Conner Prairie

Information about Conner Prairie

1886 baseball demonstration at Liberty Corner.

Conner Prairie is a living history museum in Fishers, Indiana, USA, that preserves the historic William Conner home and recreates part of life in Indiana in the 19th century on the White River. It is said to be one of the most realistic living history museum in the United States, next to Colonial Williamsburg.

History and Development

Conner Prairie was begun when pharmaceutical executive Eli Lilly donated the Conner home and surrounding farm to the Quaker liberal arts school, Earlham College in the early 1960s. Earlham ran Conner Prairie as a wholly-owned subsidiary and it grew from a local tourist attraction and educational outreach for the College into the highly regarded instutution it is today. As Conner Prairie gained increasing strength and indepencence, tension developed with Earlham. After a lengthy and contentious legal struggle with Earlham, the museum became completely independent as a result of a plan brokered by Indiana's attorney general. Conner Prairie now has its own board of directors and maintains its own finances and endowment fund.

Layout and concept

Museum Center exterior.

The museum grounds are divided into several sections, where different eras in history are recreated to create a kind of living timeline. Staff in period costumes demonstrate the way early inhabitants in the area lived. They explain their livestyles in character while performing chores such as cooking, chopping wood, making pottery, and tending to animals. Patrons are often invited to join in the activities.

The museum's main building, called the Museum Center, contains the entrance lobby, ticket sales counter, restaurant, banquet hall, and gift shop. The gift shop sells pottery made by the museum's costumed staff as well as more conventional souvenirs.

Conner Prairie serves as the summer home of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. The Friday/Saturday Symphony on the Prairie concert series, sponsored by Marsh Supermarkets, attracts some 90,000+ concertgoers each year, a substantial percentage of Conner Prairie's annual visitor count.

Attractions

Spinning wheel demonstration in the Conner loom house, producing yarn from wool.

Conner Prairie features several permanent attractions and numerous semi-regular events, including "Mystery on the Prairie" murder mystery evenings, the Headless Horseman ride in the autumn, candlelight tours, and country fair. It also hosts Civil War re-enactments, and Christmas holiday events and dinners.

Conner house.

Conner house

The genuine Conner brick house and barn are preserved as a museum. Visitors can hear about how early Hoosiers cooked, spun and dyed thread and yarn, and cared for their animals and crops.

1886 Liberty Corner

Liberty Corner recreates a rural community in 1886, with a schoolhouse, Quaker meeting house, authentic covered bridge, and farm (Victorian home and three-bay bank barn). Visitors might even catch a vintage base ball game.

1836 Pottery wheel demonstration in Prairietown.

1836 Prairietown

Prairietown recreates a pioneer community in 1836, with a blacksmith shop, pottery shop, inn, doctor's office, schoolhouse, and several residences. Visitors arriving early in the day might help with morning chores.

Lenape Camp fur trader log cabin.

Lenape Camp

Lenape Camp recreates bark and cattail mat wigwams and a fur trade camp with a log cabin. Visitors can learn how the Lenape (Delaware Indians) lived in Indiana and hunted and trapped animals to trade with white fur traders.

External links

Conner Prairie website

museum is a "permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education, enjoyment, the tangible and intangible
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Town of Fishers, Indiana
Location in the state of Indiana
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Indiana
County Hamilton
Area
- Town 21.
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Motto
"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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William Conner (1777 - 1855) was an American trader, interpreter, scout, community leader, entrepreneur, and politician. Although his first trade was a fur trader, his later business interests included farming, milling, distillation of spirits, mercantile endeavors, and land
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The State of Indiana

Flag of Indiana Seal
Nickname(s): The Hoosier State

Motto(s): The Crossroads of America

Official language(s) English

Capital Indianapolis (785,597)

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For the periodical, see .

The 19th Century (also written XIX century) lasted from 1801 through 1900 in the Gregorian calendar. It is often referred to as the "1800s.
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Several towns and rivers are called White River.

Africa

Bakoy River is called the White River.

