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Historic Charlton Park is an open-air museum in Barry County, Michigan.

Background
The museum's founder, Irving D. Charlton, was born in Hastings Charter Township to Frank Charlton and Rose Althouse. After attending Hastings High School, he graduated from Michigan State College with a degree in civil engineering. He taught in the agricultural schools of Washington State College and the University of Minnesota during the 1910s.

As a ten year old, Charlton began collecting items.

In 1930, Charlton returned to Hastings and purchased an area of farmland. The property was located alongside the Thornapple River and had previously been used as a campground by the Potawatomi, at one point being known by the name of "Indian Landing". In September 1936, the land was officially designated as a wildlife sanctuary, with hunting and trapping being banned there for a five year period. Charlton eventually owned almost 300 acres of property around Thornapple Lake, developing a nearby area called Pleasant Shores and another close to Charlton Park Road called the Irving Charlton Subdivision. He also owned the mineral rights to a property near Laramie, Wyoming.

Charlton Park
In 1936, Charlton proposed that he would donate a portion of the Indian Landing property to the Barry County Board of Supervisors, intending it as a memorial park dedicated to his parents. The land donation was accepted in December of that year and it was earmarked as a recreational area called Charlton Park, housing a county museum. Charlton himself was named superintendent of the park upon its inception.

By October 1937, the park had begun to see development with the construction of a through-road and recreational areas, as well as the start of its extensive calendar of events. Soon after, however, development of the park and potential museum site had slowed down due to a lack of available funds in the county's budget. In October 1941, Charlton was granted a five-year lease on a portion of undeveloped land at the cost of US$1.

After a few years, a stone building was constructed on the site and used to house thousands of items collected by Charlton. Larger pieces of machinery were stored in open sheds throughout the park.

In October 1962, the condition of the museum was commented on by Grand Rapids Public Museum director Frank Lee DuMond, after he had visited the site several times: "The collection is priceless [...] and unless the information is written down it will be lost". Until that point, no cataloging work had been carried on the collection and Charlton was the sole person who knew the provenance of each item.

During the winter of 1962 and 1963, cataloging work had been carried out on the museum's collection.

The park's administrators had planned to construct an additional building on the site during the summer of 1963, following an US$18,000 donation from Charlton; he had intended for this to be matched by Barry County, but they were unable to find the funds. Before construction could begin, Charlton died in June 1963.

Charlton's will requested that his entire estate of properties and items be left to Barry County, instructing them to build a new stone building connected by a tunnel to the existent museum building.

A court case ensued when eleven of his cousins had requested that they be heirs to any assets not needed to build an extension on the museum. Local probate judge John W. Conlin ruled in favour of the county in June 1965. The will was contested again the following month by a "distant and adopted cousin", which was eventually dismissed by the Michigan Supreme Court in May 1968 after a series of appeals.

Charlton Park Village
During the period immediately after Charlton's death, the park was in the custody of the Barry County Road Commission: the department kept the museum closed, being both unwilling and unable to further develop the site. Department head Barry Cutshaw, Jr. said of the park that "[it] could be a big money-maker, but the development and expansion of a museum is not road business. I am not a parks man, a conservation man or a museum man. I am a highway engineer". Management of the site transferred to the Parks Commission before the end of May 1968, and development continued with the announcement of barn-building plans that summer and the hiring of Harvey Versteeg as museum curator.

In September 1968, Versteeg began enquiring into the purchase of an additional 130-acre plot of land adjoining the current site. The purchase was officially approved in April the following year as part of a 20-year, US$2,300,000 expansion plan for the park. This plan, designed by the Johnson, Johnson and Roy architectural firm of Ann Arbor, included the construction of a 19th-century Michigan village and a steam-powered railroad on the site. According to the Battle Creek Enquirer, plans for the newly-named "Charlton Park Village" involved the construction of "quaint and authentic buildings, shops and a church, together with the actual operation of these old-time shops and trades".

In May 1976, the park was designated a state historic site.

Collection
Items from Irving Charlton's original collection include: a collection of Civil War-era guns, antique clocks, antique farm machinery, surreys, canoes, steam engines, a "genuine" shrunken human head, phonographs,

Charlton owned an 1880s 15-horsepower Westinghouse Company steam traction engine.

Architecture and grounds
Charlton Park sits on the north bank of the Thornapple River and contains over a mile of shoreline on Thornapple Lake. The park is located approximately five miles east of Hastings, on the route to Nashville, Michigan, along the M-79.

In 1968, two barns owned by Thomas Neithamer were removed from a farm on Carlton Center Road and rebuilt on the site. They housed the blacksmith shop and the carriage house.

Indian Landing
It includes an old church and a school site.

In 1862, members of the Potawatomi people arrived under their leader Askasaw to Indian Landing and began living there.

Lee School
The Lee School was built in 1869 on the junction of Carlton Center Road and Martin Road in Carlton Township. The school closed in 1923 upon the construction of another nearby school and was later used as grain storage for a nearby farm. Its original belfry had been removed prior to the 1970s.

The school building was donated to the park by Orlo "Jim" Smith, who had sold the land it stood upon, and it was transported to the historic village in October 1973. Then-director Frank Walsh announced a US$10,000 renovation plan for the building, including the construction of a new roof, a repaint, and a refit with period-appropriate school furniture.

Landscape
The park's dry swamps, marshes and wooded areas provided ideal cover for game] and wildfowl during its period as a game reserve.

The park has been home to trees including black walnut,

In the 1960s, the grounds contained a baseball diamond, camping area, picnic area, swimming beach, and boat-launching facilities.

Recurring events
In 1938, Charlton Park began hosting an annual Pioneer and Old Settlers Picnic at the Indian Landing site, featuring various Native American dances and ceremonies. The 1941 event celebrated 100 years since the establishment of the Christian mission at Indian Landing. Following its inception in 1958, the park held the annual shows of the Michigan Steam Engine & Threshers Club, of which Irving Charlton was president. In 1961, the show included a steamboat ride along the Thornapple River and the laying of railroad tracks for steam engine rides. In addition, the park has held its own annual Antique Gas & Steam Engine Show since the 1970s, hosting activities including tractor parades, child-friendly tractor pulls, and grain threshing.

Charlton Park has hosted several charity events, including an annual Corvette Celebration,

Other events
In the park's first official year, Charlton Park was used to host the Barry County centennial celebrations.

Sources for later

 * https://www.newspapers.com/article/lansing-state-journal-nashville-man-dies/149348142/ (Image of Charlton)
 * https://www.newspapers.com/article/battle-creek-enquirer-unusual-historical/149355257/ (collection details)
 * https://www.newspapers.com/article/battle-creek-enquirer-charlton-park-look/149355293/ (90s info)

Articles for reference

 * Icelandic Phallological Museum (FA; good collection section)
 * Intrepid Museum (GA; good section ideas)
 * Glenstone (GA; useful "architecture" section)