Page 12 - Wayne Dispatch Pages

Historical Museum digitizes photo collection

For the past year or so we have
been working hard at the museum to
digitize our collections and get them
online for all to see. So far we have
scanned in over 15,000 photographs,
slides, negatives and digital images.
Many of these images have never
been seen before and show unique
views of Wayne life, some dating
back to WW1 or before. We have also
been converting old VHS tapes and
DVDs to digital and uploading them
to our Youtube Channel, "Wayne His-
torical Society". On there you can see
old council meetings, lectures,
events and Wayne celebrations.
While we have a very active facebook
page where we often post pictures,
not everybody has a facebook ac-
count, so not everybody can enjoy
them.
We have decided to invest in an
online program called CatalogIt
which lets us upload pictures, files
and data and makes them accessible
to everyone for free. Our page on Cat- by Joshua Howard and Rufus Brown did in 1838. Elizabeth Street is
alogIt has about 1,500 images on it it was laid out with seven streets and named after Elizabeth Swift Chase
so far, as it is time consuming to add a town square. The streets were (1811-1880) whose husband An-
all the data to make it searchable, Jones, Kercheval, Norris, Brush, drew Chase platted out that area of
but there is a good amount to look Newberry, Biddle and Hastings. Now town, they were influential in the
through. some of these names we still know Methodist Church. Clark is named
Scan the QR codes here to access today, but some have been changed: for James Clark who owned 40
our Youtube channel and our Cata- Jones is now Park street, Kercheval acres on the north side of Michigan
logIt page and start surfing Wayne is Main street, Norris is Michigan Av- right around the Old Cemetery. Sims
history from your smartphone. If logit.app search "Wayne Historical enue EB, and Hastings is now Wayne is named for Samuel Sims (1807-
you dont have a smartphone, on Museum" to find us. In total we prob- Road. What is interesting is that the 1888) a Nankin Township farmer
Youtube just search "Wayne Histori- ably have over 30,000 pictures and original seven names are the last from England that lived in what is
cal Society", and on https://hub.cata- 10,000 objects to scan and photo- names of the officers of the Michigan today Inkster.
graph, so if you're interested in help- Central Railroad in 1835. DeGarmo Howe Road is named for Philetus
ing us out, or just want to come for Jones, Benjamin Kercheval, Mark Howe who owned a 40 acre farm on
a visit, remember the museum is Norris, Edward Brush, Oliver New- the east side of Howe just south of
open Wednesdays and Thursdays 10 berry, John Biddle, and Eurotas the railroad tracks, they came to
a.m. – 6 p.m. Hastings. Apparently naming the Wayne from Ohio in 1850. Hubbard
roads after them was a kind of is likely named for Homer Hubbard
Roads and their names continued: 'Thank you" to the board for bringing (1875-1942) who was a local coal de-
CatalogIt Youtube When Wayne was laid out in 1836 the railroad through Wayne, which it livery man.

12 · February 2023 · The Wayne Dispatch