Batavia Depot Museum opens new exhibit celebrating the musical side of the city’s history

A new exhibit opened last weekend at the Batavia Depot Museum celebrating the history of music and things associated with it throughout the history of the city.

The exhibit at the museum at 155 Houston St. is called “In Harmony – Batavians Making Music,” which Batavia Park District officials said features everything “from the amazing Batavia High School Marching Band to community ensembles and church choirs.”

“Local groups and residents have made music side-by-side for generations,” the park district said in a Facebook post. “This exhibit celebrates the bands, choirs and ensembles that didn’t just create music together, but were creating connections and community beyond the final note.”

Batavia Depot Museum Director Kate Garrett said the exhibit is focused on “talking about musical groups in Batavia’s history.”

“Everything from the high school marching band to church choirs, the municipal band and other opportunities for Batavians to come together to make music,” she said. “All of our exhibits are based on our collection here at the Batavia Historical Society which we hold here at the museum. We wanted to have a companion exhibit that would work nicely with our spring exhibit which was all about individual sacrifice for the greater good – this is about what you do with all of that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

The creation of music, Garrett said, is a way of “finding ways to come together, finding ways to make joy together, finding opportunities to build community and collaboration.”

Items on display include a clarinet, violin and a bugle and drum used locally to create music, as well as “some vintage music band uniforms from the Batavia High School Marching Band.”

“One of my favorite pieces is a 2-foot-tall drum major hat that I can’t imagine wearing in a parade, but it was part of the high school uniform,” Garrett said. “Overall, if you could count all the paperwork like sheet music we have and programs from concerts and things like that we have over 30 pieces on display in the exhibit.”

Work on the new exhibit began well over 18 months ago as ideas were formulated, followed by research that Garrett said begins about a year out “going through old newspaper accounts, trying to put together the stories and looking at the collection we have to work with and seeing what artifacts would be most suitable for display.”

Garrett said that “music is such a wonderful through-line for human history.”

“The music itself might change, but the idea of making music and having that be an integral part of the human experience, that’s really very foundational to the point where, as far back as we can go in Batavia’s history, we have stories about people singing together, making music together,” she said. “We did go through our collection and we also have sound audio files as well.”

Saturday’s unveiling included visitors like Bryant Taylor of Batavia, who said he always enjoys checking out new exhibits at the museum.

“I think music is a good topic. The museum has many varied and interesting topics about Batavia and the history behind it, and so this is just another good way to celebrate what Batavia has for the community as well as anybody who wants to walk in and look at it,” Taylor said. “Music is always around. It fills the soul and it’s a way of communicating and being able to relax and a way to get rid of frustrations built up in a person’s life.”

Kelly Hebel of East Alton was on hand at the museum on Saturday. She said she was in town visiting friends who were all part of a college reunion over the weekend.

“I think this is a great topic. Sometimes when you hear the music, you enjoy it, but sometimes when you can read some of the history and see what went on back then, I just think it adds another nuance to the story,” she said.

Local resident Sharrie Neidhardt was struck with the instruments and the displays at the exhibit.

“I played the violin for nine years and this topic, I love it. I had my girls in music. One played the oboe, the other the violin,” she said. “The history is wonderful and being able to find out how far back things go and what they had here.”

The exhibit will run through Nov. 22, museum officials said.

David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.