The Miamisburg History Center
open Wednesday and Saturday from 1:00pm to 4:00pm and by appointment
October 2019:
MIAMISBURG HISTORICAL SOCIETY RECEIVES 2019 OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR BICENTENNIAL VIDEO
The Miamisburg Historical Society was selected as the recipient of the 2019 Outstanding Achievement Award, presented at the annual meeting luncheon of the Ohio Local History Alliance in Dublin, Ohio on October 5th. The certificate was awarded for the Bicentennial DVD project, The River Runs Through: 200 Years of History in Miamisburg, Ohio, in the category of “History Outreach: Media and Publications” for organizations operating on a budget of under $25,000.
Co-producers Bobbye Sweny and Dr. Carol O’Connell along with videographer-editor John Warrington and narrator Kevin Scheuller accepted the award on behalf of the Miamisburg Historical Society. Nearly a year in the making, the project involved many people and countless hours of research, script writing, photography and video editing along with generous help of the staff at the Miami Valley Communications Council who provided their facilities and talents to enhance the program.
It is a great honor for the city of Miamisburg to be recognized by the OLHA and the Ohio History Connection for this Bicentennial program. Since 1960, the Ohio Local History Alliance, in partnership with the Ohio History Connection, has led the state in recognizing excellent projects, publications and programs produced by Ohio’s local museums and related organizations.
City’s history entwined with 93-year-old
LOCAL NEWS| Sept 14, 2016
By Virginia Burroughs
Bobbye Sweny arrived in Miamisburg as a “war bride” in 1947, and now at age 93 she knows more about the city than many of its lifelong residents.
She loves sharing its history.
“I met my husband, Everett, when I was an executive secretary at Fort MacArthur, California,” she says. “He was an Ohio boy assigned to the Coast Guard Artillery. When we came ‘home’ after the war, it was to Miamisburg.”
Although Everett was born and raised in Springboro, he’d started working at Shirley’s Furniture in Miamisburg before being drafted and returned to the store.
“He took over management, and later, we bought it,” said Sweny. “We lived over the store until we had three children, then bought a home on Third Street. Later, we bought Doctor William Schuler’s home — he’d served in the Civil War — where we raised our seven children and where I still live.
“We both got active in civic affairs; as business owners, we felt we needed to give back to the community that supported us. I was on the Civil Service Board, and Everett was the chair of the Board of Zoning, Building and Housing Appeals.
“We belonged to the Miamisburg Historical Society, but I didn’t really get involved in the history until 1968, when I was asked to run the headquarters for the Sesquicentennial,” Sweny recalls.
“For the planning, we were housed in the Market Square Building. That’s when I got interested in Miamisburg’s history.”
During that stint, Sweny learned, among many other things, that Miamisburg, settled by Germans, had once been the center for seed leaf tobacco, home of the Kauffman Buggy Company, and was known for its paper mills and farming equipment.
When the Dayton Mall opened, Everett closed the furniture store and became a real estate appraiser. “The youngest children were in high school, and I went into direct mail marketing.”
When she retired in 1990, Bobbye became a board member of the Historical Society and helped it grow membership from 66 to 250, become the 56th certified society in Ohio, secure the Market Square Building as a permanent home and raise funds to remodel both floors, worked to get Main St. and nine city buildings on the National Historical Register, and planned numerous community activities.
“We added a children’s program that I worked with for 10 years,” she said. “We take them on a history walk and give lessons on local history in the old one-room schoolhouse.
“When Paff Jewelry closed, it gave the society display cabinets for historic items residents have donated.” The society has added so many programs and artifacts that it now needs additional space.
Everett passed away in 2004, but Bobbye's stayed active in community affairs. As she and other board members plan for the 2018 bicentennial, residents and businesses are offering ideas. "Richard Church, our mayor, is chairing the committee, and we want to bring back some of the old things residents used to do, like having fastnacht (a German potato doughnut) available for Shrove Tuesday, promenades in costume, an historical festival at the Baum Opera House — Miamisburg loves to celebrate.
“Miamisburg’s a community where people know and care about each other and work together. They welcomed me with open arms 69 years ago, and I’ve learned since then that when we use the term ‘Historic Miamisburg,’ we mean it.”
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