Evansville Grove Society

Author: Grove Society

  • 2026 History in the Park set for August 16th

    2026 History in the Park set for August 16th

    The Grove Society’s annual History in the Park event will take place Sunday, August 16, at the Pruden Pavilion (upper pavilion) in Leonard-Leota Park.

    This year’s program, entitled “History in the Street: Evansville’s Banner Project,” will highlight five of the noteworthy Evansville natives among the twenty or so whose faces appear on the banners recently hung from the streetlights along Main Street. Evansville Mayor Abbey Barnes, who spearheaded the project, will introduce the program. The five individuals featured are Ida Conroy, Dr. John Evans, Ethel Gibbs, Burr Jones, and Peter Templeton. Family members of several of the luminaries will be on hand to present their stories.

    As usual, a lunch of brats, hotdogs, and side items will be provided free. Lunch will be served beginning at noon, with the hour-long program to start promptly at 1 pm.

    Come for the lunch, stay for the history!

  • Independence Day Reading at Leonard-Leota Park

    Independence Day Reading at Leonard-Leota Park

    At noon on July 4, a group of fifteen volunteers organized by the Grove Society gathered at the Tom Kerkenbush memorial in Leonard-Leota Park to read the Declaration of Independence. A nice crowd gathered to hear the reading, including some people who had come all the way from Illinois to attend.

    The 15 volunteers who read the Declaration of Independence.

    A video recording of the reading may be found here. Each volunteer took turns at one of three microphones to read a section of the Declaration, concluding with a recitation of the names of the 57 members of the Second Continental Congress who signed the document.

    The Declaration came into being through a democratic process.
    Although Congress appointed a committee of three to draft the document — Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin — the drafters borrowed freely from other Patriot writings and lots of people made their own edits along the way. The Declaration was a consensus document, carefully worked out word by word over a long time.

    Continental Congress formally approved the edited version on July 4, 1776, and all 57 delegates put their names to it. That was the moment at which the United States of America came into being: as President Lincoln later put it, “a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” John Adams called it “the greatest Question which ever was debated in America, and a greater, perhaps, never was or ever will be decided among men.”

    Independence Day thus commemorates one of the greatest events in human history. The Declaration is a living document. It remains to this day a rebuke to tyrants and a beacon of resistance the world over. It articulates “the last, best hope of earth,” as Lincoln put it in 1862.

  • UW-Madison Badger Talks a Success

    UW-Madison Badger Talks a Success

    Irregular Warfare during the Revolutionary War.

    On Thursday, June 25, Professor John W. Hall of the UW-Madison History Department presented a talk, entitled “Washington’s Partisans: Early American Warfare Reconsidered,” at the Eager Free Public Library in Evansville. The Grove Society sponsored the talk jointly with the Library and UW Badger Talks as part of its observance of the 250 th anniversary of the American Revolution.

    Professor Hall began his talk by challenging what he called the “received wisdom” that General (later President) George Washington led the American colonists to victory over the British by using informal, “frontier” tactics against which the professional soldiers in the British Army were unable to defend themselves. This “frontier” myth has been a durable part of US military culture as well as in American culture at large. Academic historians, Professor Hall told the audience, believe that the standard view has only a little basis in fact.

    Instead, Professor Hall said, Washington was no less devoted to professional European military doctrine than his British opponents. The British, meanwhile, were far from helpless and able to adapt strategy and tactics to North American conditions. Washington was successful because he supplemented his use of professionally-trained troops with European-style “partisans” (small, highly mobile forces comparable to today’s Army Rangers or Special Forces) and “irregulars” (militia soldiers who maintained their civilian lives and took up arms only when the fighting came to their neighborhoods).

    These “irregular” forces were especially important because they were the mainstay of the colonists’ defense against the larger and more powerful British. Washington reserved his professional troops for situations in which he could achieve the kind of spectacular victories that would eventually cause the British to tire of the fight. Washington’s genius lay in his ability to use all three kinds of forces effectively under North American conditions.

  • Reading of the Declaration of Independence

    Reading of the Declaration of Independence

    Join us down at Leonard-Leota Park for a reading of the Declaration of Independence, in celebration of the 250th anniversary of The United States of America.

    July 4th at 12 pm.

    Location is south of the Park Store on the cement pad that is the former site of “The Shack”. There is a plaque there in Tom Kerkenbursh’s honor. Generally, we’ll be set up across the street from the Boy Scout fire pit.

    NOTE: If rain is in the forecast, the location could change.

  • Commemorative Coin Prize Drawing

    Commemorative Coin Prize Drawing

    Enter your name to win a free commemorative coin.

    The 250th anniversary commemorative coin with Kelly McKay’s winning design is available via drawing. Stop by the Eager Free Public Library during regular business hours to put your name in to win or at the Grove Society – Historic Baker Building (15 Antes Drive) from 1-4pm on Saturday, June 27th, Saturday, July 4th, or Sunday, July 5th. Winners will be notified July 7th.

    Only 250 coins were minted so put your name in to win one before they’re all gone.

  • Rock County Celebrating America 250, 1776 – 2026

    Rock County Celebrating America 250, 1776 – 2026

    An American Tapestry: Our Story, America’s Story

    Are you searching for events to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the United States? Check out 250rcwi.com.

    The mission of 250rcwi.com is to “Discover, Explore, Appreciate Rock County’s role, contribution and stories in America’s tapestry”.

    The website captures many of the local and regional events that are honoring the 250th Anniversary of the United States. They’ve also curated a list of regional Museums, Organizations and Libraries to support anyone’s quest for digging up local history.

  • Museum Open for 2026 Season

    Museum Open for 2026 Season

    The museum at the Historic Baker Building, located at the lower entrance to Leonard-Leota Park, is open for the season. Hours are Saturdays from 1-4pm, except August 15th and September 19th, when we’ll be closed for other events.

    Antes Cabin

    Stop by to see artifacts from Evansville’s past and visit the Antes Cabin from the 1930s. Grove Society staff are on hand to share information and answer questions.

    We hope to see you this summer!

  • Commemorative Coin Winner Announced

    Commemorative Coin Winner Announced

    Kelly J. McKay is the winner of the Commemorative Coin Contest honoring the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. The contest, jointly sponsored by the Evansville Grove Society and the Eager Free Public Library, was to design a coin that depicts “what the 250th anniversary looks like” to the artist personally.  McKay’s winning design features a stars-and-stripes birthday cake with candles and an open book labeled “Our Story.”

    Left to Right: Bronna Lehmann, Director, Eager Free Public Library; Kelly J. McKay; and Kris Thome, President, Evansville Grove Society

    McKay’s design will be stamped on an antique brass, half-dollar sized coin that will be minted and available for distribution by the Evansville Grove Society as part of Evansville’s Fourth of July celebration.

  • Upcoming Badger Talks

    Upcoming Badger Talks

    Irregular Warfare during the American Revolution

    6:00 pm on Thursday, June 25 at the Eager Free Public Library.

    Irregular Warfare during the American Revolution
  • Commemorative Coin Contest

    Commemorative Coin Contest

    The Evansville Grove Society is joining forces with the Eager Free Public Library to celebrate the upcoming 250th anniversary of the United States by holding a contest to design a coin commemorating the anniversary. Contestants will design a coin that depicts “what the 250th anniversary looks like” to them personally. The winning design will be placed on an antique brass coin, minted and available for distribution around the Fourth of July.  We encourage people of all ages to participate and hope to have a large selection of pictures from which to choose the winner. Entry forms are available at the library; the deadline to submit is May 1st.

    Have fun! Be creative! Show us what the 250th looks like to you!