On display are unique items Made in Marshall such as a Marshall folding bathtub, a buggy made by Page Buggy Works, a Royal bicycle and artifacts from the F. A. Stuart and Brooks Rupture Appliance patent medicine businesses. Downtown Marshall has information about main street establishments, and also a section of the original plank road.

The Marshall Arts exhibit includes the Hinkle Automatic Theatre, an early 1900s marionette show that once toured southern Michigan communities and information about famous people who were born or raised in Marshall – including author John Bellairs who wrote “The House with a Clock in its Walls”. On display is the 1950 J. C. Higgins bicycle which Bellairs used as a boy riding through town while developing “New Zebedee” in his imagination.

It Happened in Marshall informs visitors about key events in Marshall’s history including how Marshall almost became the state capitol and the 1847 Crosswhite incident, when Marshall residents prevented slave catchers from returning an escaped enslaved family to Kentucky.

Civil War items in the museum include those relating to Captain DeVille Hubbard, who, in 1861, organized the Marshall Light Guard that became part of the First Michigan Infantry Regiment. This unit traveled to Washington, DC where it was greeted by President Abraham Lincoln and later participated in the first Battle of Bull Run. Other civil war items include equipment, photos, veteran’s souvenir medals, and veteran reunion posters.

The final exhibit showcases the Preservation movement in Marshall and how important it is to the success of our town.