August 2013 Newsletter

In this issue: Summer Festival Thanks to the Portage Park department for all their help in setting up and taking down the tables, chairs, tents and stages for this year’s festival.  We couldn’t have done it without you. IHS Traveling Exhibition Faces of the Civil War Portage – Civil War history will come alive for […]

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2013 Festival

Don’t forget to come out for the HISTORICAL FESTIVAL ON JUNE 21ST AT COUNTRYSIDE PARK from 10-5! There will be lots to see and enjoy. We’ll have grilled food, dessert, music, vendors, antique cars, hayrides, kids games, fishing derby, watermelon-eating contest, silent auction, museum displays, and more! Festival News Here’s a sampling of pictures from […]

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Log Cabin News

Through the hard work and diligence of Clement Khan, Al Goin, Carl Fisher, and several others in the Historical Society, the Parks Dept., and the City, the Historical Society had won the bid for a historic log cabin for the Countryside Park. It is a Linden Family Swedish structure from the 1860s that was located […]

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25th Anniversary

Here are pictures from our 25th Anniversary Dinner

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Slanger’s Corner

Pictures from Slanger’s Corner which is now home to the new Walgreens

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Aerial view of Portage in 1958

These are Aerial views of Portage taken in 1958

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Time Capsule opened in 2000

Items from the time capsule opened in 2000  

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Renovation News

As you know, restoration of the Trager Farmstead was finished fall 2006. Tuesday, Nov. 28, was the Open House. Mayor Doug Olson, Rep. Duane Cheney, several local council members, reporters, and supporters from the community were there for the ribbon cutting ceremony. A special thanks to the Rowzies for loaning a whole bedroom set for […]

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Spotlight on… The Portage Grand Prix Jamboree

The Portage Grand Prix Jamboree. Many long time residents remember it fondly. The Jamboree was intended to be THE festival that would define the city of Portage, that would make it stand out. For many years it did. Started in June of 1979, the Grand Prix was an annual event that drew large crowds until […]

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The History of the Portage Community Historical Society

by Kathy Heckman and Lois Mollick, Special to The Times | Sunday, June 08, 2008 On a June evening in 1987, in response to a notice in the newspaper, about 25 Portage residents met in the backyard of the Trager farmhouse in Countryside Park. Representatives of the Portage parks department asked the assembled to consider […]

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