"Behind its bright blue doors we walked up a wide marble staircase to the front desk. We were greeted by Sarah, the docent on duty. She was quite friendly and gave us a quick summary of the museum and what we could expect to see. She even let us peek behind the scenes at an upcoming exhibit and a back office where they were working on a project identifying local cemeteries. 🪦

We checked out some print art, a room full of trains, and then transported ourselves back to 1910 as we entered “The Streets of Old Shelby” exhibit. 🖼️🚂

I was not expecting such an elaborate exhibit. I’m still not sure how they fit it all inside the modestly-sized building. But somehow they managed to build an entire streetscape with functional facades housing historically accurate artifacts.

The brick street was actually several intersecting roads. There were functional lamp posts and shop signs. Sounds of the bustling town could be heard in the air. I even saw a bird’s nest in a downspout. 🪹

There was a train, a depot, hotel, saloon, hardware store, printing shop, blacksmith, seamstress, post office, bakery, wood shop, livery stable, soda fountain, pharmacy, bank, church, florist, cemetery, doctor’s office, schoolhouse, outhouse, attorney’s office, barber shop, butcher, jail, grocery, and even a telephone operator booth!

Each store had a placard displaying their sponsor. I liked that a local attorney sponsored the attorney’s office, a church sponsored the church, and a florist sponsored the florist shop. The outhouse was sponsored by the Shelby County Health Department. 🤣

Inside the pharmacy at the soda fountain we came across Loretta and her granddaughter, Emma. They were serving up root beer floats and we snagged three of them. As we enjoyed our treats we had a wonderful conversation with Loretta, as she told us about living in Shelbyville. We even got to meet Rachael, the Executive Director of the Shelby County Tourism & Visitor’s Bureau.

As we left 1910 Shelbyville we headed downstairs to a few other exhibits.

First was about Shelbyville’s connection to Japan. I learned about their Japanese “sister cities”, and the rise of Japanese manufacturing in the county.

In a large room was the “Building Shelby County” exhibit that took us through the county’s development in agriculture and industry. I learned about Kennedy Car Liner— both the product and the company. I also dressed up like a frontiersman, living in my small cabin with my chickens. My daughter refused to put on the frontier dress. 🤣 🐓

The final exhibit was about photography. I stood for several minutes examining an old movie projector from The Strand Theatre, finding it very complex for something made so long ago. 📽️

Our time at The Grover Center was fun and fascinating. I would encourage anyone in the surrounding area to spend some time there. If you’re a real history nut you’ll need to give yourself the entire day to really absorb the information."

The Coffman Review

"The Grover Center is an excellent museum to learn some basic history of Shelbyville, Indiana. I have also taken my third graders for a field trip there. The kids loved it! They love the one room schoolhouse and the streets of Old Shelby. You should definitely check out the bookstore while you're there too!"

Betsy Means Davis

"Visited this place today, and must say this is a must visit! Such a neat display of the town in the late 1800’s all restored, it’s a masterpiece and one capsule. Learned so much about the history of shelby county. Well done"

Jeremy Sidwell