363 Main Street
Coopersville, Michigan  49404
Ottawa County
United States of America
Phone: 616-997-7240
Email: Museum

Director & Curator Phone: 616-997-6978
Email: Curator 

Also Visit: www.coopersvillehistory.org
Hours:
Tuesday:        2:00PM - 5:30PM
Wednesday:  10:00AM - 2:00PM
Friday:           1:00PM - 4:00PM
Saturday:     10:00AM - 4:00PM
Open other times for group tours and special visits
There is no admission during regular business hours, but donations are welcome. Ask about admission for group tours.
Coopersville Area Historical Society is pleased to announce its new website - www.coopersvillehistory.org. 
Explore Coopersville's history at the Historical Museum and NOW online. 
The Museum's main building, a charming brick structure, was once a depot and substation for the Grand Rapids, Grand Haven & Muskegon Railway, an electric rail line that served the area from 1902-28. Adjoining this historic structure is the rustically designed Sawmill and Early Settlers Building, which was completed in the early 2000's.

The Museum became a department of the City of Coopersville in July, 2018. The Museum was originally established by the Coopersville Area Historical Society in 1987 and was formally known as the Coopersville Area Historical Society Museum. The Historical Society itself was founded in 1980.
In 1987, the Museum began in the town's former interurban railway depot and substation. The building is said to be among the best preserved of its kind in Michigan. It is a Michigan Historic Site and on the National Register of Historic Places. This part of the Museum contains railroad, interurban train, household, military, business, clothing and household exhibits. Also included is a display on rock and roll star Del Shannon, who was raised in Coopersville as Charles Westover.
In the 1990s, fundraising took place for much needed additional space. The addition, the Sawmill & Early Settlers Building was completed in the early 2000s. This comfortable rustically designed building houses a sawmill exhibit, tools and logging artifacts, and 1800s spinning wheel and loom, plus other items that reflect the early settlement era. Children especially enjoy the building's early schoolroom, the Lincoln Log table and a model logging railroad which circles the sawmill exhibit.

​The Tasker Drug Store area is among the Museum's major exhibits. This recreation of an early local store includes nine foot high exterior doors, an original counter, apothecary jars, shelves, medicine packages and scores of other pharmaceutical items. Some artifacts date back to when the store opened as Watson's Drugs in 1880. 
​The Museum's steam railroad and interurban train exhibits commemorate the impact these forms of transportation had on the region's development.

A major portion of the Museum once served from 1902-28 as a depot and substation for the Grand Rapids, Grand Haven & Muskegon Railway. This line was among the networks of small independently owned electric railroads that sprang up in the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s. With the many daily runs on their routes just between two or more cities, these unique electric powered interurban rail lines made commuting possible before the widespread use of automobiles. Light freight was also moved quickly on this system. As cars became more popular and roads improved, most interurban companies went out of business.

1990, the Museum acquired a rare wooden bodied interurban passenger car, originally designed as Car #8, "Merlin". The car was part of the local line's operation. This survivor of the interurban era continues to go through phases of restoration.

The steam railroad played a significant role in Coopersville's history. The town emerged after a contract with its founder Benjamin Cooper brought the railroad through the area in 1858. The Museum has many railroad items. Its extensive Larry Cooke and Bruce Quinn collections are representative of the country's great railroad era.