Greetings,
On behalf of the Historical Subcommittee of Genesee County’s America 250 Commission, I hope this message finds you well.
As our county prepares to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States, we are in the early planning stages of developing a permanent timeline exhibit at Crossroads Village that will interpret the first 250 years of our nation’s history. We are currently evaluating building options within the Village to house this installation, which we envision as a lasting educational resource for residents, students, and visitors.
Our concept includes a three-layered timeline:
- National events that shaped the United States
- State-level milestones significant to Michigan
- County and local history, highlighting the communities that make our region unique
It is this third layer where we would greatly value your partnership.
We would love to collaborate with local historical societies and museums to ensure that the county/local section reflects the richness and diversity of our shared history. Specifically, we are interested in:
- Identifying key events, themes, and stories from your community that tie into the State and National events/themes
- Exploring the possibility of donated artifacts, area memorabilia, photographs, or interpretive materials to Crossroads Village
- Discussing whether you may have extra display materials (e.g., cases, mannequins, mounts, etc.) that could also be donated for this exhibit
Our goal is not to replace or duplicate the important work you already do, but rather to create a unified county-wide historical narrative that encourages visitors to further explore the outstanding institutions and collections within our communities.
We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss how your organization might wish to participate and how we can best represent your community’s history within this permanent installation.
Thank you for the work you do to preserve and interpret our shared past. We have sent official letters to each of your organizations, for those who have mailing addresses, and have started to receive some responses. We continue looking forward to collaborating with each of you as we approach this historic milestone. More details are in the works for this project and we will be providing an update soon.
Best regards,
Historical Subcommittee
Genesee County America 250 Commission
Tyler Loiselle
District 9 Commissioner
Genesee County America 250 Commission
810-964-2947
historylanding1620@outlook.com
Brenda Williams
District 9 Commissioner
Genesee County America 250 Commission
Scott Burnett
Crossroads Village & Huckleberry Railroads Parks Operations Manager,
Genesee County Parks
Genesee County America 250 Commission
810-249-3853
sburnett@gcparks.org