Ishpeming Area Historical Society celebrates new logo, venue

History lovers will have a new museum to visit in Marquette County.

The Ishpeming Area Historical Society celebrated its grand opening Tuesday night for its new space inside the Gossard Building.

The society also unveiled its new logo, aimed to highlight the meaning of the word Ishpeming.  Ishpeming is Ojibway for “higher place or ground” and “in the air or above”, and the new logo was designed to represent the town’s origin.

The new museum is housed on the third floor of the historic building.

“We’ve discovered that people need a place to go to learn and share their memories,” Ishpeming Area Historical Society President Susan Boback said.  “We looked for a place in downtown Ishpeming in a historic building, so we found this place in the historic Gossard Building.”

The museum’s exhibits surprisingly don’t feature two well known cultures of Ishpeming:  mining and skiing, but has plenty of artifacts that make up Ishpeming’s history.

“It’s people, pastimes, schools,” Boback said.  “We have three legends from Ishpeming (featured at the museum)–Kelly Johnson, John Voelker, and Glenn Seaborg–and lots of things that bring people’s memories back to them.”

The new museum space will be open to the public Mondays and Thursdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. starting May 19.  More information can be found on the Ishpeming Area Historical Society’s Facebook page.