent archive area, a large armament room, and a museum gift shop.

A visit to the Miami County Museum will both educate and entertain you. Expect to spend at least an hour experiencing our wonderful, historic museum.

Please plan a visit today!

MUSEUM OPEN
TUESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY
9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Miami County Museum
51 North Broadway
Peru, Indiana 46970
765-473-9183 phone
765-476-3880 fax
Note: If you are still using the old email addresses for staff, please note
all emails are the same prefix with mcmuseum.org at the end instead of miamicountymuseum.com