Schedule of 2025-26
"First Thursday" Zoom Programs
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During the TROTOM off-season (December-April), the museum offers presentations via the Zoom platform on the first Thursday of each month at 7 PM Eastern (with a couple of exceptions, noted below). The programs are open only to museum members. For 2025-26, we have scheduled these programs:
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December 11-- The Houses and History of South Elm. This program will kick off an ongoing museum effort to document the history of homes in historic Three Oaks village. Working with realtor Ron Zarantenello and a number of longtime Oakers, we've compiled a lot of info about historic homes on South Elm, but we want your help, as well. If you have memories or information about a South Elm Street home, do join us and share! This program is on the second Thursday of the month, because one of the presenters is having surgery on December 3.
January 8-- This "Second Thursday" program (we didn't want to schedule on New Year's Day) will focus on one of the area's first residents, Henry Chamberlain. Chamberlain descendants Barbara Ryan and Theadore Chamberlain will share their knowledge of Henry C, an early New buffalo settler who carved frontier Three Oaks out of the forest. He went on to be a very influential merchant and politician (almost elected governor!) for decades.
February 5-- The Great SW Michigan Mint Boom, presented by Minnesota college professor Dan Allosso, whose book "Peppermint Kings: A Rural American History" focuses on our area, a hotbed of mint farming during the turn of the 20th century. Among local peppermint growers was Mary Clark of Galien, touted (incorrectly) as the only female mint baron around.
March 5-- Three Oaks Flag Day On Film. Melissa & Andrew Shea will join us to talk about their new documentary (set
to premiere next summer) about Flag Day celebrations in Three Oaks. The Sheas, experienced documentarians, shot for months beforehand and then flooded the 2024 parade with camera crews. We'll talk to them about the characters they focused on and what they learned about our area.
April 2-- Season Preview-- As always, our last First Thursday program aims to get you ready for TROTOM's season, which will kick off on May 1, 2026. Learn about new exhibits we'll feature next year, and get a progress report on our efforts to restore the old EK Warren & Son building at 7 South Elm St.
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If you're interested in seeing any or all of these programs but are not yet a member of TROTOM, sign up on the "Volunteer/Donate" page.
Recordings of past
"First Thursday" Events
Leopold Pokagon, Potawatomi Chief
Leopold Pokagon was the chief of Potawatomi Indians who lived along the St. Joseph River during the early 1800s, a time when US officials were trying hard to remove Indians to reservations west of the Mississippi. Pokagon, though, successfully resisted that effort. Zada Bellew and Cecil Wilson of the Pokagon Band show and tell about Pokagon's extraordinary life.
See this program by clicking HERE.
Joshua Chatterson: Pioneer Merchant
Joshua Chatterson moved to Three Oaks a few years after the end of the Civil War and played a vital role in shaping the village in the late19th century. Suzanne Sheldon Levy, a Three Oaks native and retired research librarian, has been tracking down the details and stories of her great-grandfather's life for years. Her look at Chatterson's life illuminated many aspects of life in this area during the years Three Oaks grew from a sleepy farming community into a busy manufacturing town.
See this program by clicking HERE.
The Massive Warren Family Ranches
The Warrens made their fortune in Three Oaks in the late 19th century. Thanks to the "cowboy fascination" of Charles Warren, the family bought huge ranches in the American Southwest and Mexico. Dr. David Murrah, former Director of the Southwest Collections at Texas Tech University, lays out the saga of the Warren ranches. A special bonus-- some Warren descendants and others who helped manage the ranches attended the program, and provide their own recollections during a discussion.
To see it, click HERE.
"A Stroll Down Historic Elm Street"
The story behind the storefronts on Three Oaks' main shopping street, from the 1850's to the present. Triumphs, tragedies, disasters, and big personalities all played a role in shaping Elm Street. TROTOM Board Member Nick Bogert collected the stories and the images over two years.
Watch the program by clicking HERE.
"The House of David and World War II "
"Artifactoids"
Five artifacts from TROTOM's collections, described by five presenters, accompanied by graphic illustration in Power Point-style. Learn about dentistry in Three Oaks through the years, about farm-field fossil discoveries, about a long-forgotten sex-and-money scandal that rocked 1920's Three Oaks, about a Civil War cartridge case and the Avery resident it belonged to, and about the wildfires of 1871, which ravaged the area and led to the formation of Three Oaks's first fire department. To watch, click HERE.
1The Israelite House of David, a religious commune based in Benton Harbor, faced many challenges during World War II. As pacifists, sect members did not want to fight, but the House of David took great pains to avoid being seen as unpatriotic. As a large agricultural enterprise, the House of David turned to a new source of labor during the war---- German POW's.
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To learn about it from House of David historian and archivist Brian Carroll, click HERE.
"Harbor Country Hoodlums"
Author Chriss Lyon ("A Killing in Capone's Playground") talks about some of the tough guys and crooks who have spent significant downtime in SW Michigan. Oh, and she throws in some good stories about a few good guys, too.
To see it, click HERE.
"Michigan's Logging Era"
Michigan was a logger's paradise for most of the 19th Century and the lumber industry did massive environmental damage to the state. Historian Hillary Pine shows us how the state recovered from near-ecological disaster, in a Zoom program presented November 19, 2020. To see it, click HERE.
"Fred Warren's Amazing Calculating Engine"
It may be the first calculating machine produced in the US, and it
was put together in Three Oaks way back in 1875. Join TROTOM Board Member Nick Bogert and Notre Dame Computer Science Prof. Jay Brockman for a look at an extraordinary machine and an amazing drama that surrounded its invention.
You can view this program by clicking HERE.
"Three Oaks Flag Day Parade-- Through the Years"
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Sadly, the Three Oaks Flag Day Parade-- a local favorite since 1953--was canceled in 2020, due to public health concerns. The Region of Three Oaks Museum created this look back at a beloved tradition, the parade that, organizers assure us, is still the largest Flag Day parade in the country.
You can see our Flag Day retrospective by clicking HERE.
"Three Oaks Department Stores"
In 1910, the Charles K. Warren & Company store opened with giant wagonloads of shoppers coming to Three Oaks. The village's big company store soon passed to the Hunerjager family, who ran the store and staged village fashion shows for decades.
See the program by clicking HERE.
"The Booms and Busts of Frontier New Buffalo"
New Buffalo careened from good times to bad with astonishing speed in the days after its founding by Captain Wessel Whitaker in the 1830s. Watch the 40-minute Power Point talk put together by TROTOM Board Member Nick Bogert by clicking HERE.
