Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum

10/24/2026

Tonight's the final night!! It's been such a fun ride.

📸: Fili Creative

10/23/2026

Today for , we are highlighting an engaging resource about the history of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes in our ongoing series highlighting Native American history related to the the Smoky Valley area.
The Wichita are the Kirikir?i:s in the Wichita language and their peoples include the Wichita Proper, Waco, Taovaya, Tawakoni, and Kichai.
In particular, we want to point you to the History page of the tribal website (based in Anadarko, Oklahoma) at https://wichitatribe.com/department-of-preservation/
It includes Wichita history from 1540 through the present, offers elder interviews, and provides interactive Wichita language resources - such as English to Wichita translations and video readings of Wichita language children's books.
Ancestral Wichita peoples are known to have lived in the Smoky Valley region, with both the Paint Creek site and the Sharps Creek site providing evidence of their historical presence. They were likely among the tribes encountered by Coronado during his 1541 expedition in the area. Pressures in the late 1700s and early 1800s pushed them to move farther south into modern-day Oklahoma and Texas.
Daily life for the ancestral Wichita peoples included both farming and hunting. During the spring, summer, and fall, families lived in permanent grass house villages with nearby cultivated garden crops of corn, squash, and pumpkin. In the late fall and winter, the Wichita left the villages on extended buffalo (bison) hunting expeditions. This meat would be hung to be preserved by drying for long-term storage.
European settlement to the area was devastating to the Wichita, as both physical violence and contagious disease reduced their numbers to less than 1,400 by 1820. The establishment of the Texas Republic in 1836 was a further threat, with no reservation founded until 1855 when Texas joined the United States. Further hostilities forced retreat north into Oklahoma and then into Kansas in 1863-1867. With no land to farm and epidemics of smallpox and cholera sweeping through the population, only 822 people returned to Indian Territory in 1867 after the Civil War.
In the 20th century, the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes have recovered and grown, with a central organization in Oklahoma and revival of tribal traditions, including an annual summer visitation between the Wichita and Pawnee people. In 2026, the tribes reported 3,905 members enrolled nationwide.
We encourage you to take a few moments to read and discover this important history.

?i:s

(Pictured: Tribal elders Betty Kauley, Shirley Davilla, and Sandra Wilson, who were interviewed for one of the videos on the site. Shirley is mother of Betty and Sandra.)

10/23/2026

Tonight and tomorrow we will have two showings of this spooky show!

📸: Fili Creative

10/22/2026

Tickets are still available for the 10pm showings on Friday & Saturday! Don't miss this hauntingly wonderful show!

📸: Fili Creative

10/22/2026

With Phantom Photo Night just a week from Saturday on , we wanted to share some of our own favorite costumes from spooky seasons past.
This is our own Marketing Director Adam Pracht dressed as Robin Hood (or possibly just a Renaissance falconer for some reason?) in approximately the early '90s and our Executive Director Hayley Samford going as a witch in 2001.
Share YOUR favorite childhood Halloween costume in the comments below!
What Halloween memories will you preserve with a photo shoot by Jim Turner on October 31? These mini sessions will be available at the Lindsborg Museum - 120 E. Mill St. - from 4-7 p.m. We just ask you to make a museum donation in consideration of this exciting opportunity.
See you there!



(Note: Hayley is pictured along with her sister, Hannah - as a fairy - and great-great aunt and uncle Dorothy and Hugo Lindahl).

10/21/2026

Introducing a new occasional series for the museum with "Cemetery Quest"... the idea is to share more about prominent Lindsborg and Smoky Valley figures while we search for their final resting place.
Our goal and intention is to educate about and highlight our rich local history in a unique and interactive way.
For our first installment, we go on a Cemetery Quest to honor and celebrate Dr. Emory K. Lindquist (1908-1992) - probably best known as a local historian and President of Bethany College.
We encourage and invite you to share your favorite or most cherished memory of Dr. Lindquist in the comments below.
Thanks for watching!

10/21/2026

Thanks to Kansas Tourism for the featured post!

Varied exhibits in twelve buildings showcase the lives of pioneers from the 1870s to the 1980s. Visit a rare, fully restored 1898 flour mill and learn how Kansas wheat was made into flour. Also, see the mill in operation the first weekend in May. Explor...

10/20/2026

Brom Bones has news for you about "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on the Lindsborg Museum's Heritage Square: If you want to see it this week, the only remaining options are one of two "spooky" late shows starting at 10 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23 or Saturday, Oct. 24.

Just 16 ticket slots remain between both shows before this popular production is SOLD OUT!

Together with Broadway RFD, we only present this spooky tale in even-numbered years, so buy your tickets today at https://cur8.com/20597/project/141867 before the opportunity disappears into the mist until October 2028!

$10 - General admission
$5 - Students

This revived tradition features an immersive "traveling audience" format employing real historic building locations and culminates with a real horse and "real" headless horseman chasing the hapless Ichabod Crane to his mysterious disappearance!

And of course there's Brom's "vicious" dog Nails! (He just might lick you until you giggle to death!)

10/20/2026

There are still tickets left for the 10pm showings this weekend!

10/19/2026

In this week's highlights: Last week was busy, Match Month, Welcome back to Sheila Malm, how many museum people it takes to screw in a lightbulb (it’s four!), and More!
www.oldmillmuseum.org/monday-morning-museum-update-october-19-2026