(Hannah Gunnell/South Indy Connect photo) Members of the Franklin Township Historical Society Ann Hansen, Carolyn Kanouse, Scott Smale and Susie Smale host a booth promoting their organization during the Wanamaker Old Settler’s Street Fair and Car Show on June 29. The society successfully ran a fundraising campaign to purchase the building next to its location to house its museum pieces, closing on that building the Friday prior to the festival.
By HANNAH GUNNELL
Thanks to a successful fundraiser, the Franklin Township Historical Society was able to purchase the building next store to house its museum artifacts, said Society Treasurer Ann Hansen.
The Franklin Township Historical Society incorporated in 1978.
“We’ve been operating as a protector of Franklin Township’s History,” Hansen said. “We work with schools and we do lots of events, and we publish books. We host fundraisers and do all kinds of things that promote community, really.”
The society has several publications that feature the history of the township and its two towns, Wanamaker and Acton. It is located at 6510 S. Franklin Road.
“Our pride and joy is the 1871 meeting house,” Hansen said. “It was a Baptist Church, and the congregation was very much dwindling, so when the Historical Society formed, they gave us their church to take care of. That’s been our headquarters and our museum ever since.”
The society had run out of space for its artifacts, so when the property next door became available, they launched a fundraiser to purchase that building. The goal was $300,000.
“We raised money and we got a great matching grant from the Wanamaker Flagle Trust, and we were able to buy that building,” Hansen said. “We just closed on it on Friday, but the fundraiser is still open for all other things like renovations. We are going to use that to house our museum pieces because we have people who want to give us things all the time and we just don’t have any room.”
The new property has a nice, safe garage space where these artifacts can be stored, she added. The fundraiser will be open until April of 2026 for anyone who would like to contribute. Anyone interested in contributing to the fundraiser can do so on the society’s website, https://www.fths.org/.
