By: Dave Bowman

The Montpelier History Club was started by Ryan Ingram about four years ago as an extension opportunity for students interested in local history.  Mostly K-6 students from Montpelier elementary, with a few older students attending, meet after school in the Montpelier Public Library.  They also meet in the summer.

The goal is to provide a fun and educational experience for the students.  It also aims to connect kids to the town of Montpelier.  The club members discuss a variety historical events that have occurred and try to identify any that have a Montpelier connection.  When they have identified a particular historical event that has a connection to Montpelier they begin research and come up with an idea for a final product.  

Their first history connection project involved the national horseshoe pitching champion, Jimmy Risk, who grew up and lived in Montpelier.  The club’s final product for this project was a video documenting the life and accomplishments of Mr. Risk. 

Next the club focused on a Montpelier Civil War Veteran, Benjermin G. Shinn.  They plan to produce a book that chronicles Mr. Shinn’s life, especially the time just before the Civil War until just afterwards.  Mr. Shinn was chosen a bit by chance.  Ryan Ingram received a call about an old trunk that had belonged to Mr. Shinn that had a few old clippings from the second half of the 1800s. So, Ryan went to take a look at the trunk.

 As he was looking at the trunk, Ryan noticed the ornate diamond shaped mirror in the inside lid of the trunk.  Upon closely examining the mirror he noticed it had hidden hinges.  As he pushed and pressed around the mirror it popped open and several letters fell out.  As he looked at the letters he noticed that they were from the late 1840s through the late 1860s.  The owners of the trunk donated the letters to the History Club.

The club has preserved the letters and envelopes inside acid free page inserts.  They are now in the process of transcribing the originals letters and computerizing them because the originals have faded and are very fragile. They are in the process of organizing the letters into a book that hope to publish by the end of the year.          

A future project is documenting ghost buildings, which are buildings that were located in Montpelier but have burned down, been torn down, or moved to a new location.