Canada

White River (British Columbia)
White River (Vancouver Island)
White River (Ontario)
White River (Yukon)

China

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Living History

Front Cover
Author Hillary Rodham Clinton
Language English
Publisher Simon & Schuster
Publication date June 9, 2003
Media type Hardcover
Pages 562
ISBN ISBN 978-0-74-322224-2

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Location: Williamsburg, Virginia

Built/Founded: 1927

Added to NRHP: October 15, 1966

NRHP Reference#: 66000925 ^[1] Colonial Williamsburg is the historic district of the independent city of Williamsburg, Virginia.
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Eli Lilly (April 1, 1885 – January 24, 1977) was a pharmaceutical industrialist and philanthropist from Indiana, United States.

Business

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Eli Lilly was President of Eli Lilly and Company.
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Earlham College is a national, selective Quaker liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. It was founded in 1847 and has approximately 1,200 students. The current president is Douglas C. Bennett.
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In most common law jurisdictions, the Attorney General or Attorney-General is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.
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director is an officer (that is, someone who works for the company) charged with the conduct and management of its affairs. A director may be an inside director (a director who is also an officer or promoter or both) or an outside, or independent, director.
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A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution, with the stipulation that it be invested, and the remain intact. This allows for the donation to have a much greater impact over a long period of time than if it were spent all at once.
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The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Annually, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra performs 200 concerts for over 350,000 people. It is the largest performing arts organization in Indiana.
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Marsh Supermarkets, Inc.

Private
Founded 1931
Headquarters Indianapolis, Indiana

Key people Frank Lazaran, President and CEO
Industry Retail (Grocery)
Products Grocery
Employees 15,000
Website www.marsh.
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Autumn (also known as Fall in North American English) is one of the four temperate seasons. Autumn marks the transition from summer into winter. In the northern hemisphere, the start of autumn is generally considered to be around September and in the southern hemisphere, its
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fair is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, to parade or display animals and often to enjoy associated carnival or funfair entertainment. Activities at fairs vary widely.
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American Civil War (1861–1865) was a major war between the United States (the "Union") and eleven Southern slave states which declared that they had a right to secession and formed the Confederate States of America, led by President Jefferson Davis.
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A house is a building lived in by people. The word "house" may also refer to a building that shelters animals, such as a lemur, especially in a zoo. ^[1]
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barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house animals or to store farming vehicles and equipment. Barns are most commonly found on a farm or former farm.
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A Hoosier /ˈhu.ʒɚ/ is a native of the U.S. state of Indiana. Though other states adapt the state name into a nickname, the words Indianan or Indianian, as either nouns or adjectives, are rarely, if ever, used by
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1850s 1860s 1870s - 1880s - 1890s 1900s 1910s
1883 1884 1885 - 1886 - 1887 1888 1889

:
Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture -
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Religious Society of Friends, whose members are commonly known as Quakers was founded in England in the 17th century as a Christian religious denomination by people who were dissatisfied with the existing denominations and sects of Christianity.
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A covered bridge is a bridge, often single-lane, with enclosed sides and a roof. They have typically been wooden, although some newer ones are concrete or metal with glass sides.
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Vintage Base Ball is baseball presented as being played by rules and customs from an earlier period in the sport's history. Games are typically played using rules and uniforms from the 1850s, 1860s and 1880s.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1800s 1810s 1820s - 1830s - 1840s 1850s 1860s
1833 1834 1835 - 1836 - 1837 1838 1839

:
Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture -
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blacksmith is a person who creates objects from iron or steel by "forging" the metal; i.e., by using hand tools to hammer, bend, cut, and otherwise shape it in its non-liquid form. Usually the metal is heated until it glows red or orange as part of the forging process.
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Pottery is the ceramic ware made by potters. In everyday usage the term is taken to encompass a wide range of ceramics, including earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. The places where such wares are made are called potteries.
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physician applies to a person who practices some type of medicine. Such medical practitioners are concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis and treatment of disease and injury, through both an area of knowledge
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