Matthews Heritage Museum, 232 North Trade Street, Matthews, offers free admission the first Saturday of the month. Read on to learn about Matthews Heritage Museum’s free day, and its new temporary exhibit, House with a Heart: 40th Anniversary of the HELP Center.
Matthews Heritage Museum is presenting a free program at Matthews Public Library, 230 Matthews Station Street, on Thursday, August 15th, at 6 p.m.:
Add Matthews Heritage Museum to the list of Charlotte area museums offering a free day. (See the whole list here.)
On the first Saturday of every month you can visit the Matthews Heritage Museum, 232 North Trade Street in Matthews, for free. On other days admission is just $4 for adults and $2 for ages 11-17. Kids 10 and under are free. The museum is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Matthews Heritage Museum is a Blue Star Museum. Active duty military personnel, including National Guard and Reserve, and their families, get free admission from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2019. Read more about the Blue Star Museum program.
Here’s some information about the museum.
Matthews Heritage Museum
Housed in the 1880 Massey-Clark House, one of the oldest buildings in downtown Matthews, the Matthews Heritage Museum is a step back in time. In the Early Commerce Gallery learn about King Cotton and the early days of the railroad. Imagine cashing a check at the Bank of Matthews, and see part of the original bank interior on display. Listen to telephone switchboard stories while looking at an old crank phone and switchboard.
Lifestyle Gallery
Children and adults will enjoy exploring the Lifestyles Gallery, imagining a time before electricity and running water. Schools were a vital part of the community. Porches were the center of living, particularly in the summer in an effort to stay cool. Learn what was different in the kitchen at the turn of the century.
Community Gallery
Our Community Gallery allows you to discover the many activities that happened at the local drug store. You can also investigate the early set up of the doctor’s office or hear wonderful stories about the local pool. A display of Outen Pottery, hand thrown pots made from local clay, is of great interest.
Snippets from the Matthews Remembered and Outen Pottery DVD play for the audience in the Lifestyles and Community Galleries. The hallway panels give visitors insight to early Matthews.
House with a Heart: 40th Anniversary of the HELP Center
The exhibit will be on display until February 1, 2020.
This exhibit traces the 4 decades of growth of the Matthews HELP Center from an all-volunteer agency assisting those needing aid and support to the professional staff of 7 full time and 6 part time staff of today. The community of Matthews rose to the challenge in 1979 when several churches, the Council of Aging and others recognized a need to assist those who needed guidance and temporary support.
Gathering together volunteers from the Matthews Woman’s Club and the Happy Timers as well as others, this center reached out to those in need and provided everything from food, clothing and some financial help. Older citizens could get tax assistance or a blood pressure checked. Single parents often received guidance as to where they could get additional assistance.
For the first 25 years, it was located in the Massey-Clark House which today houses our museum! With loving care the volunteers restored the house that was given to them by the town of Matthews. The fact that it was a home… it became known as the House with a Heart. The welcome all received when entering gave the HELP Center a nurturing presence.
When they outgrew the location on North Trade Street, and new “home” was built, complete with rockers on the front porch. In 2005 the HELP Center relocated to their current location on Ames Street. What started as an all volunteer operation has grown into an organization with 7 full time staff and many part time staff, as well as over 240 volunteers! Along the way they have assisted thousands of folks living in this area.
Come by and learn the history of this wonderful organization, then head over to 119 Ames Street to shop in their store, Backyard Treasures!
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