New Grand River Historical Society & Museum

08/29/2026

Our Fiber Gals won't be at their regular home at our Bethel AME Church building for their September meeting, but even better, you can catch them doing live demonstrations at the Chautauqua in the park September 12-13. You'll see knitting, weaving, spinning, and so much more. For those who love traditional arts, this is a fun, free addition to the Chautauqua.

08/21/2026

Looking for something fun to do before the end of summer? The Grand River Museum in Chillicothe, Missouri is free to the public and open every single day. Hours are: 10am to 4pm weekdays and 1pm to 4pm weekends. Our air conditioning is nice and chilly during these warm summer months.

We will be closed Monday, September 7th for Labor Day.

Thanks to Visit Missouri and Visit Chillicothe for these awesome photos to advertise one of Chillicothe's best-kept-treasures, the New Grand River Historical Society & Museum.

Visit the Grand River Historical Society Museum in Chillicothe, Missouri to learn about the area's rich history and enjoy many different displays.

07/16/2026

We will be closed this coming Monday and Wednesday. We hope to see you on our open days!

07/08/2026

I hope you have saved the date for this exciting Quarterly Program about the legacy of Jerry Litton. This event will be at the Elks Lodge, 401 Harvester Road in Chillicothe on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. The lecture event is always free to the public and it begins around 7pm.

Ed Turner will discuss Jerry Litton's life and legacy including some behind-the-scenes photos after an introduction by Rusty Black. This is part of our America 250 series entitled "Our History" sponsored by Missouri Humanities Council.

If you'd like to join us for dinner first, that begins at 6:30pm and this dinner is $15.00 per person. It includes:
"Frampton's Famous Porkchops"
potato salad
spaghetti salad
pea salad
cucumbers & tomatoes
a surprise dessert
& iced tea

Please RSVP to Zelma Cleaveland by phone or text if you'll join us: 660.247.2192

Thank you and hope to see you there.

07/07/2026

In honor of the Grand River Historical Society Museum hosted a memory quilt honoring different aspects of our community. This quilt will be displayed at the Livingston County Courthouse through Labor Day 2026 for view during open hours. After that it will hang at the museum. Please enjoy this quilt, dedicated to Chillicothe and Livingston County. For more information on quilters and their blocks: www.chillicothemuseum.com/quilt

Thank you to Diane Beetsma for quilting and connecting the squares. Thanks to Sherry Parks, Ed Douglas, and Mayor Kelly for helping us dedicate this quilt to the city. It just so happens to be on July 7, 2026, the 98th anniversary of Sliced Bread here in Chillicothe.

07/03/2026

One of the most unsung projects we've been working on at the museum has been the Our History campaign, funded in part by Missouri Humanities with matching donations from YOU, our community.

This project has many parts, but the biggest one has been digitally archiving at least 100,000 pieces of paper ephemera, of which about 90% are photographs. I'd say we are more than 25% complete for what we currently have, though I fear (and also hope) that this project truly never ends. With the nature of our museum as things age, we become a holding place for those physical items, but also the memories that come along with them--hence the name ephemera.

We'd like to thank those that have had a hand in this project: JJ Minnick, Selma Talbert, Sherry Jones, Wilma Keller, Danny Batson, Kitty Schieber, and the ladies from the Upward Bound program at NCMC. Thank you also to those who have collected and protected these items since we were established over 75 years ago. There are several years left to this work, but this grant has allowed us the tools to archive these photos for posterity, and to digitally archive them for research. What good is us holding photos in a filing cabinet if they can't be accessed? Our museum is for our community.

This little blog entry that I wrote for Missouri Humanities discusses this a bit. https://mohumanities.org/saving-a-century/

While this grant is fully funded, we are still raising funds for our Bethel AME Black History Church Museum to match our next grant from Missouri Humanities. If you'd like to be part of the exciting things happening at the Grand River Museum you can send a check to:

Grand River Historical Society & Museum
1401 Forest Drive
Chillicothe, MO 64601

In the Home of Sliced Bread, Chillicothe, Missouri, the Grand River Historical Society & Museum received a generous grant from Missouri Humanities entitled, “Our History: Exhibits From the Archives.” This […]

07/01/2026

Unfortunately, due to the many America 250 events around the area, we won’t be hosting the Celebrate Freedom concert this year on the 4th of July, but we hope to bring it back next year.

06/19/2026

Today, June 19, is annually known as Juneteenth, or Freedom Day, marking the day that word finally travelled to Galveston, TX, in 1865, with the news of the Emancipation Proclamation's ending of slavery, two years, after its issuance in 1863. It's known as America's second independence day, when ALL persons became free.

Our vibrant Black History is being honored at our Bethel AME Black History Church Museum. We recently received a grant from Missouri Humanities to help continue our effort to continue telling the history of the Black community of Chillicothe, and the surrounding areas. We are nearly halfway to our fundraising goal of $7,964 to match the $15,000 from Missouri Humanities. If you can help us continue with this powerful mission, we are accepting donations of checks via mail to Grand River Museum, 1401 Forest Drive, Chillicothe, MO 64601 or online: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/donate-to-continue-our-mission-in--2026

More information about Juneteenth: https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/historical-legacy-juneteenth

06/15/2026

What a fun day despite the crumb-y weather. Here is a list of our bread contest winners! Thanks KCHI for sharing!

Local baker and Museum Curator Dustin Rennells who again this year hosted the Sliced Bread Day bread baking contest, provided this year’s list of winners;

06/13/2026

2026 Sliced Bread Contest Announcements