Museum Fundraiser NEXT SATURDAY, August 16
Inside Three Oaks' "Mystery Building"
The building at 7 South Elm Street, recently donated to the museum, has been something of a mystery for decades. It hasn't been occupied since the 1980s, but it has a long and interesting history.
​
Come learn all about it, and help the museum raise money to restore this structure to its 1930s Art Deco splendor!
​
On Saturday, August 16, you're invited to one of the fun and informative events that will kick off the museum's capital campaign to restore 7 South Elm and make it a branch of TROTOM.
​
EVENT 1-- At 6 PM, we'll gather at the building for cocktails, wine, and light bites. You can be among the first to see the inside of the "mystery building" and displays of some of the items, photos, and documents we found inside. Some of them are baffling (Why is there a sailfish hanging on the wall?!)
​
TROTOM Vice President Nick Bogert will do a presentation on the building's history-- how hundreds of thousands of acres of farms and ranches in the US and even Mexico were run from this building by the
EK Warren & Son Company. The man who's donating the building to us-- Jim Barkhurst-- will be on hand to field questions.
​
At 7:15, attendees will enjoy a magnificent dinner (seared salmon or beef tenderloin!) prepared by Chef Reyna Larson of Alan Ray's and Ray & Al's. The dinner will be held at a lovely historic home built by EK Warren II on Elm Street in Three Oaks. All attendees will receive a "swag bag" full of thank-you gifts featuring fascinating images found at the building.
​
Tickets to this event are $300 apiece. If you are interested in attending, please contact us by email at trotommuseum@gmail.com
​
EVENT 2-- At 7:30, a second group will gather at 7 South Elm for cocktails, wine and light bites. They will get a chance to look through this building that has roused so much curiosity over the decades, and see some of the historic photos, documents, and artifacts we found inside.
​
Museum Vice President Nick Bogert will walk attendees through an illustrated history of the building and the vast farming and ranching empires that were run by the EK Warren & Son Company from the site.​
​​
Attendees will receive a tote bag with some neat swag featuring wonderful images from the Warren farming/ranching empire.​
​​
Tickets to this event are $150 apiece. Please email us at trotommuseum@gmail.com if you'd like to attend!​
​
Dozens of visitors got a look at a unique, 45-year-old car on display outside the museum in Sunday, July 13. Only 250 Clenet I autos were made in Southern California back in 1978, and one of them resides in Three Oaks! ​The car's "cool factor" was such that Farrah Fawcett, Sylvester Stallone, Julio Iglesias, Rod Stewart, and heavyweoight boxing champ Ken Norton all owned Clénet's.
​
Ron Zarantenello read about the car as a kid and vowed to own one someday. Today, he keeps the Clénet at this Three Oaks home. Thanks, Ron, for letting us display this stunning piece of automotive history.
​
Museum receives donation of the
Warren Oil & Gas Building
Museum visitors check out
"Three Oaks' coolest car"
At a "handover ceremony" on the morning of June 12, the museum accepted the donation of the historic building at 7 South Elm Street in Three Oaks, and agreed to turn the building into a display space.
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Donor Jim Barkhurst signed the building (built in 1932-33) over to the museum on the condition that it would house displays about the Warren family and its many businesses-, which were the economic lifeblood of the area for decades.
Two of those businesses-- E. K. Warren and Son and the Warren Oil & Gas Company-- operated in the building from the 1930s until the 1980s. The building has been unoccupied since then.
The museum has already begun work cataloguing the building's contents (which included the original blueprints for 7 South Elm) and will begin a capital campaign to restore the building, as close as possible, to its original 1930s elegance.
​
​
The new display space, which will augment, rather than replace, the existing museum, will be named in memory of Josephine Warren Hoffman (pictured below), the granddaughter of E. K. Warren and the president of the Oil & Gas Company in the 1980s. The museum thanks Jim Barkhurst and appreciates his confidence in our ability to tell the story of the Warrens, a story which has had such a profound effect on the history of our area.
​​​​
On the evening of May 1st, a great crowd of our members and volunteers gathered at the museum to get a "sneak peek" at what's new for 2025...and enjoy snack and drinks.
​
The next day at noon, the museum opened its doors for this year. We'll welcome visitors from now through the end of October-- 12-5 PM, Friday through Sunday. There's no admission charge, though a donation of $3 is appreciated. We look forward to seeing you!
Museum's 2025 season
is underway!
PrancerPalooza provides holiday cheer
and a nostalgic return of movie cast and crew
35 years after the Three Oaks area provided the charming setting for the filming of Prancer, some of the film's stars came back to town on December 14 for a celebration dubbed PrancerPalooza. Rebecca Harrell, who played Jessica Riggs, the little girl at the heart of the movie, attended, as did Rutanya Alda (Aunt Sarah) and Belinda Bremner (Miss Bedelia).
​
The film's director, John Hancock (still an area resident) and film editor Dennis O'Connor and other crew members were also on hand. A. J. Workman, who helped control the robotic reindeer used in the movie, came all the way from
​
Oklahoma, bringing with him some fantastic print illustrations of movie scenes and of Prancer done by his fellow reindeer operator John Brunner during delays that are a part of every filmmaking experience. He gave the first print of the illustration at right to Prancer's producer, Raffaella De Laurentis.
​
Sam Elliott (John Riggs) had planned to attend but is no longer able to come, due to an unexpected professional commitment. Mark Rolston (Herb Drier) also planned to attend, but had to drop out after a hiking injury that required surgery.
​
Cast members who have passed away-- Cloris Leachman, Abe Vigoda, and Michael Constantine among them-- were remembered throughout the weekend.
The film itself was shown three times at the Vickers Theatre, each screening followed by a Q-and-A session, with performers and crew members recalling their movie-making experiences in Michiana in 1989.
At 4 PM, cast & crew were hailed in a PrancerPalooza parade that wound down Elm Street Between Maple and Linden. They rode in sleighs decked out in Christmas finery, accompanied by "rein-dogs" (pooches wearing antlers) and even a pony and a couple of llamas!
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
The parade ended just outside Three Oaks Heritage Hall, where the museum displayed the scale model of Three Oaks village used in the film's final scene, along with a slide show showing more that 100 images of the cast and crew at work on the streets of Three Oaks and other Michiana sites.
​
PrancerPalooza was a joint effort of the museum, Three Oaks Village, and the village's Downtown Development Authority. The festivities shifted to LaPorte the next day, where cast and crew answered questions at a screening at the city's Civic Center.​​
​​
​
